The Commute

Five days ago, I wrote to the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois (CFL), which is responsible for public transportation in Luxembourg, and the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF), France’s state-owned railway company.  Why?

I live in France and have been working in Luxembourg as a freelance English trainer since 2008. I’ve had many experiences of arriving late, missing appointments, losing income, and running in high-heeled shoes due to bus and train cancellations and delays. Last week, for the first time, I reached the ceiling. Why?

On 18 May 2026, I had to be in Luxembourg at 9 A.M. to give a presentation and lead a workshop for 14 trainee lawyers at the EU Court of Justice. My 7:36 train from Thionville and the following one were cancelled. I could have waited for the next one, but the reception area and platforms were crowded, and more people were coming. There was no way that everyone would be accommodated on the next train. My commute usually takes about 25-30 minutes by train. On that day, however, I arrived at the venue later than expected, even with a private ride that came at environmental and financial costs.

On 16 May 2026, I delivered a workshop to teachers in Luxembourg. One of the participants apologised for being very late because his train from France was cancelled; he asked me if I wanted to see his ticket to prove it.

One evening in March this year, I was interviewed by Radio ARA; since it’s next door to the train station, I decided to take the train, though I had a bus ticket.  The train was about to leave when I got to the platform. Once seated, I tried to buy the ticket online; because it was taking a long time, I whinged. My fellow passenger advised me to buy it through the conductor instead. The conductor charged me 10+ euros (instead of 3.90 euros – the price from the border to France, as public transport is free in Luxembourg). He added, “The fine is much more than that”. My fellow passenger commented right away, “Sorry, I didn’t know that it’s almost triple the price” when you buy it on the train. When passengers are running late and don’t have enough time or struggle to buy tickets online (especially on buses, where tickets can only be purchased online), they are fined, with no ambiguity about where the responsibility lies.

Who is responsible for passengers’ emotional pain and financial loss due to public transport cancellations and delays?

The CFL has responded (below), and I’m still waiting to hear from the SNCF.

“While we make every effort to ensure that our services operate in accordance with the timetable, it is not always possible to fully eliminate the risk of disruptions. Railway operations depend on a wide range of factors, including rolling stock availability, infrastructure conditions, and external circumstances, which may occasionally affect service reliability.

With regard to your question about legal responsibility, rail passenger rights in Luxembourg are governed by the applicable European framework, in particular Regulation (EU) 2021/782. This framework provides, in certain cases, for reimbursement, rerouting, assistance, and compensation for ticket prices.

At the same time, the Regulation allows Member States to exempt certain services, particularly suburban and regional services. Luxembourg has made use of these exemptions, and public transport information indicates that national journeys and rail connections between Luxembourg and stations in the Greater Region, including French Lorraine, are not covered by the compensation scheme described above.

Please be assured that such situations are taken very seriously. Our teams remain fully committed to minimizing the impact of disruptions whenever they occur and to restoring normal operations as quickly as possible”.

So, there you are — a commute (the regular trip between home and workplace) can be a weekday adventure. It’s part endurance test, part exercise in patience, part traffic simulation, part questioning the gap between policy (words) and practice (actions), and, somehow, a full-scale workshop in emotional character building.