StCirq

Agree. The food in the café cars is beyond horrible. At least buy a sandwich at the gare before you board. You'll see French families on board with elaborate picnics.

grandmere

Yes, we will use the services for disabled for the 2 in our group who have significant mobility problems, and the remaining 3 of us able-bodied will fend for ourselves. I did not mean to imply I'd use it just because someone did not want to walk the distance.

St. Cirq, did you arrange the services before you arrived at the station or just upon arrival? Last time I traveled in France with my husband I did not know it was an option until I ran across the office in Strasbourg for the return to Paris. And 4 years later now, it would be next to impossible w/o it for him. I assume all stations of any size have such services.

We will buy a sandwich near the hotel or at the gare although it's less than a 3 hr. trip to Avignon. Station food is often not good either, but I remember buying a very good sandwich last year at the Avignon gare. And makes the time pass more quickly to be munching on something!

Christina

<<So, I'll continue to choose between TGV and iDTGV based on price, since there doesn't seem to be much difference, if any, between the two.>>

That's all I do, also. I never noticed any difference in the idTGV car itself, and TGVs can vary a lot, also. And sometimes there isn't much difference in price and sometimes, as I've noted, the TGV price is actually cheaper. I think there is reason to it, you just can't tell it by looking, I presume it is based on supply and demand, that's all.

StCirq

grandmère, I initially arranged for wheelchair transfers through Air France, as I needed wheelchair assistance upon arrival at CDG to get to the SNCF station. Once there, it appeared to be a chain reaction, with each train conductor signaling to the next that I was going to need assistance at each change of trains. There was a wheelchair and attendant waiting for me at each stop. When I had time between trains, they'd wheel me to a café and then come back for me.

Upon departure, from La Rochelle, I was walking well enough on the crutches to get myself to the train platform. Had I needed to cross tracks or go underground to get to another platform, though, I'm sure just asking at the information desk at the gare would have worked fine.

Pvoyageuse

grandmère : Info on SNCF service for the disabled (Accès Plus) : http://www.sncf.com/en/services/accessibility
Note that you have to contact SNCF at least 2 days before departure and that the service is not available in some stations.

grandmere

StCirq, sounds as though Air France put the process in motion for you, and that it was seamless and worked very well. That is encouraging to hear; hope I can get this to work as well for us. We will use Delta's handicapped services here at PIT and at CDG, but are going into Paris before going to Avignon so I will have to work on this myself.

Pvoyageuse, thanks so much for the link. It seems to say that to qualify for these services one must either have a wheelchair of one's own or to be in possession of documentation of handicap, and it seems to be a specific "carte", not just a letter from one's doc. Both my husband and BIL have handicapped parking tags here in USA but do not use wheelchairs since they are able to avoid situations where they have to walk distances.
This may be a bit more involved than I thought. When I used the services in Strasbourg in '09, I just went into an office at the station and it was taken care of. I'm glad for the heads up so I can figure out how to access the system.

We are going from Gare de Lyon to Avignon TGV, then a week later to Strasbourg, and finally back to Paris. Avignon is small so not sure if they have handicapped services and because of size, it may be ok w/o help.

If anyone else has any info about how to go about this, I'd be grateful for any info. I may have to repost since this began as an iDTGV post!

StCirq

grandmère, I read all the stuff on the SNCF site before leaving and just never got around to talking to them directly. If you want to follow the "rules," do so, but I can pretty much assure you that once you arrive at a major French rail station and ask for assistance, you'll get it in a heartbeat. It depends on the stations and so forth, but I think you'll be fine! Air France certainly didn't contact the SNCF two days in advance for me - it was more like an hour!

kerouac

Whether a TGV is dual level or single level has nothing to do with the age of the train. Just like for airline routes, different sized trains are used on certain lines at certain hours.