After the Thalys from Antwerp-Central to Marne-la-Vallée – Chessy near Paris we took an inOui (ex-TGV) train to Bordeaux-Saint-Jean. SNCF uses aging Alstom TGV Atlantique EMU’s for this service.

The TGV Atlantique fleet was built between 1988 and 1992 and is being fazed out by the bi-level Alstom Avelia TGV 2N2 Euroduplex also known as Océane. Actually the service to Bordeaux is the last one operated with Atlantiques.

Danny and I decided very late to travel to Bordeaux so there weren’t reserved seats available. Once on board we did manage to find folding chairs. Not comfortable. Luckily after 1.32 hours on the 5202 train we arrived at Saint-Pierre-des-Corps where many people left the train and we found two available seats in second class.

The rest of the journey, calling at Poitiers, Angoulême and Bordeaux-Saint-Jean we kept our seats.

Christian Lacroix

When the Atlantiques were refurbished in 2005-2010, Christian Lacroix designed the interior. A lot of purple, orange-red, some blue and some green. The colour scheme makes the TGV stand out compared to the grey scales of Deutsche Bahn (DB) in Germany, of the Österreichische Bundesbahnen (ÖBB) of Austria and of the federal rail operator SBB-CFF-FFS in Switzerland.

The seats are comfortable enough and feature a large tablet, a reading light, a cupholder and one power outlet for two.

Le Bar

Le Bar or The Bar is inOui’s bar coach. The offering is decent with competitive prices. There is no seating but you get a paper bag to carry tour deal or menu to your seat.

Here’s the menu and here are the deals.

Danny had a wrap and a brownie plus a drink for 11.90 euros. I had the veggie deal for 9.90 euros, consisting of a vegetable salad, a lemon cake and water.

All in all it was a pleasant journey once we sat on real seats. The TGV’s are good trains an efficient way to travel in France.