Léman Express Évian-les-Bains & Annemasse, France – Geneva & Coppet, Switzerland regional train
Evian in France, you know, the town that’s named after the famous water bottles you can buy everywhere in the world. I arrived here by ferry from Lausanne in Switzerland and continue my journey back to Switzerland again by regional train. This train will not only have fuse on the Léman Lake, but also on Lac de Machilly what is way less known for obvious reasons. This train will go via Annemasse in France and Geneva in Switzerland to Coppet in Switzerland. Join me on board of this train from Evian here in France. I’ll be taking it to Geneva, but it continues a little bit further down into Switzerland, a little bit north of Geneva. I’ll tell you all about that in the video. But for now, let’s get this video on the track and let’s roll the intro. [Music] The day before I arrived in Evian in France by ferry from Lausanne in Switzerland. I know it sounds a bit strange to arrive from a landlocked country by ferry, but the Lac Léman is rather big and at the middle of the lake what is more or less the Lausanne – Evian connection the ferry is just the most obvious way. Close to the ferry terminal there’s this petite train touristique, so the little touristic train but that’s obviously not the train that we’ll be taking today. The railway station is about a 10-minute walk away from the city center or 15 to 20 minutes away from the ferry terminal. The town center is not big, but it might take you 10 minutes to go from one side to the other side. The station is nowadays a terminal railway station, but back in the days when they built this railway line, this was just a station a long longer railway line. Basically from Geneva via France back into Switzerland again. That railway line has been closed. But good news, they want to relaunch that part as well. This way also traveling time for domestic trains within Switzerland can be shortened a lot. For example, on the Geneva to Brig route. At the front of the railway station, there are lots of spots where you can park your car, but probably if you watch this video, you’re not interested in that. And I also noticed this hotel straight at the front of the station. Might have been a better spot than the place where I stayed. what was really nice and cute and in the town center by the way. Anyway, this here is the front of the railway station. There are some bus stops as well at the front, but when I was here on an early Sunday morning, there were not that many buses going from and to here. This here is the main concourse of Évian-les-Bains railway station. There’s even a staffed ticket counter that was closed on this early Sunday morning. However, you also find a vending machine for tickets. Some places where you can wait and a vending machine for snacks and drinks where I bought not too healthy snacks for a kind of breakfast, because when I arrived here it was early morning and I didn’t have any breakfast yet. Anyway, this railway station has three platforms. There’s not much to describe about it. Before you go to the train, there’s a clear display that will host route information about the train as well. And this here is our train for today. I hope you like this video so far or that it’s a helpful video to you. If so, please give me a thumbs up. I really appreciate that. Questions, feedback, comments, or , if you just want to say hello, feel free to leave a comment. This is all improving the algorithm of YouTube. So, this video might be suggested a bit more often to other people. And if you like to see more trip reports about more sustainable ways of transportation, the main focus for this channel is long distance and or international traveling to show you what it’s like to travel in a more sustainable way of transportation. I mean, crossing a border is in general when it comes to tickets and so more complicated than it should be. So, this is what I’m trying to explain in these videos. But, if you like to see more, then hit that subscribe
button if you haven’t done this already. For now, we just continue with this video. Like with many other videos, let’s take a quick look on the environmental impact, if you’re traveling on this route by train or car. You can travel 100 times by train to have the same environmental impact as one time by car. And car data is based on the European average car and also the European average amount of passengers. What is 1.5. No matter what, even with the most sustainable car, the train is
