ParisByTrain.com

[fudge_brownie]

Any estimates of times involved. Arrival on an international flight at 8:40 AM,

need to clear customs,
drop to Terminal 2 train level,
no baggage pickup
obtain Euro from ATM
purchase Billet Ile-de-France,
take train to Notre Dame stop,
finally take the metro to Austerlitz

Eventually going to Tours, I know there are TGV trains at the airport but their departure times are early or late, not any choices until well after noon.

[ben]

Any estimates of times involved. Arrival on an international flight at 8:40 AM,

need to clear customs,
drop to Terminal 2 train level,
no baggage pickup
obtain Euro from ATM
purchase Billet Ile-de-France,
take train to Notre Dame stop,
finally take the metro to Austerlitz

Eventually going to Tours, I know there are TGV trains at the airport but their departure times are early or late, not any choices until well after noon.

These are my estimates:

Passport control: <20 min. (if you're seated in the front half of a full A320, 40 min. if you're the last person off)
Baggage pickup: 0
Customs: 0
Terminal 2 Arrivals to train station: walk time is 3min. if you're at Terminal 2D/2F, 15 min. if at 2A.
Cash from ATM: 5 min.
Purchase Billet Ile-de-France: 15 min. from CDG Terminal 2 ticket office (assuming you cannot use a ticket vending machine if you don't have enough Euro coins nor smart chip credit card).
RER B from CDG to Paris (St Michel Notre Dame): 40min.
Metro Line 10 direction Gare d'Austerlitz: 12 min. including walk from St Michel Notre Dame to Cluny La Sorbonne station. Construction work has closed RER C to Austerlitz until Aug 23. After that, RER C between St Michel Notre Dame and Austerlitz RER C may be slightly quicker depending on your luck on timing between trains on the RER C.

Total travel time: 1 hour 35 min. to 1 hour 47 min.

Regards,

Ben

[fudge_brownie]

Thank for such an excellent timetable. I have calcualted a best case and worst case scenario and it appears that it is doable. My confusion (and possible time waster) is Notre Dame station coming off the RER B from CDG. You mentioned that RER C would be closed till Aug 23, can I assume it is now open? I looked at the RER C schedule and they seem to rum pretty close to a 15 minute interval. That could be a bit of a wait.

You routed me, to I assume the Metro Yellow line? Departing Cluny-LaSorbornne. I have not been able to find a time table of frequency on that line. What about the walk to Cluny? Does that outweigh waiting fo rthe next RER C train. I assume we are talking all one and the same, yellow line, route 10 with the endpoint of Gare d'Austlerlitz.

Another point maybe if one has to pass through ticket gates again in both routes and does the Billet Ile-de-France from CDG cover both?

Finally does it make a difference where the trains end up in Gare d'Austerlitz? Is Metro or RER closer to the SNCF departure tracks?

[ben]

Metro Line 10 which runs from Cluny-La Sorbonne to Gare d'Austerlitz departs every 3 to 5 minutes during the day with a journey time of 5 minutes. The RER C, in terms of journey time, is only 1 minute faster, taking a total of 4 minutes between St Michel-Notre Dame and Gare d'Austerlitz. See my article about using Metro/RER route planners for more information on this.

Walk time from St Michel Notre Dame to Cluny La Sorbonne Metro station is about 6 minutes according to Google Maps (doesn't include time spent waiting for traffic lights).

If you just missed an RER C train, you would save 3-4 minutes at most by walking over to Cluny La Sorbonne and taking Metro Line 10. Do keep in mind that you would need a new Metro Ticket t+ for this journey if you decided to take it. Once you leave a station, the billet Ile-de-France from CDG to Paris is finished and cannot be used further. If you stay within St Michel Notre Dame and simply switch from the RER B to the RER C, you can use the same billet.

I'm not sure of the difference in walking time from Metro vs. RER to the Grandes Lignes trains at Gare d'Austerlitz (I've hardly used this station), so I'm hesitant to take a guess, although the Metro/RER route planner gives the same amount of "walk time": 3 min.

I hope this helps. Best of luck,

Ben