If you’ve travelled much, you’ll know that not everything goes to plan. Sometimes flights are delayed or cancelled; sometimes traffic accidents can clog up the roads and, very occasionally, trains also have their issues!
In my experience, you are much less likely to experience delays than if you travel by plane or car. However, on a recent trip, I did have to deal with an extremely long delay.
Earlier this month I enjoyed a superb Interrail trip that started with a night train to Nice (before skiing in Isola 2000), before moving on to Les 3 Vallées to ski in Méribel.
The TGV in Nice (pre-delay)
Stationary for three and a half hours!
However, on the Nice-Lyon leg of the trip, my train was delayed for three and a half hours after high winds blew tarpaulin onto the electric lines and brought them down.
Power across the whole line had to be switched off to allow maintenance work to take place – meaning that we were stuck on a stationary train.
That is a long time to be stuck, but on the plus side, we had power and wi-fi. But more importantly than that, I was SO IMPRESSED with how SNCF and their staff handled the delay:
- We received regular updates on the latest status of the delay, based on the latest information available
- We were provided with an emergency pack of supplies ‘SNCF Voyageurs Assistance’, including water, biscuit, bowl of taboulé and fruit juice
- We were advised that if the delay meant that we would miss our connection then we would be provided with accommodation and revalidated onwards connecting tickets
- We were also advised that we would be eligible to claim a refund on the cost of our tickets
Prompt, efficient service
And sure enough, when we eventually rolled into Lyon close to midnight, I was ushered from the train to the SNCF assistance office, where they promptly issued me with:
– a voucher for a three-star hotel, located right next to the station
– a new connecting ticket for my journey to Chambery the following day
In the week after I received an email from SNCF apologising for the exceptional delay and was given a link to claim a refund. As I was on an Interrail pass, I had only paid €12 for the reservation, but I still welcomed the gesture.
So, while I’d rather not be reporting on any delays on the trains, I wanted to share the very positive experience I had from a very negative situation (and, sadly, probably very different from how it might be handled in the UK).
