Hi Ben. Thanks for your help. We were planning to visit Vernon and Giverny Sunday Oct. 20-Tues Oct. 22 and now find (apparently) that Sunday trains don't run in October to Vernon. Other than a taxi or rental car, do you have any other options to suggest. I can't find a bus schedule on Sunday either.
1 answer
Hi there,
Yes you're right, it looks like SNCF are doing weekend rail line works along the Paris-Vernon(Giverny) section of that Ter rail line.
I found the rail works notification pertaining to this section/date (French only, but you can copy/paste to Google Translate or ChatGPT/Claude (better) for translations). The orange section for Oct 19/20 is the one affecting you.
The "Impacts" column notes that there will be cars des substitions (replacement coach buses) running between Vernon <> Mantes on Sunday Oct 20. That means travelers going from Paris (Gare Saint Lazare) to Vernon, would have to alight in Mantes-la-Jolie (the one station in between Paris & Vernon) and board the replacement coach buses to finish the journey to Vernon. (As I'm guessing the actual work is being done on the Mantes-la-Jolie <> Vernon section of the rail line.)
So, theoretically, you could still take a train from Gare Saint Lazare in Paris to Vernon on October 20, but you'd have to make the transfer to coach bus at Mantes-la-Jolie as noted. (Fare would be included, you wouldn't pay extra.)
But, I'd recommend you to verify this with the Ter/SNCF Grandes Lignes ticket agent at Gare Saint Lazare when you are puchasing your tickets (which can be done days ahead of time, you don't need to do that at the last minute). They'll be able to check & confirm this is what you'll need to do to get to Vernon that Sunday. The Tuesday, October 22 return the Ter line would running normally again and you wouldn't need to make any transfers to complete the Vernon-Paris train trip. You could buy the ticket for that trip at the same time as the outbound journey.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions about that situation.