Absolutely no service between Paris and Lille on this TGV in 1st class, but a certain level of comfort, which in the end is all that matters.

So it’s off to Gare du Nord for the start of our trip, and with a very well-known product: the TGV’s 1st class. For once, no “exotic” carriers to discover for this trip within France.

You’ll find all the articles about this stay in Lille at the bottom of the page.

Booking

I booked my tickets a fortnight before departure for around €100 return. At this price, there’s no reason to travel any other way, nor to travel 2nd class…

Arrival at the station

I arrive at Gare du Nord quite a bit earlier than my departure time, a bad habit I’ve acquired at airports because of the lounges. As I got off the metro, I saw a passenger burst into tears and call someone close to her because she had been checked and fined on the metro for not having a ticket. Strange…

A little crowded on the forecourt, along with the many drug dealers and street vendors for which it is famous. To think that for many tourists this station is their first contact with Paris…a shame!

As the weather is fine, I sit down on the side of the station to enjoy the sunshine and deal with a few emails. The tags on my luggage are not made for this mode of transport…

I return to the hall a few minutes before the departure platform is announced. It’s packed out and people are even starting to crowd the platform entrance, anticipating its number before it’s announced.

Boarding

The dock number is announced and the wild animals are let loose on the platform. Despite the ticket controls, they’re rushing and jostling, everything I only moderately like. So much for good manners.

The train is long, very long, and my car is at the very end.

I finally reached it.

The cabin

I know a lot less about train seats than I do about airplane seats, but I do know that this is an older model.

It’s a double-decker TGV for which I have only one complaint: it’s low-ceilinged. Not only does it make you claustrophobic, but standing on tiptoe makes the top of my head touch the ceiling.

Old cabin but I find it pretty and quite premium.

There’s all the privacy you need, and it’s cozy and comfortable. I like the wide seat.

The tray-table is a good size…

The pitch is very decent.

I love this cabin, especially when it’s sparsely populated. When it’s full, it can become problematic because the high ceiling gives it a confined appearance, and if you add families and boisterous children…

If you’re surprised that I’m so happy despite the fact that we’re a long way from Trenitalia’s executive class, you should know that the competitor of this 1st class is the business class and not the Executive class, which has no equivalent on the SNCF and, what’s more, a week earlier I was in 1st class on a Deutsche Bahn ICE that looks so much like a cattle truck that it makes any SNCF product look super-premium by comparison. It was even worse than a Paris-Normandie TER (regional express train).

Everyone’s settled in, we’re ready to go.

The journey and the service

We’re leaving on time, and the ride will be very quiet as there will only be 4 passengers on this deck. Only the passage of the ticket inspector will disturb the tranquillity of this journey of less than an hour, which I’ll spend watching a series.

For the curious, the series is “The Diplomat”.

On the other hand, there is no service on the trains between Paris and Lille, which is understandable given the short journey time, which means that it would be absolutely unprofitable to assign staff to a bar car. On the other hand, they could have installed vending machines like on the TER trains between Paris and Rouen…

Arrival

On-time arrival at Lille Flandres station.

Bottom line

A short, comfortable and relaxing journey, thanks to a cabin that, even in its old age, is still very comfortable, provided it’s not full. And for such a short journey, that’s all we need.

In the end, the SNCF is never as good as when nothing is expected of it.

Articles about this stay in Lille

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