About 3 weeks ago I went on a journey from Southampton to Lisbon & Porto by train. This was my first time abroad on individual tickets (rather than an Interrail)
I set off at 13:00 on 20th March on an advance ticket from Southampton to Waterloo (£6.05). The platform seemed very busy but I got two seats to myself on the right hand side of the train (so I can see the train in yard at Eastleigh). We arrived in London roughly on time (well 15 seconds late). I tapped in on an oyster at Waterloo East and took my time to St Pancras using SouthEastern and Thameslink.
I was catching the 16:31 from St Pancras to Paris and I entered the security queue at about 15:00. The queue was very short. There were a significant number of people queuing for the next train to Paris, but they weren't being let through yet. The ticket and bag checks were very fast, as was the passport check as I went to a booth rather than one of the endlessly problematic e-gates. I waited about 15 minutes after boarding opened to go up to the platform, to avoid the queuing. I had booked a seat close to the front of the train so I would be nearer the exit in Paris. The Eurostar was a newer Class 374 set. I find the seats in the Eurostar very comfortable and had no issues on the 2-2.5 hour journey to Paris, except for the usual lack of mobile data and GPS signal in the 374s. As is usual, the seat next to me was occupied.
Upon arrival at Paris Nord, I spotted the trains currently in the station and then walked to Paris Est to spot the trains there. I then bought a single ticket for the Paris Metro from the machine, which was issued as a paper ticket for 2.15 euros. I took metro line 5 to Bastille, and walked to the Gare du Lyon. I spotted the trains there, and then made a quick visit to McDonalds (which would be considered as a crime by many Parisians) for some food I could eat while walking. This was surprisingly expensive. I then walked to Paris Austerlitz station where my sleeper train was departing from. The station is still in the middle of being rebuilt, and feels quite dingy with all the scaffolding.
I was travelling on the sleeper from Paris to Latour de Carol. My ticket was checked and I wandered along to the front of the train. Most of the carriages were for Toulouse only, with a few for Latour de Carol and one (empty!) seating carriage for Foix. I was surprised at how busy the couchette carriages were for a Wednesday night in March. The seating carriages were far from full.
As I went into the cabin and stowed my bags, it was clear that the air conditioning was not working and it was very hot in the compartment. I thought that it might start once the train left. This did not happen, and I tried to fall asleep but was too hot. I went to find the guard, who was about 10 carriages away, and explained mostly in sign language that the air conditioning was not working (he did not understand what I said in English). I followed him to my carriage, and he opened the control panel, revealing that someone had switched the air con off for the whole carriage!
I slept well until Toulouse, where we were stationary for a long time. I checked the schedule and saw that we were timetabled for nearly an hour there. I was slightly nervous of my connection at Latour de Carol so did not sleep properly again until we left. I woke up again after Foix (can't remember exactly where), and found that the other occupants of the cabin had all left, so I had it to myself. This was good as I could get changed in the cabin. I ate some breakfast I had brought from the UK and took some pictures of the scenery out of the opening windows (photos not attached as they are apparently too large).
We arrived about 3 minuted late at Latour de Carol (at 10:15), with plenty of time for my connection, which left at 10:30. I had hoped there would be a cash machine at Latour de Carol as I forgot to take any euros out in Paris and didn't have any. I boarded the regional train to Barcelona and bought a ticket from the guard when they came through with my card. It was 12 euros. The train had IET seats (Fainsa Sophia I believe they are called), which were comfortable enough for the journey and I was relieved not to have to sit on plastic seats as I had feared. The scenery was very good between Latour de Carol and about Campdevanol, although the windows didn't open so the photos weren't as good. The train runs along the side of a gorge, which I enjoyed. We arrived in Barcelona Sants a few minutes late at around 13:55.
I waked to all the tourist sights in Barcelona. I had planned to store my bag with the place at the station. It's in the multi-story car park next to the station proper and was very expensive (I was there for 4 hours and had to pay 10 euros for a full day) but as I couldn't be bothered to find somewhere else I sucked it up.
My next train was the 17:40 Ouigo train to Madrid. I knew that there were security checks at spanish HS stations and was slightly stressed as I arrived back at Sants slightly later than planned, at around 17:20. However, the checks are much simpler than the Eurostar or airport ones and I don't think I even had to take anything out of my pockets! I then had a manual ticket check before going onto the platform where my train was waiting. I went up and down the platform doing trainspotting for about 10 minutes without issue, and then boarded the Ouigo. It felt exactly the same as the TGV Lyria I have previously been on in Switzerland. The seats were much more spacious than I anticipated and there were plenty of luggage racks, which I used in preference to the rather full overhead storage. The train didn't have any sockets or USBs (or not that I saw), which was slightly annoying but I had my external battery with me so not a huge issue. I didn't really fit in the toilet on the train, either standing up or sitting on the toilet. I am 6'3", but I think i should be able to fit!