the winner. Today’s route will be from Évian-les-Bains in France along the Lake Léman or the Lake of Geneva. From there on, we’ll go to Annemasse with some stops along the way. Lots of planners were mentioning that I have to change trains there, but that’s not the case. It’s just one direct train. Although there’s not every hour the case for this journey. I’ll explain you a little bit more about that later on in the video. But for now, let’s take a close look at the exterior of our train for today. We are traveling on board of a regional train that’s being operated by the state-owned railway company of France, SNCF. This train comes in two comfort categories or classes, one and two. So, first and second class. At the entrance doors, you will find the numbers one and two that will indicate the first and the second class like here on the right, the first class. And at the part of the entrance door where you find the first class, an extra yellow stripe will indicate where the first class is. This (yellow stripe) is only at the entrance door. The yellow stripes are kind of the international standard for indicating first class, at least for many trains in many countries. Bike icons do indicate where you can put bikes on board these trains, that’s basically it. These trains have been built by the French train manufacturer Alstom and are a part of their Coradia family trains. You find the Coradia trains in many different versions mainly for regional trains, although some of the Coradia trains have been modified as semi highspeed trains like in the Netherlands and Belgium. Anyway, for now, let’s take a closer look at the interior of these trains. And we start off like always in second or standard class. There are very clear screens that will host route information and
announcements are being made automatically as well. This information is available in France and in English it’s also available although it’s very basic. What is nice I mean we stay in France and a French speaking part of Switzerland but it’s still an international train. Basic LED screens at the end of the open compartments do host some more route information. What I just showed you is the bike area and at the vestibules of these trains there are some folding seats and litter bins. These trains are pretty low to the ground what makes it really easy accessible. However, the pathway needs to go up for the wheels that are obviously a bit higher. However, what I didn’t really like and I almost fell because of this is because the pathway is going up and the seats are on another level. There is a kind of a staircase at a spot where you wouldn’t expect it. That’s basically the biggest point of criticism on board of these trains. What’s not a very serious point of criticism. First class has red seats as you can see over here. But apart from that, it feels like it’s basically the same as standard or second class, just how you want to mention it. It has been marked within the train as well that this is first class. And since it was still pretty quiet at the moment I shot this part of the video, let’s do a quick seat review in first class. And it’s okay. It’s not great, especially not for a first class product, but it’s definitely not very bad. I assume you have slightly more leg room and it feels like there are more power sockets over here. That’s basically it. To be honest, it’s not worth the money to pay for first class
tickets on board of these trains. This here is a route map of the Léman Express network. I’ll get back to that a little bit later on in the video. And here on the left, we find the toilet. If I walk on, at least. This is a bigger accessible toilet that was unfortunately occupied already. Close to the bigger accessible toilet, you will also find the accessible area on board of these trains, what makes a lot of sense. There are some more spots for luggage over here. But apart from that, all over the train you will find the overhead luggage racks. But these trains are not made for people traveling with a lot of luggage because these are true commuter trains. And of course, tourists or people who go on a longer holiday with quite a lot of luggage can also be squeezed in. This is seriously less than half a minute from when I went past the toilet at the previous moment, but it was still occupied. I didn’t film the toilet eventually. However, it is a bigger accessible toilet. But what I really like to know as a soon-to-be father at least, is there also a baby diaper changing facility. These are serious questions where you wouldn’t think about otherwise, but if you’re going to travel with little kids, I’d like to know this actually. All windows on board of these trains do have a built-in sunscreen. And like I already mentioned, there are plenty of power sockets. All seats do have a builtin reading light both in first and second class and this is actually really nice. However, in my situation, I’m quite tall. It doesn’t work that well to be honest. I really have to more or less lay flat to make it work, but if I sit like normal, it’s lighting up my shoulder and that’s it. However, I’m not the average person. Line maps for the Léman express trains can be found at several spots on board of these trains. There are six lines and these trains are basically all, all station services. Let’s take a quick look on the route map for the Léman Express trains. We’ll be traveling on line L1. The frequency for these trains is very different per day and time of the day. Sometimes they go once every 2 hours and sometimes you find three trains per hours and especially during rush hour. I mean these are true commuter trains even though for touristic purposes they’re totally fine as well. In many railway planners including interrail what’s basically the same as your Eurail, where I was traveling on when I made this journey. It was mentioning I had to change trains at the railway station of Annemasse in France just across the border from Switzerland and what is a kind of a junction railway station for regional trains. However, I just had a direct train. What is the case
