Travelling by train on the Côte d’Azur has just become even easier, with the launch yesterday (Sunday 15 December ’24) of extra trains between Cannes and Menton to ensure there will now be a train every 15 minutes in both directions. It’s a game changer!
According to Zou!, the new service adds an additional 20,000 places per day, which should (hopefully) mean no more having to stand crushed between fellow passengers all the way from Monaco to Antibes during peak periods.
The trains will run from 5.45am to 10pm, stopping only at the main stations between Cannes and Menton, namely Antibes, Nice and Monaco.
Locals have welcomed the launch, saying it will ‘revolutionise’ their commute to and from work. It’s expected to also encourage more tourists to use the train (which offers a world-class view of the Mediterranean by the way!).
The more frequent trains should ensure no more waiting 45 minutes or more on a platform because you just missed an earlier train. In fact, “from now on, we will no longer look at the train times. If we miss one, we know that there will be another one in the next quarter of an hour; that changes everything,” says Jean-Pierre Serrus, Transport boss for the Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur (PACA) region.
Zou!’s new ad campaign echoes this sentiment, telling customers they no longer need to run and can leave when they want. (That’s the theory at least. There were a couple of comments on X, formerly Twitter, today complaining that trains were still late, but they may have been referring to trains destined for other Riviera spots like Villefranche or Juan-les-Pins.)
One of the major advantages of a more frequent service, is that it should lead to more people ditching their cars in favour of the train, which will benefit the environment. Serrus is aware that for this to happen it’s vital that the service is “reliable and regular”.
The Côte d’Azur already has one of the busiest train schedules in France, outside of Paris, with around 60,000 travellers, according to Le Figaro.
The new service consists of about 40 trains, said the newspaper. A new maintenance centre has been established in Nice (in the Saint-Roch area); and a revamped, simpler, ticketing system is expected to be rolled out in the not too distant future.
The plan in the years to come is to ultimately have a train every 10 minutes.
Zou! also announced an extended timetable on weekends, with the train service now only ending at 2am on Sunday morning. (Great news for Saturday night revellers!)
According to Zou! a team of 150 agents will be available to passengers at the station and in trains.
Over the next few years even more rail changes are underway on the French Riviera with a new PACA line planned, the LNPCA project. Work on Phase 1 begins in 2025, and Phase 2 in 2027/28.
