Your Train L54 of 15/09 to SAINT-JEAN-PIED-DE-PORT is Cancelled

[Shamoose]

So annoying! I booked the train in June ready for travelling tomorrow and I got this message yesterday. It seems the 15:20 train I was booked on from Bayonne to SJDP tomorrow has been cancelled. I have contacted a local transport company and they can take me for $65. This seems a little steep.
Is there anyone else out there in the same predicament as me that will arrive in Bayonne tomorrow at around 14:00 and would like to share i lift?
I see from Google that there is a bus at 14:20. Can anyone confirm that this will run, and maybe know an apprroximate price.
I also paid an extra couple of $'s to have this journey insured at the time I bought the ticket with SNCF. The insurance is with Allianz but I have no idea how I would make a claim. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[mspath]

Often when the train from Bayonne to SJPdP is cancelled a replacement bus is provided at the station for no extra cost. If you are arriving to Bayonne by train ask when you are on that train. If you are arriving in Bayonne by other means ask at the station about a free bus.

Bayonne rr station is small and easily navigable; the staff are helpful and serve multitudes of tourists and pilgrims each year.

Show your ticket to any station employee for help. If all seems impossible go to the station master's office/ bureau du chef de gare, for assistance.

Good luck and Carpe diem.

 

[24greendoor]

Also, look at Express Bourricot. They leave from Biarritz airport which is just 10mins on bus from Bayonne. They do ride-share transfers to SJPdP

 

[Stephan the Painter]

So annoying! I booked the train in June ready for travelling tomorrow and I got this message yesterday. It seems the 15:20 train I was booked on from Bayonne to SJDP tomorrow has been cancelled. I have contacted a local transport company and they can take me for $65. This seems a little steep.
Is there anyone else out there in the same predicament as me that will arrive in Bayonne tomorrow at around 14:00 and would like to share i lift?
I see from Google that there is a bus at 14:20. Can anyone confirm that this will run, and maybe know an apprroximate price.
I also paid an extra couple of $'s to have this journey insured at the time I bought the ticket with SNCF. The insurance is with Allianz but I have no idea how I would make a claim. Any help would be appreciated.

I can't tell you anything for sure, but I think if you arrive in Bayonne, there will be other pilgrims and some other way to get to SJPP.

I bet there's a substitute bus or this other bus you found on Google Maps (usually reliable information), but if not, you can find some people to share a ride.

When I was in Bayonne this past spring, the train I had a ticket for was full, but they provided a bus for all the people who had tickets.

A small risk, but it'll probably work out.

 

[BlackRocker57]

So annoying! I booked the train in June ready for travelling tomorrow and I got this message yesterday. It seems the 15:20 train I was booked on from Bayonne to SJDP tomorrow has been cancelled. I have contacted a local transport company and they can take me for $65. This seems a little steep.
Is there anyone else out there in the same predicament as me that will arrive in Bayonne tomorrow at around 14:00 and would like to share i lift?
I see from Google that there is a bus at 14:20. Can anyone confirm that this will run, and maybe know an apprroximate price.
I also paid an extra couple of $'s to have this journey insured at the time I bought the ticket with SNCF. The insurance is with Allianz but I have no idea how I would make a claim. Any help would be appreciated.

there will likely be a replacement bus

 

[Tincatinker]

There will be a replacement bus. Just turn up at the station before your scheduled departure time.

See this thread: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/bayonne-to-sjpdep-12-sept-2024.88821/#post-1292079

 

[naplesdon]

There will be a replacement bus. Just turn up at the station before your scheduled departure time.

See this thread: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/bayonne-to-sjpdep-12-sept-2024.88821/#post-1292079

OMG Tinc, I think you are going way out on a very dodgy limb with something as imperative as "There WILL be a replacement bus." We are talking about the vicissitudes of the SNCF and their relationship with their mutable labor union the CGT.

 

[Tincatinker]

I was always a high stake gambler. But noting the number of reported cancellations lately and the number of OMG there was a bus I suspect that the current cancellations have more to do with rocks on the track than CGT having a poke. It’s probably cheaper for SNCF to run the buses than to get repair crew on the track at weekends. Le weekend is sacred…

 

[naplesdon]

The only hope is the bus drivers are Basque and could give a hoot about what a French labor union tells them what to do.

 

[Bill905]

Happened to me at Bayonne, and the train company put a bunch of pilgrims in shared taxis to SJPP. Then a few years later it happened to me in Saint-Etienne, and a bus was provided to Le Puy. Have faith!

 

[Kathar1na]

seems the 15:20 train I was booked on from Bayonne to SJDP tomorrow has been cancelled.

I guess this is a typo and you mean the 14:20 train.

Cancellation of a train on the line L54 Bayonne-SJPP is not rare. The reason appears to be neither a mudslide nor a strike but a logistics issue - either the train is not available or staff is not available.