We arrived in Madrid Atocha on time at 20:10, and I did some more trainspotting for about 10 minutes before exiting to the main station concourse. The exit was not very logical, as you cannot exit via the old station building at the front, and instead have to exit via the taxi rank on the top floor. There appeared to be construction work at ground level. I took in the sights of Madrid before making my way to the bus station for my night bus to Lisbon.
I find it a shame that the night trains to Portugal haven't made a comeback after Covid, and CP (Portugese Railways) seem to level the blame solely with RENFE/ADIF. I would rather get to Lisbon than stay a night in a hostel or hotel, so it's the night bus for me. I booked with ALSA (spanish national express equivalent) for 15 euros, leaving at 23:30 and arriving at Lisbon Oriente station at 06:00. There were two buses to Lisbon leaving at the same time, so I had to find the bus number on my ticket to get on the right bus. The seat next to mine was occupied by a nice dutch chap, with a surprising number of non-Iberian nationals present, including some English people. It cost 1 euro to use the toilet on the bus, which I thought was a bit tight.
I got some sleep on the bus (not very much but that's what I expected) and we arrived on time. I had bought an INTRA_RAIL pass, which gives unlimited travel on CP trains (not Alfa Pendular) for 3 days, and 2 nights in a youth hostel. I had a 'voucher' for this but needed to collect a physical card at Lisbon Oriente, which should be possible. The CP website claimed that the long distance ticket office at Oriente opened at 06:30, so should have been open when I got there. It wasn't. I walked around for 10 minutes and found it open. I showed the clerk the voucher and asked to collect my pass. He read the voucher and had no idea what I was on about. I checked the website and my voucher again several times to check my understanding was correct. I then tried again at another window, and the clerk was happy to give me a free ticket but didn't seem to think giving me an actual card was necessary. I asked about the Lisbon urban card I was also entitled to, and was told I had to go to the urban ticket office (which wasn't open yet). I waited for it to open, but the clerk in there also had no idea what my ticket was about.
At this point, I walked to the hostel I had a reservation with to see if they knew what should be happening, as I was sure I had something wrong. The man on duty on the front desk didn't know what it was either, even though there was a poster about it on the wall behind him. After some more conversation, he explained that he was just night security and the actual receptionist would be in in about 15 minutes. I waited, and luckily, she did know what an INTRA_RAIL was and was rather cross that CP had messed me about. She gave me the hostel phone number and told me that she would put an official complaint in for me, and to call her if I had further issues. Armed with some renewed confidence, I went back to the urban ticket office to another clerk to collect my pass. He looked at my voucher, made some long phone calls and then told me to come back in 15 minutes. I came back 20 minutes later, and he said no, he couldn't do it. I called the receptionist and they had some argument in Portuguese. Eventually, she explained that they didn't have any at Lisbon Oriente, but they did at Lisbon Apolonia, but that CP wouldn't give me a ticket to Apolonia so I would have to travel ticket-less and explain myself to any guards I found.
Luckily, I wasn't ticket checked on my way to Apolonia. At the ticket window, the clerk made about 3 phone calls and then the manager came out. After about 10 minuted they eventually managed to get me my INTRA_RAIL pass (which I had paid for online!) and the navigante card for Lisbon urban trains. This was only about 3 hours after first trying to collect it! Makes the UK railway positively competent!
Frankly, I had had enough of CP at this point, so walked around Lisbon for most of the rest of day. In the afternoon, I obtained some (free) reservations for some intercity trains, to go Pragal and back over the 25 de Abril bridge. The views were great! I didn't have any problems obtaining these free tickets with my pass. Neither did I have any problems checking into my hostel with my pass.
The next day, I did trainspotting for a whole day, and only encountered one ticket clerk who couldn't issue me a free ticket. I mainly travelled on Intercity trains. They weren't very clean and didn't have any USBs / charging sockets, but they were loco hauled so I wasn't complaining! The punctuality was quite poor, and you should prepare for any Portuguese train to be up to 10 minutes late. However, the reliability was very good, and I saw no trains cancelled or over 20 minutes late.
Another observation is that the urban service on weekends is very poor. My hostel was next to Moscavide station, which had about 8 trains per hour each way Monday to Friday, but only 1 at the weekend!
Apart from the difficulty in obtaining it, the INTRA_RAIL pass was very good value, and I obtained 184 euros worth of reservations and 35 euros of hostel reservations for a 64 euro pass! There's further description at https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en/how-to-travel/For-leisure/intra-rail
This post is already very long, so I shall leave it there, but I'll carry on with some more observations of Portuguese railways if anyone is interested.
