Today I'm going to be riding on the double deck high-speed train, from Paris through
the French countryside and along the mediterranean coast, on an incredible journey down to Barcelona
in Spain.
So join me, and experience this international train ride.
Hello and welcome back to another video, today I'm here at Paris Gare de Lyon, and I'm going
to be travelling on a journey between two of Europe's biggest tourist cities.
I'll be catching the Renfe SNCF co-operation train down to Barcelona.
I'm booked into First Class on the top-deck, so it's going to be a nice journey - let's
go!
Gare de Lyon is one of six major railway terminals in the French capital, dating back to 1849
in order to serve as the Northern terminus of the Paris to Marseille line.
The station gets its name from the City of Lyon, most trains from the station running
either to or through the city, which is France's third largest by population.
The station today consists of two main halls, both of which were extremely overcrowded with
people excited to be travelling once again.
Since 2021, Gare de Lyon has been undergoing a major renovation, not only to preserve the
historic 1900s station building, but also to improve accessibility and better handle
passenger demand.
Despite the overhaul taking place, it's still worth mentioning 'Le Train Bleu', a famous
restaurant situated in the station, ordinarily offering a fantastic view over the station
hall, and a designated Historic Monument of France.
As one of the busiest stations in Europe, expect to see a large variety of trains here,
of course including the iconic TGV Duplex operating high-speed services all over France
and abroad.
There are also occasional services from the private operator Trenitalia, as well as some
regional trains and commuter trains.
As shown on the departure board, my train, the 10:10 to Barcelona-Sants will be departing
from Hall 2, which is a couple minutes walk from Hall 1 via the old ticket hall.
While making your way there, be sure to look up at the Fresco painted by Jean-Baptiste
Olive, showing many of the destinations on the railway line to his home town of Marseille.
Hall 2 was first opened in the 1920s, acting as a major expansion of the station's capacity.
Sadly, like the other hall this was also majorly overcrowded.
Interestingly, Paris Gare de Lyon station is twinned with Barcelona-Sants, my destination
for today.
It also shares a twinning with the stations of Seoul in South Korea, and Tehran in Iran.
Anyway, around fifteen minutes before departure, my train is called for boarding.
Battling through the crowds to reach my platform, I thought it really would be a pickpocket's
dream here.
Tickets are inspected prior to accessing the platforms, resulting in passengers all gathering
around the gates at once, I have to say that I much prefer the more open approach used
in most other parts of Europe.
Following the ticket inspection, I can now head to my train.
Like with many high-speed trains in France, only part of the formation actually continues
all the way to Barcelona, with the rear half being detached from the train in Montpellier.
Make sure you board the right section, as there's no way to swap until the next station.
The Barcelona section is the front half of the train, today formed by TGV Euroduplex
set number 806.
Built in 2013, the train is designed for international services to Spain and Switzerland at a maximum
speed of 320km/h (200mph).
I'll be travelling in Coach 12 today.
Boarding is done through the lower deck, with the upper deck being accessible by stairs
next to the door.
Passengers with reduced mobility, or those wanting to bring heavier items of luggage
are therefore probably best off on the lower deck.
Seating is in a 2+1 layout, as you'd expect in First Class.
I'll be travelling in seat 121, a forward facing solo seat at the end of the carriage.
Today's route starts from the beautiful Paris Gare de Lyon station, first heading south
east along the aptly named LGV Sud-Est.
We'll then change to the LGV Rhône-Alpes and LGV Méditerranée, before taking the
classic route along the coast into Spain, and finally speeding towards Barcelona.
The journey is scheduled to take 6 hours and 44 minutes, to cover the 1086km, or about
675 miles of track.
Our journey begins on-time, at 10:10.
The first part of the trip is spent weaving through Paris, running past its railway depots
and through the suburbs of the French capital, but not long after leaving the city, we're
on the LGV Sud-Est.
This route was France's first high-speed line, first opening in 1981 to serve trains from
Paris to Lyon and the surrounding area.
Top-speed is an impressive 300km/h (186mph).
Much of the scenery for the first few hours is the vast farmland of Central France, making
for a pleasant view.
A free WiFi service is offered on-board, which can easily be connected to with just a couple
of clicks.
And whilst the train is high-speed, this certainly isn't Wifi à Grande Vitesse.
So let's take a look at the interior.
First off, I have to mention the colour scheme, which is a collection of rather garish blues
and purples, it doesn't look great in my opinion.
Most importantly though, the seat comfort.
The seats in the TGV First Class are pretty wide, despite the double-deck configuration.
I also found the padding and shape to be fantastic, providing a comfortable trip throughout, although
if I had one criticism about the seat, the winged headrest is a little bit hard.
All seats are fitted with a pair of soft adjustable armrests, and on one of these you can find
the controls for the seat's motorised recline, which I thought was a really nice touch.
Legroom is fairly good, with plenty of space to relax, even on a longer trip like this
one.
There's also a folding footrest, for added comfort.
On the seat in front, you can find this huuuge folding table.
There's no cupholder per-se, but a small folding bracket can hold a smaller bottle or cup.
