Injured skiers can get special SNCF train in France

Injured when skiing and worried about taking the train home? French train company SNCF is providing TGV carriages reserved for returning passengers who have been injured during their ski holiday.

More than 57,000 people have accidents linked to winter sports in France every year, reports TF1.

In a bid to make injured passengers’ return journeys more comfortable, the train company reserves a carriage on some of its TGVs to provide ‘Train des Neiges’ services for these users.

These services are a partnership between SNCF Voyageurs and health insurance providers, including Europ Assistance (owned by Generali) and Mondial Assistance (owned by Allianz). 

The trains generally operate for the two weeks during school holidays in February and March.

This year, Europ Assistance ran a service on February 27, from Annecy to Paris; while Mondial Assistance also ran a service on February 27 (from Bourg-Saint-Maurice to Paris), and will run another on March 6 (also from Bourg-Saint-Maurice to Paris).

Policyholders who have been injured on their ski trip can swap their existing ticket for the service, if available.

“The Train des Neiges is a service that we put in place as part of Mondial Assistance, to help bring home our policyholders, mainly in the Paris area,” said Cédric Ramaut, medical director at Mondial Assistance, to Le Dauphiné.

“[Normal services] are often very busy, which does not usually give us enough time to organise things [for injured passengers], so we set aside these trains so we know that our policyholders will definitely have enough space and help to come home.”

These special carriages, which are in the first class section, provide the following services for injured passengers:

• Transfer between the ski resort to the train station

• Direct route between ski resorts and final destinations, to avoid the need for difficult changes

• Help to board the train 

• The use of two seats if needed

• Help to disembark the train at their final destination

There are also two nurses on board to provide first aid and advice if needed during the journey, with ambulances ready to transfer patients home

To be able to take the train, injured passengers must be in a stable condition and not be at any further risk of health problems (beyond their already-treated skiing injury).

“We have everything we need to take our patients’ vitals, their blood pressure, their blood oxygen saturation, temperature, blood sugar…”, said one of the train nurses from Mondial Assistance.

One woman, who travelled back from her trip with her leg in plaster, explained that the new service made a big difference to her comfort. She told Capital: “My return journey was initially planned for a holiday Saturday. Which would have meant a packed train, with no room for my (injured) legs.”

The service is still relatively unknown despite having first started in 2001, with just 660 people having used the service since it began.

The train is available to people covered by the relevant insurance policies, but in some cases, the cost may be covered by other health insurance, which users may have taken out prior to their trip, or may have – for example – as part of their credit card policy.