Four stations in Occitanie are among the ten worst in France, find out which ones

This is the kind of ranking that the winners would rather let their name be kept quiet. Le Figaro indeed classified the worst stations in France. And in the Top 10 national, four are located in Occitanie !

That we reassure lovers of beautiful buildings, aesthetics are not taken into account in this list. The daily classified the fifty main stations in France (served by at least one high-speed train), from the worst to the best, according to three criteria *: the proportion of late TGVs, the average passenger waiting time and the results of an annual traveler satisfaction survey.

Lyon ahead and Occitanie in force just behind

In the end, it is Lyon Part-Dieu, one of the largest stations in France, which inherits the dreaded first place.

A third of late trains in the Gard

But immediately afterwards, we drive to Occitanie to find ourselves (to wait obviously) at the station of … Nîmes (Gard).

According to Le Figaro, on the total share of trains departing from the Gard prefecture station, 32% are said to be late on average. It is hardly better than Lyon and its 38%. And the average delay is worse there than in the Rhône with 13.6 minutes (against 9.9 in Lyon). In terms of passenger satisfaction, the score still stands at 7.8 out of 10, which puts the Gard problems in perspective. Unless travelers are used to …

Montpellier not much better

Just behind Nîmes, it is also in Occitania that we encounter the greatest difficulties in seeing a train leave (or arrive) on time: at Montpellier (Hérault).

Here we fall to 24% late trains, with an average delay of 11.9 minutes. And a score of 7.6 out of 10 in the travelers’ survey.

Perpignan in front of Toulouse

We don’t have to go very low to stay in Occitanie, after a detour through Marseille (fourth), we come across Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales). Which failing to be the center of the world, occupies fifth place in the ranking with 21% late trains, for an average delay of 12.3 minutes and a score of 7.7.

Finally, in ninth place there is Toulouse-Matabiau (Haute-Garonne). We fall to 11% of late trains, which is not so bad. The problem is that the delay is much longer than elsewhere. 26 minutes on average! This does not prevent the Toulouse station from having a correct score of 7.8 out of 10 in the satisfaction survey.

Brittany is doing better … With more resources

Leaving the Top 10, we can no longer find any other Occitan station in the ranking (which has 50 stations). Which also perhaps points to another problem: the region has only four stations out of the top 50 in the country. Brittany has five, better placed at the bottom of the ranking, with a million fewer inhabitants …

The Top 10

• 1. Lyon Part-Dieu
• 2. Nîmes
• 3. Montpellier
• 4. Marseille Saint-Charles
• 5. Perpignan
• 6. Valence Alixan TGV
• 7. Toulon
• 8. Paris North
• 9. Toulouse Matabiau
• 10. Mulhouse City

* Methodology: To calculate the proportion of late trains leaving from each station, Le Figaro related the number of late trains to the number of scheduled runs, from which it has previously subtracted all canceled trains. He then averaged over the first part of 2021. For the average delay, it was sufficient to take the field already calculated and to average it over the first six months of 2021. Note however, the SNCF considers that ‘a train arrives on time when its delay is less than five minutes for a journey of less than 1h30, less than 10 minutes for a journey between 1h30 and 3h and less than 15 minutes for a journey beyond 3h.
The final average rank is calculated as follows: the proportion of late trains counts for 30%, that of the average delay for 20% and the overall satisfaction score for 50%.

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