What are the consequences of the closure of the Part-Dieu station, in the middle of the Pentecost weekend?

“Due to works from Saturday June 4 at 1:30 p.m. to Sunday June 5 at 1:30 p.m., no train will serve Lyon Part-Dieu station. This message, which has been appearing for several weeks on the SNCF Connect app, could raise fears of a strange mess for the Pentecost weekend, in a station crossed by 1,200 trains and 125,000 passengers per day on average. But the management of the French public railway company wants to be reassuring about the consequences of the work for the commissioning of track L.

Long-awaited since the start of work nearly five years ago (87.6 M€ in total operating cost), this twelfth track of Lyon’s main station is intended to “decongest Lyon’s railway star”. In order to be active from Sunday afternoon, this new route therefore entails a total closure of Part-Dieu for 24 hours. “We wanted to interfere as little as possible with the flows of this long weekend, hence this choice of Saturday at 1.30 p.m. until Sunday at 1.30 p.m.”, explains the SNCF.

Replacement coaches for several destinations

For the past few months, travelers have not been able to buy TGV tickets departing from or arriving at Part-Dieu on the usual Saturday afternoon/evening and Sunday morning timetables. They therefore had to fall back on the rest of the offer conventionally offered in the metropolis of Lyon, namely via the stations of Perrache and Saint-Exupéry airport, which do not have any trains added on this occasion.

Only those accustomed to TER traffic in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes could have a bad surprise on Saturday and Sunday when they discover the absence of all trains to (and from) Annecy, Aix-les-Bains, Chambéry, Roanne, Bourg-en- Bresse, Ambérieu and Paray-le-Monial. For all these destinations, the SNCF will set up replacement coaches at the Part-Dieu bus station. On the other hand, the trains for Grenoble, Marseille, Avignon, Valence or even Dijon will leave and arrive at Perrache during the 24 hours of closure of Part-Dieu, while those for Saint-Etienne will even be reinforced from Perrache. “The situation promises to be manageable”, assures the SNCF.

More information on the SNCF Connect app and here.