PalenQ

France's newest high-speed rail line opens June 10, 2007, linking Paris to Reims, Metz, Nancy and Strasbourg

New times vs old (fastest) times
Paris- Reims 45 m vs 1h35
-Metz 1h25 vs 2h45
-Nancy 1h30 vs 2h45
-Strasbourg 2h20 vs 4h

Paris-Basel 3h20 vs 4h55
-Frankfurt 3h50 vs 6h15
-Luxembourg 2h5m vs 3h35m
Munich 6h15 vs 8h30
Stuttgart 3h40 vs 6h
Zurich 4h35 vs 5h50

(ICEs run Paris-Frankfurt routes; TGVs on all others - wonder if ICEs will not require reservations as they do not in Germany. TGVs have always required reservations.)

Due to shrinking times the Paris-Zurich night train is apparently being dropped and the Munich-Paris night train will not arrive in Strasbourg about 5am and passengers will have to wait till about 7am to take a connecting TGV to Paris, or so i've read.

Three new stations: Champane-Ardenne; Lorraine and Meuse stations. All TGV Est stations are been renovated and are now WI-Fi equipped. Gare de l'Est is Paris has been completely rehabbed to its former glory.

mideba

Hi PalenQ, I need to get from Paris to Frankfurt airport for a flight home on June 26. The only time I can get on the TGV is around 6pm which is too late for me. Do you know if that's the only TGV train running on that day? I can get a Thalys or ICE booking but was hoping for the new TGV as it's a shorter ride.

kerouac

PalenQ, let's just say that Gare de l'Est will be glorious again some time before the end of the year. At the moment, it's one of those construction zones where you can't tell if they're building something or tearing it down.

PalenQ

Yeh i went thru there in Februaru and looks like something out of Katrina - i figured it may be done by launch time but did look like quite a bit to do. Currently there are no lockers open at Est because of the renovation.

PalenQ

German ICEs have never penetrated France, largely due to sncf's putting obstacles to their running on French tracks.

DB wanted to put ICEs Cologne-Brussels-Paris on the Thalys high-speed line for several years but were stymied by the French under what some say was a ruse that ICEs did not meet safety requirements of French tracks.

Deja vue all over again.

I should have noted above the ICEs Paris-Frankfurt, according to rail sources, will not be running the route until the start of the winter timetable at the earliest. Again sncf has balked at the June 10 launch again under the grounds that ICEs are not yet equiiped with proper safety devices.

Apparently they will by December but another issue: sncf is adamant that ICEs have the same obligatory seat reservation requirement as French TGVs and the Germans are equally adamant that there will no such requirements as there are not on most ICEs in Germany.

Apparently the sncf is protecting their TGVs in fear of more people taking ICEs for French portions of the journeys by just walking up.

So ICEs by December maybe - i guess TGVs will be running the Frankfurt route in the interval.

Well this is the scuttlebut and i can't confirm all the aspects.

GeoffHamer

According to www.bahn.de, the overnight train from München to Paris continues to run after June. It leaves at 2056 and arrives in Paris at 0646, and has sleepers and couchettes.

PalenQ

I should have said plans are to drop it but not right away i believe or really to truncate it. And it's not a fait accompli i believe.

kerouac

Just taking a look at the schedule for Paris-Francfort on 15 June, the SNCF site proposes at least two Paris-Saarbrucken ICE trains for a connection to Frankfurt. So maybe there are no direct ICE trains for Paris-Frankfurt, but there are indeed ICE trains in France.

PalenQ

Looks like things have changed since the current article in a UK rail magazine that is usually an infallible source was printed. Thanks. Did you note if the ICEs require reservations or not? Again thanks.

kerouac

Didn't go so far on the site as to ask for one, but I'm sure that I could have made one. But since the question is: is it obligatory? I have no idea.