Do you or do you not have permission to eat when travelling? It's not an insignificant question in the light of the government's announcement at the end of last week of a ban on eating food on board trains. Especially on long journeys.
Before getting on a plane or train, will we have to hurry up and gobble down a sandwich and drink our bottle of water to the brim? Such a measure seems hard to swallow, especially when journeys of more than two and a half hours are involved. Especially when you need to rehydrate.
Interviewed last week on Europe 1, the Secretary of State for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari said at the time. " We're obviously going to be pragmatists and be discerning on the subject. It would not be right, for example, to ban people from drinking or a mother to give food to her child" he said.
So it seems that the government is allowing people to dehydrate. While the implementing decree does not mention that eating food on board trains and aeroplanes is prohibited, it does specify that it is forbidden to remove one's mask during a journey.
Catering authorised on Eurostar and Thalys, prohibited on Lyria and TGVs to Spain and Germany
However, there is a certain amount of vagueness in the rail industry. Particularly when the train crosses a border. Does this rule apply to SNCF or only on national territory? Here again, the answer varies from one route to another...
An SNCF spokesman said the rule applies to all international TGVs for the entire duration of the journey. This includes the Paris-Barcelona with Renfe, the Paris-Frankfurt and Paris-Stuttgart TGV lines in cooperation with Deutsche Bahn and the Lyria services to Geneva, Lausanne and Basel/Zurich.
These bans are likely to be difficult to enforce on routes such as Paris-Frankfurt or Paris-Zurich, where the train journey takes four hours. But there are also nuances. For example, the DB booking website always mentions a open bar on the Paris-Stuttgart morning line and the Paris-Sarrebruck-Frankfurt evening line, operated by German ICE high-speed trains.
When asked about this, a DB spokeswoman said that there were no no restrictions at present. The ICE bar and the bringing of food on board are therefore authorised.
However - and this is another paradox - the ban on eating and drinking does not apply to Thalys, Eurostar and Nightjet Paris-Vienna services. The latter is operated jointly with DB and ÖBB.
Given the impossibility of monitoring every traveller, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari had to backtrack somewhat. On 4 January he stated that snacking would be allowed if it only lasted a few minutes...
Simpler rules for flying
Visit aircraftthe rule is simpler. This measure applies only to domestic journeys within mainland France.. The international flights or flights to the French overseas departments and territories are therefore not affected.. In fact, an hour to an hour and a half flight on the longest routes in France without a snack is not unbearable!
