Across Rural Picturesque France with SNCF’s smallest train, the X73500
Bonjour à tous,
A few weeks ago, I went to Aurillac to record the new night train from here, but on my way, I had the occasion to travel on one of my favorite railcar ever, the X73500 and FINALLY I was able to record a video on these wonderful little trains.
Enjoy, and don’t forget to like/leave a comment to help the channel 🙂
– TRIP INFORMATION –
Date: DECEMBER 2023
Railway company: SNCF (TER AURA)
Route : Clermont-Ferrand to
Time : 2h21
Price : 33,40€
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00:00 : Intro
00:21 : Onward arrival
00:53 : Our ride today
01:45 : Not suitable for this TER service ?
02:33 : Seat Check
03:08 : The X73500
04:29 : Neussargues
05:02 : Douce France
05:30 : Mid roll ads
06:04 : Monts du Cantal
06:35 : Le Lioran
06:54 : Walkthroughish
07:27 : Toilets Time
08:00 : Ghost train
08:34 : Spotted
09:01 : Arrival in Aurillac/thoughts
09:39 : Outro
24 Comments
Please don't do voiceovers
Basically a bus on rails and one of the smallest units I know. Maybe the Stadler Regioshuttle (german class 650) is even smaller.
Im pretty sure i rode one in grand est from thann to Mulhouse on the line shared with a tram train. Much Better forthat route than this id say
You can also find those seats on earlier Class 377s, 375, 450 and I think 350 as well (all however with smaller tables than in France)😢
Nice train, but there's something I didn't understand: you mentioned that it has four (4) wheels. Does it mean that it doesn't run on bogies but on single axles like the Pacer in the UK or Schienenbus in Germany (as well as the equivalent in Czechia, Hungary etc)? And despite this they are allowed to go140 km/h?
I remember travelling on one of the DB units travelling along the Leipzig-Chemnitz line and found them to be quite nice. Could imagine such a style of unit with big windows to admire the view coming in handy on some routes in the UK. Would need to fit in the loading gauge, so no worries about any X73500s leaving France!
Looks so cute 😂
I ❤ 🚂🚃 trains 🚄 🚅 trams 🚈🚞
take a ride, I have a folder on ''transportation''
(folder 4) I think you will love them too 🙂
Wir nennen den in Deutschland "Walfisch"
Nice report thibault, reminds me of the time in Germany when we were told our train was terminated and we’d to get the bus to the station the train was supposed to go to, yep the bus was a train similar to this one, I thought there was something lost in translation but I was told yes the train was called a bus because it served local traffic, perhaps someone with more knowledge about the German rail system could explain it better
Lovely little trains. I call them Gherkins! Wish SNCF would re-open many of it's rural branch lines for these little guys to run on.
Sympa ce format de video axé sur le matériel. On en voit peu ayant comme sujet les TER, automoteurs ou tractés, Xter, Omneo, AGC et autres. Merci.
Wouldn't work in the U. S. The FRA would not allow a rail car with only four wheels for the reasons stated in the video. So I guess Stadler Flirt is still the best European option available here for new self-propelled Diesel trains.
Thank you for the superb review 👍 Strasbourg has a fleet of these operating cross-border services, often with the same capacity issues 😅
Déchire cet autorail
3:17: "It's basically a bus on wheels!" So…. a bus? 😂
Four bike racks on a 90s railcar? Thats some real forward thinking. In Italy we got the first bike racks in the 2010s.
What are the tracks like on this "rural" service? well maintained and smooth? or rough ?
In terms of equipment, I suspect this has to do with what division of SNCF has that route and what equipment that division is allowed to have.
Do you know if these trains are transmission from diesel engines, or are they diesel electric traction?
In Canada, the RDCs from Budd were transmission. But they could put any number of cars on it. Our commuter trains in montreal (Rogaud line) before 1981 would sometimes have 9 of them strung together. But VIA in intercity service such as Montréal Ottawa or Montral Québec would only use 3 or 4 max (above which a loco hauled train is less costly to operate). RDCs hit 160kmh on a straight stretch of track near Montréal coing back from Ottawa.
For some reason, I really like railcars. Maybe it's because it's the smallest possible passenger train, and I like miniature things (including miniature trains).
6 hours on that would be a nightmare! You'd have to be some sort of masochist to try it…
Ce que j'aime sur ces trains c'est les grandes fenêtres d'une part mais aussi la moquette et ce bleu si particulier à bord ! C'est vraiment un de mes trains favoris !
I like with voiceover
I think you meant to say "a bus on rails."
I saw one of these in Metz and was bemused by then