“I’m on the train – and it’s absolute hell!”

Written by Patrick Middleton, November 2007

Foreign visitors – after taking the TGV – are often full of praise for French trains. Those who regularly use local commuter services have a different point of view. Patrick Middleton reports

Julie used to work in London and travelled every day on the Northern Line from Clapham South to Oxford Circus. “It was pretty bad,” she recalls, “but what I have to put up with now is even worse.” Two years ago she moved to Antibes and now commutes to her job in Monaco with the TER – the train express régional – which is France’s busiest rail link after Line C of the RER - réseau express régional - in the Paris region. “I love living here and I’m very happy with my job but if anything could persuade me to leave it would be the misery of those train journeys.”

Desperate overcrowding
Three out of four salaried employees in Monaco live outside the Principality and they are, along with tourists, the major component of the 22,000 passengers who travel between Nice and Monaco every day (many others start their journey further down the line). “You never know what time you’ll get to work,” says Julie, “and then what time you’ll get home. I’ve got a friend whose boss is less tolerant than mine. Some days she skips lunch to make up for getting into her office late and then if her train back to Biot is also delayed she arrives home hungry and exhausted. She has some nightmare days!”

Julie’s tale is no surprise to Eric Sauri (pictured), an executive working in Monaco who commutes every day from his home in Mouans-Sartoux. “I understand what she’s talking about very well. I spend three hours a day in the train – and that’s when service is normal. In an average week I can count on quite a lot of extra time spent travelling.” So why doesn’t he drive to work? “No thanks – just think about how the cost adds up with petrol, tolls and parking in Monaco. The train is cheap even if it’s not an enjoyable experience.”

So what are the passengers main grievances? “To start with, the timetable as it now stands isn’t really adapted to the demand. But as my fellow travellers know that’s only part of it. You’ve got delays and above all cancellations. In the first six months of this year one in three scheduled TER services was cancelled – that’s a total of 4079 trains. On top of that you often find that a train will come in with fewer carriages than usual. The result of all this is frequently desperate overcrowding at peak commuter times and it’s made worse during the tourist season. You also have to remember that traffic on the route is increasing all the time. It’s up by a third in the last two years with no increase in capacity.”

A different world from the TGV
But passengers don’t only complain about delays, cancellations and overcrowding. “Certainly not. One big grievance is how little information is given to travellers. You’re told a train is delayed, then cancelled, and there’s no explanation. Once you’re on the train conditions can be grim. The new double-decker carriages are comfortable enough – if you get a seat – but some of the older rolling stock has been in use for twenty-five years or more. The carriages are dirty, depressing and very unpleasant in hot weather. It’s a very different world from the TGV the SNCF is so proud of.”

Eric is not content just to moan about the miseries of his daily journey to and from Monaco. He has set up a website for those he calls les naufragés du TER – “the stranded passengers of the TER” – on which commuters can record their experiences and register their complaints. “It’s a petition, if you like, in the form of a blog and with hundreds of people logging on the SNCF is taking notice.” So how do they react to this mounting tide of complaints? “Not always very straightforwardly, I’m afraid. They claim, for instance, that 96 per cent of trains were on time in 2006. That figure was arrived at by simply ignoring all those cancellations that happened so often. Those trains just disappeared from the accounting. Again, they announce that they’re working on improvements in passenger information systems but I’ve seen no proof of that. Sometimes what they say is sheer fantasy. They claimed recently that bottles of water are distributed to TER passengers during lengthy stoppages. That I’d like to see.”

One problem is the SNCF’s investment policy. Money is poured into the TGV – to pay for things like those natty Christian Lacroix outfits the guys and girls wear – and the Corail but the TER is relatively starved of cash. Eric adds two other points: “Firstly, there’s no doubt commuters aren’t regarded in the same way as TGV passengers – they’re called ‘customers’, we’re just ‘users’. Secondly, the Côte d’Azur is treated as something like a poor relation. When seventeen new trains were brought into service in the PACA region they were all assigned to routes going west from Marseille.”

Things look like getting better
What are the prospects for a real improvement in travelling conditions in our area. Explains Eric, “Things look like getting better, certainly. The SNCF has undertaken to revamp the timetable so there are more trains at peak times. That means more rolling stock and there’s to be a new maintenance facility at La Bocca which will mean repairs will be done faster. And some really good news: the Monegasque government is buying five new double-deckers which will arrive towards the end of next year. They’ll be in Monaco’s colours and operate only on the Nice-Monaco sector. And another thing: we’re hoping the SNCF will scrap the rule that forbids commuters with season tickets from travelling on main line trains even when there are major delays. All in all, I hope that Julie and the rest of us will soon be happier travellers.”

So you’ve had enough of those local trains? Eric Sauri invites you to add your voice in English to the chorus of complaints. Have your say at www.ntgv.ublog.com or e-mail Eric at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

From Riviera Reporter 124 - Dec 2007/Jan 2008