I set off at 13:00 on 20th March on an advance ticket from Southampton to Waterloo (£6.05). The platform seemed very busy but I got two seats to myself on the right hand side of the train (so I can see the train in yard at Eastleigh). We arrived in London roughly on time (well 15 seconds late). I tapped in on an oyster at Waterloo East and took my time to St Pancras using SouthEastern and Thameslink.
I was catching the 16:31 from St Pancras to Paris and I entered the security queue at about 15:00. The queue was very short. There were a significant number of people queuing for the next train to Paris, but they weren't being let through yet. The ticket and bag checks were very fast, as was the passport check as I went to a booth rather than one of the endlessly problematic e-gates. I waited about 15 minutes after boarding opened to go up to the platform, to avoid the queuing. I had booked a seat close to the front of the train so I would be nearer the exit in Paris. The Eurostar was a newer Class 374 set. I find the seats in the Eurostar very comfortable and had no issues on the 2-2.5 hour journey to Paris, except for the usual lack of mobile data and GPS signal in the 374s. As is usual, the seat next to me was occupied.
Upon arrival at Paris Nord, I spotted the trains currently in the station and then walked to Paris Est to spot the trains there. I then bought a single ticket for the Paris Metro from the machine, which was issued as a paper ticket for 2.15 euros. I took metro line 5 to Bastille, and walked to the Gare du Lyon. I spotted the trains there, and then made a quick visit to McDonalds (which would be considered as a crime by many Parisians) for some food I could eat while walking. This was surprisingly expensive. I then walked to Paris Austerlitz station where my sleeper train was departing from. The station is still in the middle of being rebuilt, and feels quite dingy with all the scaffolding.
I was travelling on the sleeper from Paris to Latour de Carol. My ticket was checked and I wandered along to the front of the train. Most of the carriages were for Toulouse only, with a few for Latour de Carol and one (empty!) seating carriage for Foix. I was surprised at how busy the couchette carriages were for a Wednesday night in March. The seating carriages were far from full.
As I went into the cabin and stowed my bags, it was clear that the air conditioning was not working and it was very hot in the compartment. I thought that it might start once the train left. This did not happen, and I tried to fall asleep but was too hot. I went to find the guard, who was about 10 carriages away, and explained mostly in sign language that the air conditioning was not working (he did not understand what I said in English). I followed him to my carriage, and he opened the control panel, revealing that someone had switched the air con off for the whole carriage!
I slept well until Toulouse, where we were stationary for a long time. I checked the schedule and saw that we were timetabled for nearly an hour there. I was slightly nervous of my connection at Latour de Carol so did not sleep properly again until we left. I woke up again after Foix (can't remember exactly where), and found that the other occupants of the cabin had all left, so I had it to myself. This was good as I could get changed in the cabin. I ate some breakfast I had brought from the UK and took some pictures of the scenery out of the opening windows (photos not attached as they are apparently too large).
We arrived about 3 minuted late at Latour de Carol (at 10:15), with plenty of time for my connection, which left at 10:30. I had hoped there would be a cash machine at Latour de Carol as I forgot to take any euros out in Paris and didn't have any. I boarded the regional train to Barcelona and bought a ticket from the guard when they came through with my card. It was 12 euros. The train had IET seats (Fainsa Sophia I believe they are called), which were comfortable enough for the journey and I was relieved not to have to sit on plastic seats as I had feared. The scenery was very good between Latour de Carol and about Campdevanol, although the windows didn't open so the photos weren't as good. The train runs along the side of a gorge, which I enjoyed. We arrived in Barcelona Sants a few minutes late at around 13:55.
I waked to all the tourist sights in Barcelona. I had planned to store my bag with the place at the station. It's in the multi-story car park next to the station proper and was very expensive (I was there for 4 hours and had to pay 10 euros for a full day) but as I couldn't be bothered to find somewhere else I sucked it up.
My next train was the 17:40 Ouigo train to Madrid. I knew that there were security checks at spanish HS stations and was slightly stressed as I arrived back at Sants slightly later than planned, at around 17:20. However, the checks are much simpler than the Eurostar or airport ones and I don't think I even had to take anything out of my pockets! I then had a manual ticket check before going onto the platform where my train was waiting. I went up and down the platform doing trainspotting for about 10 minutes without issue, and then boarded the Ouigo. It felt exactly the same as the TGV Lyria I have previously been on in Switzerland. The seats were much more spacious than I anticipated and there were plenty of luggage racks, which I used in preference to the rather full overhead storage. The train didn't have any sockets or USBs (or not that I saw), which was slightly annoying but I had my external battery with me so not a huge issue. I didn't really fit in the toilet on the train, either standing up or sitting on the toilet. I am 6'3", but I think i should be able to fit!
