Le Figaro Lyon
The landscape is so pretty around Lake Bourget that passengers of the TER from 21:18 pm from Annecy were able to admire it twice this Sunday... Too bad it was dark. Their train to Lyon has indeed embarked on a closed route 80 kilometers further because of works, before turning back halfway. A "real error of switching", deplores the collective "TER Au-Ras le bol", on this last train of a day which had seen many deviations be operated because of the violent weather of the weekend, says for its part the SNCF.
Due to night work on the section between Ambérieu-en-Bugey, in the Ain, and Lyon, this section has been closed to traffic on Sunday evenings for several weeks. The TER from the east, take the southern route by Saint-André le Gaz and Bourgoin-Jallieu. But here it is on this rainy Sunday, a landslide took place at the height of the Tour du Pin, so that all the trains of the day were diverted from the north. When the last one passed, the switchman, located at Chambéry no longer thought about the work that began in the evening in Ambérieu, and sent the 21:18 on the same route.
U-turn in open country
In the trains, the regulars were surprised. "In Chambéry I knew that we should not resume to Ambérieu, surprised Guillaume employee in computer science in Villeurbanne of 35 years who returned from his family in Modane. We stopped in Culoz to go back and I saw the driver cross the train to go to the opposite driver's position." He took the opportunity to ask him in passing if this time he was sure of the direction. Finally, the passengers once again skirted the lake to the south and were indeed directed to Chambéry.
They arrived 1h30 late at Lyon Perrache station, and not Part-Dieu, the latter being closed at such late times. Unhappy travelers have therefore been for a few euros or even tens of euros of taxi or VTC from their pocket. SNCF Réseau says it regrets the incident and directs to the passenger structure for refund requests.