for this? Basically, between Évian and Annemasse it’s being operated by the French and from Annemasse, it’s being operated by the Swiss railway company. But it is still the same train. Actually, this is a kind of accidentally t report because first I plan to go one hour earlier. That would be a little bit too early, especially because I already calculated a lot of time at the railway station of Geneva. So, I didn’t do that. But in that situation, I was traveling with the regional train that went to Bellegare, if I pronounce it right, in France. And then I had to change trains in Annemasse. No matter how you look at it, if you change trains in Annemasse, you find very good connections to Geneva as well because a lot of these trains do call here. And some of them even start at the station of Annemasse. Over there. I also noticed some Swiss trains in the livery of the Léman Express, as you can see over here. Even though the interior of our train for today was obviously a Léman Express train, the exterior was in the livery of the regular regional trains in this area of France. By the way, about one and a half year ago, I also made a video on a regional express train so that makes less stops that will also cover the section between Annemasse, Geneva, and Coppet. That train actually continued towards Lausanne Montreux and Saint-Maurice in Switzerland along the lake of Geneva or Lac Léman. Like I already mentioned, Évian-les-Bains, where I started this journey is at this moment the terminal station. Until 1998, that wasn’t the case and the train was heading back into Switzerland again. And there are very serious plans to reactivate that railway line
again. If this is happening, this will reduce the travel time, for example, between Geneva and Brig in Switzerland. And there are definitely more benefits. When it comes to ticketing for the Léman Express trains, I found the online ticket system, to be honest, very complicated. The easiest website to book train tickets for these trains, and I don’t say this very often, is the Swiss state-owned railway company, their website, SBB. On the French website , I found it unnecessarily complicated to buy train tickets because these Léman Express trains are not fully integrated into the TER ticket fare systems. If you buy a regular one-way ticket, it’s not the cheapest train either, but it’s definitely the best way to travel between Évian-les-Bains and Geneva because parking your car, for example, is going to be very pricey as well. For commuters, there are good deals as well. I don’t know the exact details when it comes to it, but I think if you commute on these trains, it’s relatively easy to find them. For now, I just stop talking and show you some views I had
from this train along the route. [Music] That’s it for this accidentally trip report. I really didn’t plan this at all because when I planned this, I thought this would be a regional train from Annemasse to Geneva. Anyway, I hope you liked this video or this has been helpful to you. If so, please give me a thumbs up. If you like to see more trip reports about more sustainable ways of transportation with the main focus cross bordering and or long distance traveling, because on cross bordering there’s so many things are still unknown. So, this is why I like to explain a little bit more. But if you like to see more, then hit that subscribe button if you haven’t done this already. And this is definitely an international train. If you have some questions, feedback, comments, or even if you just want to say hello, feel free to leave a comment. And before we really end up this video, one very last thing. Once again, thank you for watching. Related videos can be found in the description of this video. And something else you find in the description of this video is a link to a map. And on this map, you can find all videos as well, but then on a map. And of course, you can find them on this channel as well. And if you subscribe, you see new videos coming up. See you on the next video.
The Léman Express from Évian-les-Bains to Coppet provides a direct cross-border connection between France and Switzerland. Trains serving key stops including Thonon, Annemasse, and Geneva, before continuing along the north shore of Lake Geneva to Coppet. The service offers seamless connections to Geneva’s city network and other Léman Express lines into Switzerland and France.
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▬▬▬▬▬▬ VIDEO CONTENT ▬▬▬▬▬▬
00:00 Introduction
00:53 Évian-les-Bains, France railway station
03:25 Like, comment & subscribe
04:15 Environmental impact train vs car Évian-les-Bains, France – Geneva, Switzerland
04:43 Route overview
05:08 Léman Express train L1
10:34 Léman Express network
13:51 Views from the train Évian-les-Bains, France – Geneva, Switzerland
17:14 End of this trip report France – Switzerland by regional Léman Express train
Trip report 263
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1 Comment
Great video