Covid-19: Travel with confidence
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic and French government directives, we’re taking special measures to keep you safe in our stations and aboard our trains. Here’s everything you need to know.
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Adapting our offer and our services
- Curfew: if you’re booked on a long-distance train that will run after curfew, you don’t need to change your travel plans. Your ticket is your curfew pass.
- Traffic updates: If you have a train ticket, we’ll contact you via SMS or email to confirm that your train will run or notify you that it has been cancelled. You can expect to hear from us no later than two days before your departure. You can also get the latest information on any train from the Assistant SNCF app: every day at 17.00, we issue updates for the following day. And if your journey includes a connection to a TER regional train, you can visit the TER website for the appropriate region to check timetables for the following day.
- Available services: on-board dining is still suspended. Grand Voyageur lounges are open, but hours may vary by region. Our Junior & Cie service for unaccompanied children is still available at weekends for existing reservations, but we are not offering new bookings at this time.
Planning your travel
When you travel you must:
- wear a mask throughout your journey. If you do not wear a mask, you are subject to a €135 fine.
- bring your ticket, your railcard or pass, and an ID.
- have an exemption certificate (attestation de déplacement dérogatoire) in areas that require one.
To use your ticket, you must comply with the French government’s travel directives.
Planning your journey at an SNCF ticket window or sales office
Hours at SNCF ticket windows and sales offices may vary due to the unprecedented conditions created by Covid-19. If you need to get information, plan or change a journey, or exchange tickets, please use:
- the Assistant SNCF app and/or the OUI.sncf app and website
- the self-service machines near the entrance to your station
If you need to plan an upcoming journey, please make an appointment with one of our advisers as required by public health guidelines.
Staying safe together
It’s up to all of us to follow public health guidelines, so that everyone can travel with confidence.
- All adults and all children ages 11 and older must wear a mask in our stations and aboard our trains. Law enforcement and Railway Security officers will check for compliance at the entrances to major stations, and if you do not wear a mask, you are subject to a €135 fine.
- You may purchase masks and hand sanitizer from vending machines and in-station shops. You’ll also find hand sanitizer in nearly 200 dispensers installed in 120 stations.
- The SNCF employees on hand during your journey will wear masks to protect everyone.
- The Ministry for Solidarity and Health also recommends downloading the TousAntiCovid app and using it to protect yourself and the people around you.
Public health measures in the station and during boarding
To keep you safe, we’ve adopted new in-station crowd flow measures and modified our boarding procedures. Here’s what’s new:
- Law enforcement and Railway Security officers are now positioned at station entrances to ensure that everyone wears a mask in stations and aboard trains.
- In large stations, inbound and outbound foot traffic are kept separate.
- New floor markings promote social distancing in waiting areas, under the main departures and arrivals boards, at self-service machines, on escalators and on platforms, and we’ve installed queue management solutions in front of sales areas and shops.
- Posters and loudspeaker announcements remind everyone to practice social distancing.
- We’ve stepped up cleaning and disinfecting procedures in stations and aboard trains.
Ticket sales
To avoid having to wait in the station, please buy your tickets remotely whenever you can, using the Assistant SNCF app and/or the OUI.sncf app and website.
Assistant SNCF
Access the full range of transport options—train, car with driver, metro, bus and more—all the way to your final destination. Let us take care of your journey, from booking to boarding.
Exchanges and refunds
In response to government directives, we’re accepting exchanges and refunds of all tickets free of charge up to the last minute, through April 18.
If you exchange your ticket and the fare for the new one is higher, you must pay the difference. For detailed information on terms for exchanges and refunds, please visit the OUI.sncf website.
1 For OUIGO trains, free exchanges and refunds are available until 90 minutes before departure.