TGV reliability - do the trains run on time?
 

Booking a trip to France (first time) and we're going to be in the Loire right before we leave to fly home. We were wondering if we could catch an early morning train from Tours to Paris and still make our 11:40am flight departure time. Looks like there's a TGV leaving Tours at 8:16am *scheduled* to get in to Paris at 9:20am... Can anyone tell me if this is a reliable bet or a recipe for disaster? What are the odds we miss our 11:40am flight? Should we play it safe and train back to Paris the night before? (Course, I guess there are worse things than getting stranded in France...) Thanks!

I have generally found trains in France fairly reliable but I think you are cutting it very fine for an international flight, assuming its a weekday. If you are flying economy, you need to be at CDG at about 10:20 which only gives you an hour to get off the train, into a taxi and to the airport. I believe the RER also takes about an hour and you will have to get from Montparnasse to an RER stations (Denfert probably RER B). <BR> <BR>I would consider an earlier train - I believe there's one at 0740 wich gets to Montparnasse at about 0845 or perhaps the one at 06:55 which gets in at 0810. <BR> <BR>The following web-site gives you time-tables for trains all over Europe. You may also want to check out the TGV web-site. <BR> <BR>http://www.ns.nl/reisplan2.asp <BR> <BR>Mind you, enjoying an evening in Paris is a wonderful way to end your trip and this web-site has lots of information on how to make the last night special. <BR> <BR>Regards

Some trains coming from the south (not sure where Tours is) into Paris stop right AT CDG. Check it out--you may not have to go all the way into Paris and back out to CDG. <BR> <BR>Bon Voyage

French trains suppossedly run on time over 90% of the time which is great unless you are in the 10%. Paris to Nice train last summer left on time but somehow still managed to be over 2 hours late getting in.

There' certainly much more than 90% of trains which run on time. I travel in France quite only by train, and they're very seldom late (apart the commuters trains). And the last time one was seriously late (I mean more than half an hour) was several years ago. <BR> <BR>That said, better safe than sorry...

I took the TGV on Christmas Eve from Avignon to Paris. We were 1/2 hour late and they refunded the purchase price of the ticket for that portion! I was amazed and astounded although the Europeans weren't. (They need to travel a bit here on UA - then they'd understand why I was amazed ;-). That being said, I would strongly urge you to stay in Paris the evening before. Even with a 9:20 AM arrival, you really are cutting it close (there's a reason why they ask you to be at CDG so early - there were many different security checks and if you need to turn in your tax refund information, etc. . .).

There is no one answer to your question. The trains might be "on time" 99.9% of the time, it does not mean to say that you will not be included in the other 0.1%. However, French trains are in general more reliable than their British counterparts.

Many thanks to everyone who responded - your insight is appreciated! Having never been there we just had no idea how much time to build in to our schedule to get back to CDG before our flight. I think we've decided to play it safe and head back to Paris the night before our departure flight - for a last tango in Paris... Thanks!