aixcentric

…That’s the promise with a new SNCF service to be launched before Christmas.

Tapas in Barcelona

It currently takes 5:30 hours with 2 changes, at Montpellier and then Figueras.  The alternatives are the increasingly busy A9 or flying with its usual waiting times.  Centre-to-centre travel is easiest, if the journey times are competitive.  In fact it would be quicker if it weren’t for the fact that the trains have a section from Manduel (nr Nimes) to Perpignan were they have to travel at 200km instead of 32o.  The service will call at Aix and Avignon. There are no firm details yet of the launch date or prices, but La Provence is speculating that the new service will be around 15th December.

On the subject of travel, there is a new website called GoEuro which offers a streamlined service for journey planning. You simply feed in your destination and dates and the system comes up with costed alternatives for your travel.  You can then click on your choices to book tickets directly.  Neat!

And finally, local improvements to travel were promised yesterday by French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault who was in both Marseille and Aix with a fistful of euros.  Gare St Charles, the metro lines and the port are all slated for significant improvments – read about it here http://www.laprovence.com/article/web/2612251/ayrault-ce-vendredi-a-marseille-avec-un-vaste-plan-daide-pour-la-2e-ville-de-france.html.  Good news for Aix is the plan to improve the train link into Marseille.  The track will be widened at a cost of 250m € to improve the service to 4 trains an hour instead of 3, and 6 once the new underground part of Gare St Charles is in action. Unfortunately this is all very long-term.  We will have to wait until 2020 for the work to be completed to allow the new services to operate – meanwhile the traffic between the two towns grows exponentially.  Ayrault who was throughout his visit flanked by his local party candidates for forthcoming elections has been accused of electioneering.  A politician electioneering – perish the thought!