SNCF problem
 

I am trying to get pricing from the SNCF website for a train from Montpellier to Barcelona. When I initially search for it, it shows the direct trains that I am looking for (06:00), but when I click on "choose this outward journey", it then shows me a different routing including a change of trains, and says that there are no other trains on that day. It doesn't matter what date I put in. What is the problem!? Help anyone?

You aren't using dates more than 90 days out..?

No, I've tried as early as next week, and have the same problem . . .

Crossborder trains are often not priced on-line, or only by one of the two systems involved. Have you tried www.renfe.es?

Ask a TA who can tap into the computer systems, or www.raileurope.com (but with a lump of salt, they are often way off the mark and over the top).

You can get an idea by pricing on SNCF up to the border stop and from there to Barcelona on www.renfe.es, add up the two, and you are in the ball park.

According to www.bahn.de on-line purchase is not possible. Buy your ticket at any train station in Europe. That trip will probably cost you €40 to €50 in 2nd class and 50% more in 1st class.

BTW, when I traveled in France this year the SNCF used the bahn.de web site for train information.

I checked the two segments as Walley suggested, and came up with 80EUR + 20EUR, does that sound about right?

So there is no way for me to buy this ticket in advance?

Sorry, that would be Wally! I always use diebahn for schedules myself, but as it wouldn't price it, I thought SNCF might . . .

The train that does that route is a Spanish one. It's on the RENFE website, I don't know if you can buy it online, though. It's a Talgo train that, in fact, does the route from Cartagena (Murcia) to Montpellier.

Thanks! Actually it is the 07:30am train I was looking at - not 06:00 if that makes a difference.

I finally got the SNCF site to price the trip. 51EUR. It doesn't seem to be pricing in March yet. And when I checked too soon, they were likely sold out.

SNCF does struggle with the idea that the railway system goes beyond the french border. If the dbahn web site fails you then you may have to but the ticket in person

The two daily direct Talgo Montpellier-Barcelona trains are:
Leave Montpellier daily 7:26AM ar Barcelona Sants 11:46AM
4hr 20min
and lv
Montpellier St-roch 17:03 ar
9:45PM
at Barcelona-estacio De Franca
4hr 42min

Note the morning train goes to Sants station but the afternoon train goes to the in-town Barcelona-Estacio De Franca station.

These schedules are from www.raileurope.com and the price of a 2nd class ticket with reservation is $100 plus a $15 reservation fee per order and $15-20 mailing fee - so you can see that 51 euro is much cheaper. But if can't book online and want to book this often fairly full train in my experience, call BETS (800-441-2387), the RE agent i always recommend for their service and they only charge a $5 mailing fee instead of RE's 15-20. But if you will be in France a few days early you should have no trouble booking - that is if you can't do via www.sncf.com, a fairly fickle site it seems.
These are the only two daytime trains to go direct between Montpellier and Barcelona and this Talgo-type train has moveable wheel bases that at the Spanish frontier are cranked apart wider to accommodate the wider gauge tracks in Spain - no other trains can physically transcend the border as tracks in Spain are wider gauge than those in France. A nighttime Talgo from Paris also can run on tracks in both countries. Otherwise you always have to change at the border.

Thank you very much for all the information. We will be in France for about a week prior to this trip. So we could buy the tickets when we get there - although the comment about it often being full worries me a bit.

I have been looking at the France rail passes and wondering if it is worth me buying the 3 day 2nd class pass. (approx $180). Our train "days" will include:
1) Paris to Avignon, stop for the afternoon and on to Arles
2) Avignon to Nimes
3) Nimes to Montpellier and to the border on the train noted above

As this is a Spanish train, would I be able to use my French pass up to the border? Would it be easy to buy my reservation and the border to Barcelona portion separately? Once I add in all these complications (along with buying the reservation for the TGV from Paris to Avignon, the pass doesn't really sound worth it).

Especially if you go the PREM's route on www.voyages-sncf.com - note that i said the Talgo trains were often quite full and i think this is so because they are the only two trains a day that do go thru the border, and folks from Geneva, Nice and Paris feed into it in Montpellier. That said you can always take a local French train up to the border then a local Spanish train to Barcelona - these connections are about hourly or so. These are in my experience rather dumpy trains however so try for the Talgo and save time.

It doesn;t make any difference about who "owns" the rolling stock: if you have a railpass good for France you can use it on that train. And you can buy the portion from the border onward to Barcelona at the (initial departure) RR station in France before you leave.

A France Railpass is actually good from the border to Barcelona or Madrid for the portion of the overnight trains running between Paris and these two towns - France pass covers it in full - but not so on the daytime Talgo Montpellier-Barcelona trains.

Thanks all, I don't think I will bother with the pass. Instead, I will try to book a cheap ticked from Paris to Arles on the internet, and then buy the ticket from Nimes to Barcelona when I arrive in Paris.