700 passengers on this TGV spent a sleepless night without air conditioning and had to change trains in the middle of the night.
“It’s very hot !! It’s unbearable”, “Stuck in the TGV 8450 for more than an hour, without air conditioning or electricity, the temperature is unbearable on the train”: nightmare night for the 700 passengers on the TGV 8450 from Bordeaux and on their way in Paris who would arrive in the capital this Monday evening at 21:50. These travelers finally disembarked this Tuesday morning at 7am. Or a delay of more than 9 hours due most of the time to an accumulation of accidents.
How’s the story Free Charente, it is towards Angoulême that things go wrong. The train stopped at 7.40pm due to a brake problem. The breakdown is not repairable and around 10.30 pm the SNCF decides (finally) with the help of the fire brigade, to transfer all passengers to one of the two functional trains of this double TGV and to decouple the broken down train. Meanwhile, a long wait without air conditioning in the heat and without electricity for the passengers.
Tickets refunded at 200%
The SNCF hopes to restart the train as soon as possible, but this transfer takes time: it ends at 00:15.
Curiously, the TGV travels at low speed and only arrives at 2:30 am in Saint-Pierre-des-Corps. The train is therefore still stopped for two hours to change driver. Around 4:30 am, the TGV leaves in the direction of Montparnasse and takes another 2:30 to reach the capital (whereas this TGV connection usually takes an hour).
On the passenger side there is anger, the SNCF is accused of minimal communication. “After a while, the controllers didn’t even want to make announcements anymore because they knew they would contradict each other later.” connects a passenger with our colleagues. The operator is also suspected of having played in time between Saint-Pierre-des-Corps and Paris. “Was it a desire not to pay for a taxi at all? Not to reopen the station in the middle of the night?” Asks the passenger.
In accordance with its pricing policy, SNCF has indicated that passengers on this cursed train will be reimbursed up to 200%.
