A guide to France’s TGV duplex double-decker trains
Travelling across Europe on the second story of a Duplex train is one of the highlights of a cross-country train trip.
IN THIS ARTICLE
What is a TGV Duplex?
TGV Duplex are a fleet of high-speed trains, operated by the French national rail company SNCF. These are double-decker trains, which have more capacity than conventional TGVs and offers great views from the top deck. Read our guide to the TGV for more information and pictures.
We haven’t got an exhaustive list of routes which operate Duplex trains yet, but whenever the option is available we’ll give the choice when you reach the choose passenger page.
How to tell if a train is a double-decker
You will have to select your desired train and click on continue, you will be directed to the next page where you will view details stating "This is a double-decker ("Duplex") train!".
How to get Upper Deck seats
If you choose a TGV Duplex, in most cases you will be given an opportunity to set your seating preference on the Ticket details page. Although we can't guarantee where your seats are allocated, we'll do our best to secure seats according to your preference. You can review the seats that have been allocated on the Basket page prior to checkout.
Upper/lower deck preference not shown
We always display all seating preferences that are made available to us, but this is at the discretion of the rail operator. Due to the below reason, we are not able to offer a choice of upper or lower deck by default.
- Journeys starting in London that include a TGV Duplex train - it may not possible to specify your preference depending on the ticket type. For example, through-fares from Eurostar, that combine the Eurostar with an onward TGV, do not permit you to specify a preference for upper/lower deck. You can split your search in Paris in order that the preference for upper/lower deck is displayed for the leg wholly within France, see: Modifying searches by adding a via station. Or add multiple tickets to your basket and select the preferred seats as described below.