We arrived in Madrid Atocha on time at 20:10, and I did some more trainspotting for about 10 minutes before exiting to the main station concourse. The exit was not very logical, as you cannot exit via the old station building at the front, and instead have to exit via the taxi rank on the top floor. There appeared to be construction work at ground level. I took in the sights of Madrid before making my way to the bus station for my night bus to Lisbon.
I find it a shame that the night trains to Portugal haven't made a comeback after Covid, and CP (Portugese Railways) seem to level the blame solely with RENFE/ADIF. I would rather get to Lisbon than stay a night in a hostel or hotel, so it's the night bus for me. I booked with ALSA (spanish national express equivalent) for 15 euros, leaving at 23:30 and arriving at Lisbon Oriente station at 06:00. There were two buses to Lisbon leaving at the same time, so I had to find the bus number on my ticket to get on the right bus. The seat next to mine was occupied by a nice dutch chap, with a surprising number of non-Iberian nationals present, including some English people. It cost 1 euro to use the toilet on the bus, which I thought was a bit tight.
I got some sleep on the bus (not very much but that's what I expected) and we arrived on time. I had bought an INTRA_RAIL pass, which gives unlimited travel on CP trains (not Alfa Pendular) for 3 days, and 2 nights in a youth hostel. I had a 'voucher' for this but needed to collect a physical card at Lisbon Oriente, which should be possible. The CP website claimed that the long distance ticket office at Oriente opened at 06:30, so should have been open when I got there. It wasn't. I walked around for 10 minutes and found it open. I showed the clerk the voucher and asked to collect my pass. He read the voucher and had no idea what I was on about. I checked the website and my voucher again several times to check my understanding was correct. I then tried again at another window, and the clerk was happy to give me a free ticket but didn't seem to think giving me an actual card was necessary. I asked about the Lisbon urban card I was also entitled to, and was told I had to go to the urban ticket office (which wasn't open yet). I waited for it to open, but the clerk in there also had no idea what my ticket was about.
At this point, I walked to the hostel I had a reservation with to see if they knew what should be happening, as I was sure I had something wrong. The man on duty on the front desk didn't know what it was either, even though there was a poster about it on the wall behind him. After some more conversation, he explained that he was just night security and the actual receptionist would be in in about 15 minutes. I waited, and luckily, she did know what an INTRA_RAIL was and was rather cross that CP had messed me about. She gave me the hostel phone number and told me that she would put an official complaint in for me, and to call her if I had further issues. Armed with some renewed confidence, I went back to the urban ticket office to another clerk to collect my pass. He looked at my voucher, made some long phone calls and then told me to come back in 15 minutes. I came back 20 minutes later, and he said no, he couldn't do it. I called the receptionist and they had some argument in Portuguese. Eventually, she explained that they didn't have any at Lisbon Oriente, but they did at Lisbon Apolonia, but that CP wouldn't give me a ticket to Apolonia so I would have to travel ticket-less and explain myself to any guards I found.
Luckily, I wasn't ticket checked on my way to Apolonia. At the ticket window, the clerk made about 3 phone calls and then the manager came out. After about 10 minuted they eventually managed to get me my INTRA_RAIL pass (which I had paid for online!) and the navigante card for Lisbon urban trains. This was only about 3 hours after first trying to collect it! Makes the UK railway positively competent!
Frankly, I had had enough of CP at this point, so walked around Lisbon for most of the rest of day. In the afternoon, I obtained some (free) reservations for some intercity trains, to go Pragal and back over the 25 de Abril bridge. The views were great! I didn't have any problems obtaining these free tickets with my pass. Neither did I have any problems checking into my hostel with my pass.
The next day, I did trainspotting for a whole day, and only encountered one ticket clerk who couldn't issue me a free ticket. I mainly travelled on Intercity trains. They weren't very clean and didn't have any USBs / charging sockets, but they were loco hauled so I wasn't complaining! The punctuality was quite poor, and you should prepare for any Portuguese train to be up to 10 minutes late. However, the reliability was very good, and I saw no trains cancelled or over 20 minutes late.
Another observation is that the urban service on weekends is very poor. My hostel was next to Moscavide station, which had about 8 trains per hour each way Monday to Friday, but only 1 at the weekend!
Apart from the difficulty in obtaining it, the INTRA_RAIL pass was very good value, and I obtained 184 euros worth of reservations and 35 euros of hostel reservations for a 64 euro pass! There's further description at https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en/how-to-travel/For-leisure/intra-rail
This post is already very long, so I shall leave it there, but I'll carry on with some more observations of Portuguese railways if anyone is interested.