VIDEO – The Spanish railway company has just reopened two lines between France and Spain after its divorce from the SNCF. Comfort, price, hours… What is this new offer worth?
The war between SNCF and Renfe in Spain seems to be coming to an end. The French Company had initiated the hostilities by breaking the contract for joint operation of the trains crossing the Mediterranean border, to go it alone and launch its Ouigo on the Spanish lines. It has thus opened Paris-Barcelona with TGV Duplexes with more than 500 seats, for a journey of a thousand kilometers in 6h29. As for Renfe, after a long interruption, it reopened its Lyon-Barcelona line, and inaugurated, last weekend, its Marseille-Madrid. An 8-hour journey via Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, Nîmes – Pont-du-Gard, Montpellier Saint-Roch, Béziers, Narbonne, Perpignan, Figueras, Girona, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Guadalajara and Tarragona.
This summer, the AVE service (the name of the TGV in Spain) Marseille-Barcelona-Madrid is restored from Saturday to Monday, and in the opposite direction, from Madrid, from Friday to Sunday. It will become daily in October. This train, which uses old single-deck Alstom trains dating from the 1990s, has 357 seats. Those of the first, very comfortable, have a seat with a width of 60 cm, a length between the backrest and the edge of 45 cm and 39 cm of space for the knees. They don’t really tilt backwards, but the seat can slide forwards.
If the first class seats are always of good quality, those of the second feel the experience. They kept a slightly dated yellow fabric and don’t bow. They have a width of 50 cm, a seat of 47 cm and a knee space of 32 cm. We are nevertheless rather comfortable there. In both classes, one socket per seat is available, as well as Wi-Fi which however does not always work well.
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Where to buy tickets?
Competition obliges, neither the counters in French stations, nor the SNCF Connect application sell Renfe tickets. You will have to go through online agencies like Trainline, or use the site renfe.com relative ergonomics (like SNCF Connect) and translated succinctly into French.
However, the fee schedule is a bit complicated. Clearly, the major railway companies continue to recruit engineers from the Grandes Ecoles who have a knack for inventing tariff gas plants. It is not certain that the passenger finds his way around easily. To simplify, let’s say that with Renfe, the user has two purchase options: Básico or Elige.
Attention ! These are not travel classes but rather fare attributes. With the Básico fares, the traveler will systematically be seated in what in France would be called second class. With Elige and the Comfort option, he will access the first. Without this option, it will be the second. Once on board the train, let’s not pay attention to the signs that still display the old “Turistica” and “Preferente” classes. The technical services obviously did not have time to remove them.
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What about discounts?
The second class of Spanish AVEs, formerly called “Turista”. The seats remain identical, only the SNCF logo has disappeared. JOEL SAGET / AFP
Spanish discount cards can still be used on the Barcelona-Lyon and Madrid-Marseille lines, unlike the SNCF which refuses the Liberty card on its international journeys. Note, however, that the Renfe senior card, called Tarjeta Dorada, which costs only €6 and offers 25% reduction on weekdays and 40% on weekends, is not on sale in France. To acquire it, you must go to a counter in Spain with an identity document. Think about it on your next trip, for your future Iberian getaways. Finally, Premium class, with meals included, is not offered on these international routes, but only within Spain.
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On the price side, Renfe does better than SNCF
In terms of fares, past the euphoria of the launch offer with tickets at €9, in September it will take at least €59 in second Básico, €64 in Elige Second, and €74 in Elige Première to connect Marseille to Madrid. To which can be added multiple options with the Básico – such as the choice of the seat at 8 € and the possibility of exchange or cancellation for 12 €. With Elige, the penalty for changing the date is set at 20% of the ticket price, and 30% in the event of cancellation. On the pleasure side, the bar offers, at very reasonable prices, 100% Spanish products: tortillas, raw ham, but also croque-monsieur!
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On Montpellier-Barcelona, the most interesting Spanish trains
As regards the service of the Nîmes-Barcelona corridor, the central section of the route, no major change should be noted compared to the time of the collaboration between Renfe and SNCF. With one nuance: each company has its own ticket office and its own fare rules. Gone are the days when you could switch from one train to another! From now on, and particularly for this segment, it is a question of choosing the right company.
If we were able, for a time, to rejoice in the great offer of four daily trains, we quickly become disillusioned. Two of these trains run at impractical times. To Barcelona, that of the SNCF goes to Montpellier at 10:17 a.m., and that of the Renfe at 9:30 a.m. For the shortest journeys such as Montpellier-Girona or Perpignan-Barcelona, Renfe’s fares are always more attractive. The SNCF, which wants at all costs to sell end-to-end Paris-Barcelona tickets, practices stratospheric prices on these short sections. Thus, the 40-minute journey between Perpignan and Girona is sold for at least €50 by the SNCF, against half as much at Renfe.
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