Train versus plane: with many domestic flights banned in France, we test its rail network

11.09.2023 - 09:27 / theguardian.com / Emmanuel Macron / Clément Beaune

France could well be the perfect place to track the progress of the main battle over the future of travel: trains versus planes. In May 2021, France positioned itself as the frontrunner in a carbon-cutting train renaissance when its government enacted a ban on domestic flights where the journey could be done by train in less than two and a half hours. “We are the first to do it,” Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter, and it was hailed by minister Clément Beaune as a “powerful message” and a “strong symbol”. The European Commission designated 2021 as the “Year of European Rail” and billions of euros have since poured into railway infrastructure across central and eastern Europe.

So as the summer holidays began, a heatwave rose and nationwide strikes loomed, I bought a “one country” Interrail pass for £201 and set off on a circular loop round France by train, to see whether Macron’s policy was visionary policy or a pipe dream that discounted the strain it would put on crumbling public infrastructure. The 18-day route I’d plotted used trains from high-speed TGVs to rickety regional TERs, blending major cities with small towns. Arriving on the Eurostar in Paris, I’d head west towards Nantes, down the Atlantic coast to Bordeaux and seaside resort Soulac-sur-Mer, across the south to Narbonne and Marseille, before heading across country to the ancient volcanic region of Chaîne des Puys, before returning to Paris.

Paris to Nantes was a peaceful and direct high-speed TGV for four hours and 16 minutes. The buffet car was remarkably classy, offering the usual fare alongside small jars of honey and four types of tea. Both were a bit pricey for me, but I was glad they were there. The train pulled into Nantes at sunset, and the city had an excitable hum. Each summer, the streets are filled with free public art, and a green line painted on the ground guides visitors from piece to piece. Traffic noise is absent thanks to an electrified tram system and large pedestrianised zones, allowing alfresco bars and restaurants to spill on to the roads. At night, all you can hear is the warm sound of voices.

A few days later, my four-hour journey to Soulac-sur-Mer on the silver coast of Aquitaine started on Intercités, the medium- to long-distance trains that run where there are no TGVs. If there was wifi onboard, it wasn’t working, and as there was very little phone reception, I spent the time staring out of the window at fields of corn and sunflowers, rigidly rowed vineyards and thick green streams. At Bordeaux Saint-Jean, the atmosphere was frantic as thousands of people funnelled into low-ceiling tunnels in search of connections. Mine was a battered TER train, its inside shrouded in darkness as every window was sprayed thickly