According to the schedule, it appears that trains run regularly. I'll be dropping off my rental car and don't have an exact time. Is it advisable to make a guess as to arrival and make a reservation, or are seats generally available at the last minute?

I would doubt that you could even make reservations on these basically local commuter trains. I've ridden several times and never seemed very full but perhaps at rush hour.

But in any case you can always board, seats or not in the worst scenario.

The Paris-Chartres line is a commuter line. You can even ride it standing up holding on to a strap.

I had this same question for our October 2006 trip. We were also dropping off our car in Chartres and and didn't know exactly when we'd arrive at the station. We decided to just show up and pay for our seats. No problem. There was plenty of room. The closer we got to Paris, the fuller it got, but even so there were plenty of seats. And anyway, there were plenty of departure times all day.

You'll be fine to get the tickets when you arrive at the station.

If it's a commuter line, how long is the ride and where do you end up.

About an hour.

Montparnasse.

It's a breeze, really. Just drop off the car, go to the station, and buy a ticket for the next train. You'll arrive at the Gare de Montparnasse.

You can't book on these trains.
There are several types of trains on these lines : the comfy refurbished loco-hauled Corail coaches, which run up to le Mans (Chartres is between le Mans and Paris), the brand-new EMUs, and some older, "nostalgia" trainsets.

Try and get a ride on a train coming from Le Mans : on a weekday, the 10.22AM, the 2.30PM and the 5.10PM

Hi M,

Train schedules, etc are at www.voyages-sncf.com

And for Paris metropolitan area SNCF commuter trains, the schedules are at www.transilien.com

Thank you St. Cirq.

And, again, this is why I love this board - you always get "more than one way to skin a cat" to be able to search more efficiently. Merci.