When you look at the real time departure board for Bayonne for today (Sunday) you see both the cancellation of the 14:20 train and its replacement. Click on it and you see that the replacement is a “car”, i.e. a bus. It is operated by French Rail SNCF/TER and it will arrive in SJPP at 15:59.

It is unfortunate that the email about the cancelled train that passengers receive does not inform them about the replacement bus.

 

[Kathar1na]

It is unfortunate that the email about the cancelled train that passengers receive does not inform them about the replacement bus.

Their information policy is actually quite good. Train passengers of today make use of apps and I guess you find up to date info there. Otherwise you need to know where to click in their websites. It’s all there:

Reason for the cancellation of today’s 14:20 train:

Confirmation of the replacement bus:

 

[Shamoose]

So annoying! I booked the train in June ready for travelling tomorrow and I got this message yesterday. It seems the 15:20 train I was booked on from Bayonne to SJDP tomorrow has been cancelled. I have contacted a local transport company and they can take me for $65. This seems a little steep.
Is there anyone else out there in the same predicament as me that will arrive in Bayonne tomorrow at around 14:00 and would like to share i lift?
I see from Google that there is a bus at 14:20. Can anyone confirm that this will run, and maybe know an apprroximate price.
I also paid an extra couple of $'s to have this journey insured at the time I bought the ticket with SNCF. The insurance is with Allianz but I have no idea how I would make a claim. Any help would be appreciated.

Nice lady at Bayonne tells me there is a bus at 14:20.... phew!

 

[JLWV]

Contact with SNCF for a compensation.
Last July I had two SNCF trains with long delay, I made a claim (they have forms on line for it), and got part of the price returned.

 

[trecile]

Contact with SNCF for a compensation.
Last July I had two SNCF trains with long delay, I made a claim (they have forms on line for it), and got part of the price returned.

???
It seems that @Shamoose didn't suffer any delay at all.

 

[AJoy]

So annoying! I booked the train in June ready for travelling tomorrow and I got this message yesterday. It seems the 15:20 train I was booked on from Bayonne to SJDP tomorrow has been cancelled. I have contacted a local transport company and they can take me for $65. This seems a little steep.
Is there anyone else out there in the same predicament as me that will arrive in Bayonne tomorrow at around 14:00 and would like to share i lift?
I see from Google that there is a bus at 14:20. Can anyone confirm that this will run, and maybe know an apprroximate price.
I also paid an extra couple of $'s to have this journey insured at the time I bought the ticket with SNCF. The insurance is with Allianz but I have no idea how I would make a claim. Any help would be appreciated.

This happened to me in early September last year. I visited the station on arriving in Bayonne and spoke with staff there. They were very helpful explaining a bus would be available outside the station at the same time as the train would have departed. They were right.
Since then I have heard from numerous other pilgrims whose experience was the same. A bus was provided in place of the train.

 

[Kathar1na]

Cancellation of a train on the line L54 Bayonne-SJPP is not rare. The reason appears to be neither a mudslide nor a strike but a logistics issue - either the train is not available or staff is not available.

Today yet another train of the line L54 Bayonne-SJPP has been cancelled. One train out of the 6 daily trains.

Yesterday it was the 14:20 train from Bayonne and today it is the 8:52 train from Bayonne. And just like yesterday one can find the information online on the SNCF websites that the train is cancelled because of lack of staff and that a replacement bus will leave at the same time as the cancelled train from Bayonne for SJPP.

 

[JoeBoston]

I had a similar situation in November of 2022 when the train from Bayonne to SJPdP was cancelled. I could find no staff member to assist, and I don't speak enough French. I suggest being prepared to use a translation app, and be prepared to ask strangers to help as you look around outside the station for the correct bus.

 

[RJE]

Same thing just happened to me on 8/20, and they got a bus for everyone in Bayonne to SJPDP. I went from panicked to at ease surprisingly quickly. I think it happens regularly.

 

[Kathar1na]

Just to illustrate how frequently the L54 train from Bayonne to SJPP gets cancelled and replaced by a bus:

Sunday 15 Sep: train leaving Bayonne at 14:20 cancelled
Monday 16 Sep: train leaving Bayonne at 8:52 cancelled
Tuesday 17 Sep: no cancellations
Wednesday 18 Sep: trains leaving Bayonne at 12:35, 17:13 and 18:37 cancelled.

In all these cases, a replacement bus was or is scheduled. In the case of the 17:13 train on Wednesday, there are even 2 replacement buses scheduled: The first bus goes non-stop from Bayonne to SJPP and arrives at 18:17 and the second bus stops in all the places where the train stops and arrives in SJPP at 18:49.

The information about the scheduled replacement buses is online but not always easy to find. A good place to check are the real-time Departure & Arrival boards for Bayonne station and SJPP station, see https://www.garesetconnexions.sncf/en/stations-services