French National Railway SNCF Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur Regional Train

The Grandes Lignes will take you all over the country in either ordinary trains of the high speed TGV. The TGV has rapidly extended its service in recent years and now connects most of the major cities with each other.. You will find that it does not service certain towns like Aix-en-Provence. In this case you would take the TGV from Paris to Marseilles and then take the ordinary train back to Aix for the 30 minute ride. Starting in June of 2001 there will be direct service to Aix from Paris. You can set your watch by the TGV - it is remarkably efficient. Don't forget that 1) you must purchase a reservation as well as a regular ticket for any TGV train. The ticket gets you on the train, but the reservation gives you a specific seat on that train, and 2) you need to compost your ticket before getting on a train. You will see orange metal boxes shaped something like small mail boxes at the entrance to train platforms. Place your ticket in the slot in the box until you hear in stamp the ticket. If you don't hear it stamp your ticket, which is what often happens, keep turning the ticket around until you do hear it stamp or 'compost' the ticket. You can be fined if you forget to compost the ticket as then it can be used over and over again. The train company frowns on that! However, most train conductors know that foreigners often don't compost their tickets so they'll go easy on you. The main difference between first and second class seating on the TGV is that in first class you have two seats on one side of the aisle and one seat on the other side. In second class you have two seats on each side of the aisle. Both classes are comfortable and the trains are so remarkably quiet that even second class is a great joy for those of your new to the French rail system.

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