Above this, there's a small storage pocket, which is cleverly placed in direct line of
sight when sat down, so you don't forget your items when leaving the train.
On the ceiling, you can find an adjustable reading light.
There's also an effective window blind at all windows, and a coathook between them too.
Every seat gets a European style power socket, with a small bin found beneath it.
After two hours at high-speed, we still haven't reached our first station, with the train
effortlessly gliding smoothly along the French high-speed network.
Passing by quaint villages, across rivers, and even flying junctions...we
finally slow down to call at our first station.
This is Valence TGV, built to allow high-speed trains to serve the City of Valence, without
slowing down to reach the centre.
A few minutes later, we depart the station.
It's now really noticeable just how different the climate is down here in the South of France
compared to where we started.
Anyway, I'm getting pretty hungry, so I think it's time for lunch!
The catering service is in the form of a bar in carriage 14.
There's also a trolley service, should you prefer to remain in your seat.
The bar carriage has a really pleasant atmosphere, thanks to lots of space and the near-panoramic
windows letting a lot of daylight in.
Though do bear in mind that seating is very limited here.
The menu is provided by the Spanish side of the operation, being part of Renfe's 'el café
del tren' service.
I opted for the Express Menu, consisting of a sandwich, a snack, and a soft drink.
This cost €9.20, which I think was a little on the pricey side considering the quality
wasn't that great - you could easily get a proper meal on other long-distance trains
for not much more.
After leaving the high-speed line, we shortly arrive at our next station, Nîmes.
The rest of the journey through France is on slower tracks, shared with regional trains.
The scenery isn't the best here, but it picks up a lot later.
In the mean time, let's have a look around the rest of the train.
Firstly the luggage situation.
Luggage stacks can be found in various places throughout the carriage, some of them quite
far from seats though - so be sure to keep valuables on you at all times.
There are also some overhead luggage racks, but these aren't very big, so not really useful
for storing anything except for smaller personal items.
Moving on to the toilets.
Two can be found in every carriage, one on the upper deck, and a larger one on the lower
deck.
These were in a generally good condition, with both soap and water available, though
unfortunately the hand dryer was not working.
Some carriages have a small sofa next to the toilet.
I'm not really sure what it's for, so if you do know, then please leave a comment!
We're now approaching Montpellier Saint-Roch.
An extended stop is made here, to allow the rear portion of the train to be detached.
Our train carries on to serve Sète, a major port and seaside resort on the Mediterranean.
This station has a trainshed design that seems to be really popular across the south of France.
45 minutes later, we arrive into Narbonne, which serves as a major junction for the route,
linking Toulouse and Perpignan with Montpellier.
After leaving Narbonne, then be sure to take a look out of the window while riding alongside
the coastal lagoon.
You might just catch a glimpse of some pink flamingos.
Even if you're not so lucky, this is a beautiful stretch of track, and not one you'll want
to miss out on!
This is Perpignan, the final station in France.
The weather here is such a contrast to Paris.
There it was under 20 degrees, whereas here it's nearly 40.
After leaving Perpignan, we're back on a high-speed line, now speeding towards the Eastern Pyrenees
mountains, visible in the background.
To cross this large mountain range, we use a tunnel beneath the Perthus pass, a modern
construction opened in 2010.
A few minutes later, and welcome to Spain!
The first station in Spain is Figueres-Vilafant, the Northern terminus of the country's high-speed
rail network.
Spain is lucky to have a very large amount of high-speed railways, in fact it has the
second most out of any country worldwide, even beating Japan's Shinkansen network to
the spot.
Anyway, on to how much today's journey cost.
For this trip, I was using an Interrail pass, so I just paid the rather extortionate seat
reservation fee of €48.
An ordinary booking at the time would have set me back about €172.50, which seems like
a serious amount of money for one train journey.
Though, when you consider the journey's length of 675 miles, that gives a price per mile
of about 21p - for a first class trip on a high-speed train, it's actually not as bad
as it seems.
So this seems like a pretty great service, and surely better than driving or flying,
right?
Well, unfortunately there are a few problems with the route.
For example this is the timetable for trains between Paris and Barcelona.
That's right, just two trains per day.
Overall, I really did enjoy my experience on the Renfe SNCF co-operation train, but
clearly a lot of work is needed.
At the moment, it's more of a novelty, having amazing scenery and decent comfort, but the
lack of decent provision for larger items of luggage on what is clearly a major tourist
route is a big oversight, as is the poor catering offer for such a long international trip.
Going into 2023, the joint operation between Renfe and SNCF is to cease, with each operator
hoping to offer their own direct services.
We can only hope that the overall experience on this route is improved as a result.
We're now entering the tunnel that leads to Barcelona-Sants.
The modern underground station is a far cry from the beauty of Gare de Lyon, though let
me know in the comments which station you prefer.
Arrival at our terminus today is 18 minutes late, at 17:02.
So what do you think of today's journey?
Is this an ideal international train, or do you think that they could do a lot better?
As always, let me know in the comments what you think.
Of course this isn't the only international train running from Paris, with the famous
Eurostar train beneath the sea running to London.
Click on-screen now to watch that video, and I look forward to seeing you again on my next
journey!