South-East TGV traffic interrupted: at Nîmes station, holidaymakers try to keep smiling

Passengers when they learned that the only train to Paris, passing through Clermont, would arrive around 11 p.m., this Wednesday, July 31.

Marion (Séclin) and Théo are staying an extra night in the Gard before returning to Paris.

Edna s’est arrangée pour qu’un ami récupère à sa place ses petits-enfants arrivés de Guyane, à Paris. Ils dormiront chez sa sœur ce mercredi soir.

The repeated announcements of train cancellations to Paris, this Wednesday, July 31, have changed at the last minute the plans of vacationers who were supposed to return to the capital. While also leaving other people in much more difficult situations.

The violent storms that hit the Centre region and Burgundy last night have impacted the rail network as well as the electricity distribution network. “Traffic was interrupted today, July 31, on the lines between Lyon and Paris and no trains will leave the stations on this line before 5 p.m. today”, published this afternoon the SNCF on its account X.

On the side of the Nîmes centre station, the line grew longer in front of the SNCF shop, around 2pm. The 2:19pm train to Paris was cancelled. Visitors are waiting but remain generally calm.

“That's changing everything!”

Els has been trying to get back to Holland since morning. “I arrived at 9:30am but the train was cancelled. They started saying he would be 40 minutes late, then an hour, an hour and a half, 2:20, etc., she smiled, understanding despite everything. SNCF agents just talk a little too fast for me.”The Dutch woman therefore decides to extend her vacation at her daughter's by one day, in La Roque-sur-Cèze. Listening to her, it seems to suit her rather well.

Audrey, comes from Eure-et-Loir. She is also returning from vacation but her train had a connection in Paris. So she comes out of the Nîmes station with her suitcase on wheels. “My brother, who lives in Bellegarde, is coming back to pick me up, she explains. I'm sleeping at his place tonight. I'm on vacation, but they had plans, that puts everything off! " She'll take the train tomorrow, Thursday. A TER that "will go through Clermont-Ferrand, a twelve-hour journey".

Medical appointments

For others, it's more complicated; like this elderly person in a hurry because she has to change her mode of transport to ensure a visit to the doctor. We won't know more. Edna, she put her three bags behind the station, in a shady place. “It's not a problem for me but I had to organize myself, she breathes. I was going to pick up my grandchildren who are arriving from Guyana at Roissy airport. I thought I would be able to get to the airport at least but all the TGV trains to Paris have been cancelled. So I called a friend who will pick them up at the airport and take them to my sister's house, who lives in Paris. I'll pick them up tomorrow. The new ticket is free."

The long queue at the SNCF shop dispersed when, around 2pm, the agents announced that the only train leaving for Paris today was likely to be a TER to Clermont-Ferrand leaving Nîmes at 2:21pm, with a change at Clermont-Ferrand. Expected arrival in Paris around 11pm.

On the forecourt of the station, Lise scrutinizes her smartphone. “There were a lot of people, the agents were shouting, she simply remembers. My mother and my brother took the TER to Paris, but I don't believe it. I preferred to stay on vacation in the Cévennes." His mother has to undergo eye surgery in Paris on Thursday morning. His brother has to feed his cat there.

Not enough "Points de dèche"

Lise, she, is waiting for the 3pm bus, while checking that the train to Paris, which was supposed to pass through Nîmes around 5pm, is actually leaving from Perpignan. “He would arrive at 8pm, it would be more convenient, but he is already late. If he leaves before I take the bus, my brother is ready to get off his TER in Alès, to return to Nîmes and take it.”

Next to her, Théo and Marion (Séclin, screenwriter and actress) have booked an extra night in a hotel. At their own expense. On vacation in Alès, they were supposed to return to Paris. “They didn't want to book the hotel for us, because other people are in more difficulty than us. We don't have enough points to be poor!, jokes Théo. So, we have to pay the difference between our old ticket and the new one, for tomorrow. We'll make a refund request later." Between the hotel, the new ticket and the shopping, they calculated offhand that they would have to pay around 120 € moreover.

Anyway, the solution of the TER arriving in Paris at 11pm didn't suit them. "Staying up for eight hours, without any water to drink, no thanks!", summarizes Marion.

But she and Théo, like several of the people we met yesterday, preferred to smile about it. It remains to be seen whether, as the situation continues, tempers won't risk getting even more heated.