Rail Pass
Pass Rail by SNCF cost 50€ for unlimited TER and Intercités travel for 1 month. And reduced price for Intercités de nuit - couchette trains
Le Pass Rail est un dispositif financé par l'État et les Régions pour permettre aux jeunes entre 16 et 27 ans de toutes nationalités de découvrir la France en train durant l'été 2024 (1er juillet au 31 août).
Positive aspects:
- Unlimited (free) travel
Problems with the pass:
Free cancellation until the day before departure on regional trains without reservation
- Limited spontaneity:
The Pass Rail is designed to help travelers discover France, which should include a sense of adventure and spontaneity. However, spontaneity is restricted since you must book trains in advance. If you decide to change plans, you must cancel your reservation the day before. This restriction limits the freedom of adventure.
Concretely, if you plan a trip between two cities and, during your journey, you think, “Oh, maybe I can visit another city instead” you can’t because you can’t cancel your ticket on the same day!
- Issues with train delays:
Another problem arises when trains are delayed. If you need to take multiple trains and the first one is late, you’re stuck. You can’t take another (delayed) ticket for the second train because you can’t hold two tickets for the same time slot, and you can’t cancel the first one.
You might think, “Just book the ticket right before departure!” and that could work, except if the train is full, then you’re in trouble.
- App limitations:
The trip-planning app only allows up to two train changes and doesn’t work well with TER. If you find a better route on your own, you can’t adjust your itinerary because you can’t cancel your ticket.
Example, to do Paris Marseille by TER, the app will suggest more or less to do
Paris -(5h)-> Lyon -(3h30)-> Marseille
However, you could take this route:
Paris -(5h)-> Lyon -(1h)-> Valence -(1h)-> Avignon -(1h)-> Marseille
Or, if you enjoy train travel, you could try:
Paris -(3h)-> Vichy -(2h)-> Lyon -(1h)-> Valence -(1h)-> Avignon -(1h)-> Marseille
You might say, “But all trips take about the same amount of time!” Yes, but no, because of the waiting times between trains. For the simple Paris → Lyon → Marseille route, you might have to wait 3-5 hours in Lyon!
With the second option, you take more trains but have almost no waiting time.
Conclusion
Suggestion for SNCF: Please allow same-day ticket cancellations!
(There’s no reason to restrict this since tickets are free with the pass.)
Another question: Why is the pass limited to the summer only?
Links
- https://www.sncf-connect.com/app/catalogue/description/pass-rail
- https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/pass-rail
Introducing rail-planner, based on open data of SNCF