Landslide blocks St Michel-Valloire to Oulx for winter 2024-25
In August 2023, a rockslide caused the blockage of the route between Paris and Modane, Bardoneccia and Oulx. The rockslide took place between St Michel Valloire and Modane stations.
It was thought that it would be cleared in November 2024.
However, that isn't going to happen in time, and the line will likely be blocked for all of winter 2024-25.
This means that skiers wanting to reach St Michel-Valloire, Modane, Bardoneccia and Oulx directly from Paris, won't be able to do so.
So for this winter, trains from Paris (which normally access at Modane, Bardoneccia and Oulx) will only go as far as St Michel Valloire. Bus services are running from there to some of the resorts, which means daytime rail travel is possible, but the bus transfer is longer than it would be normally (as it's starting from a station that is further from resort).
What the ski resort tourist offices say about travel options
Here is a list of ski resort tourist office websites' transport pages. The resort tourist offices really should be writing some information about what to do because the the disruption caused by the landslide.
Some of them lack useful information, however.
We are in touch with the tourist offices and encouraging them to make statements, provide the required information and update their pages.
What we have gleaned, we have put here to be as comprehensive as possible.
Montgenevre
The Montgenevre Tourist Office's own website transport page doesn't give much useful information about alternatives to the landslide: https://montgenevre.com/hiver/decouvrir/acces-transports/
However, these are the bus timetables that the Tourist Office sent us:
St Michel Valloire - Montgenevre - Serre Chevalier winter 2023-24 to 4th Feb bus timetable in French
St Michel Valloire - Montgenevre - Serre Chevalier winter 2023-24 10 Feb - 24 March bus timetable in French
Normally, from Oulx to Montgenevre takes about 30 minutes by bus.
As you'll note from the timetables above, from St Michel Valloire to Montgenvre takes 1hr 45 mins.
It only costs €6.50 one way per adult though, and about half that for kids.
Extraordinarily, you can't book bus tickets between St Michel Valloire and Montgenevre on the website of the bus company operating the bus (Resalp). Instead you need to book them on the SNCF TER website https://www.ter.sncf.com/sud-provence-alpes-cote-d-azur
You'll need to put 'St Michel Valloire' as the departure point and 'Montgenevre Gare Routiere' as the arrival point (or vice versa, depending on your direction of travel).
Autocars Resalp (the bus company) has a contact page: https://www.autocars-resalp.com/contacts/
email address: info@resalp.fr and helpline number:+33 (0)4 92 20 47 50.
Helpful staff speak English.
Sauze d'Oulx
https://sauzedoulx.net/information/travel-information/
Serre Chevalier
This is Serre Chevalier's travel page. It doesn't actually mention the landslide.
https://www.serre-chevalier.com/en/resort/mobility-and-transport/train
You can get to Serre Chevalier from St Michel Valloire station - these are the bus timetables:
St Michel Valloire - Montgenevre - Serre Chevalier winter 2023-24 to 4th Feb bus timetable in French
St Michel Valloire - Montgenevre - Serre Chevalier winter 2023-24 10 Feb - 24 March bus timetable in French
It takes about 2hr 30mins from St Michel Valloire to Chantemerle in Serre Chevalier, for example.
There is also a bus service from Grenoble station - here's the timetable:
Grenoble - Serre Chevalier winter 2023-24 bus timetable in French
It takes about 2hr 30mins from Grenoble to Chantemerle in Serre Chevalier, for example.
Val Cenis
https://www.valcenis.com/en/transports/venir-a-val-cenis/#train
This is a PDF on Altibus' website with some information, which states that trains will run between Paris and St Michel Valloire: https://www.altibus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Affiche-Maurienne.pdf
Although what it is saying isn't abundantly clear.
We are doing further research and will update this article shortly.