Terms and conditions of the Assist’enGare service

These terms and conditions apply to the Assist’enGare service. 

The service is provided by SNCF Gares & Connexions, pursuant to decree 2021-1124 dated 27 August 2021 relative to booking of assistance and replacement services for people with disabilities and reduced mobility.

SNCF Gares & Connexions is a public limited company with capital of 213,710,030 euros, registered with the Paris Trade and Companies Register under number 507 523 801, with its head office at 16 Avenue d’Ivry, 75013 Paris.

Use of Assist’enGare implies complete acceptance of the terms and conditions set out below; which may be modified or supplemented at any time. Users are invited to read them on every instance of booking or modifying assistance; on the telephone the terms and conditions are read out by the agent. 

Terms and Conditions: refers to the present terms and conditions for the Assist’enGare service.

Personal Data: personal information collected by SA SNCF Gares & Connexions in the context of booking assistance at stations or receiving a claim that may directly or indirectly identify a User.

Partner: refers to any physical or moral person engaged in whole or in part of a process relative to the Assist’enGare service.

Customer Service: assistance service for Users of Assist’enGare.

Assist’enGare Service: refers to the single national platform for booking assistance or replacement services for people with disabilities or reduced mobility, in passenger transport rail services. This also includes managing customer claim requests relating to the booking or the assistance service as well as the customer information journey on the Gares & Connexions site, by phone and via Rogervoice (tool for deaf and hearing impaired people).

The Assist’enGare digital journey on the SNCF G&C site: relates to the web booking form for assistance at stations, as well as information pages relating to the assistance service and customer claims.

Carrier(s): refers to rail companies operating passenger transport across France.

User: refers to any physical person, of legal age and capacity, using the Assist’enGare service, solely under their own responsibility for their own needs or on behalf of a person with a disability and/or reduced mobility. They are also referred to as ‘beneficiary’ or ‘booker’ in the customer journey.

Beneficiary: The beneficiary is the User who benefits from the assistance.

Booker: In the event that the Beneficiary does not book for themselves, it is possible to enter the identity of a Booker: the Booker is the User who books on behalf of the Beneficiary. The booker does not use the assistance service, but features in the Beneficiary’s assistance file.

3.1 General presentation of service

In accordance with decree 2021-1124 dated 27 August 2021 relative to the single platform for booking assistance and replacement services for people with disabilities and reduced mobility and the single meeting point at stations, SNCF Gares & Connexions provides carriers on behalf of passengers and bookers, the Assist’enGare service.

The objectives of Assist’enGare are:

• to inform passengers about assistance services,
• to process booking requests for assistance services,
• to process modification or cancellation requests for assistance services,
• to manage claims relative to bookings of assistance services and/or fulfilment of these assistance services, the platform being the unique entry point for all of these claims for customers with disabilities or reduced mobility. 
• The customer compensation policy is defined by the rail company who is exclusively responsible for it.

The present terms and conditions set guidelines for the booking, modification and cancellation of assistance services as well as other customer service missions (information, claims) carried out by Assist’enGare. The terms of assistance services are described in separate terms and conditions of SNCF Gares & Connexions or of the carriers.

3.2 Use of services provided by Assist'enGare

3.2.1    Making a booking for an assistance service

The User can make a booking for an assistance service:

• By telephone, by contacting Assist’enGare (contacts are listed in article 10): 
  After indicating choice of language (English or French) and reason for call (booking, modification or cancellation, information) to an Interactive Voice Server, the customer is connected to the Customer Service. The Customer Service agent will receive the customer’s request regarding their booking, collect all the necessary data to create the file, and inform the customer of the rules to follow* in order to ensure implementation of the service from an operational perspective.

  When the agent validates a booking request on behalf of the customer, SNCF Gares & Connexions takes this as express acceptance of the Assist’enGare terms and conditions and the rules to follow to fulfil the service at stations.

• By internet, via the Assist’enGare web booking form, accessible from the SNCF Gares & Connexions site. 
  By internet, on the Assist’enGare form, the User fills in the required fields to book assistance at the station: 
  • personal data of Beneficiary:
    • title
    • last name
    • first name
    • date of birth
    • email address
    • phone number
  • personal data of booker (if different from beneficiary)
    • title
    • last name
    • first name
    • email address
    • phone number
  • personal data of an emergency contact (not mandatory)
    • last name
    • first name
    • phone number
  • data about the journey for which the assistance service is requested:
    • Origin and destination of journey
    • date and time of journey
    • number of seat, carriage and waiting room in the case of a train with mandatory reservation (necessary in order to provide the assistance)
    • Assistance when boarding and/or alighting the different trains

Before confirming the booking, the User is asked to agree to the Terms and Conditions of the Assist’enGare service and the processing of personal data. Services may be ordered only by Users who have acknowledged and accepted by a click, or, if applicable,by telephone, the present Terms and Conditions in full, as well as the Specific Terms for each Service, prior to each Order. Confirming the order indicates express acceptance of these General Terms and Conditions and Specific Terms and Conditions. Without this acceptance it is technically impossible to continue the booking process.

In the event that the customer already has an existing customer information sheet or a pre-existing booking with the Assist’enGare service, and the booking is made by telephone, consent to the processing of personal data can be indicated by the adviser.

Whether by telephone or web form, the booking request must be made no later than 24 hours before the train departure in order to guarantee the assistance service for the required train.

It is the responsibility of the User to ensure that information provided at the time of requesting reservation of assistance service is correct. If an error is discovered after making the booking, the User should contact the Customer Service as soon as possible to rectify the erroneous information or modify it via the web form. If one or more items of information are erroneous, this could compromise the fulfilment of the service at the station, and would be the responsibility of the passenger.

The User shall receive an initial email confirming reception of their request, followed by a booking confirmation in the following 24 hours once the request has been processed by an advisor. If the assistance is booked by a Booker on behalf of the Beneficiary then both shall receive the confirmation. If the User does not receive this email, they should contact the Customer Service as soon as possible to confirm whether the booking has been made or not. If there is no email or contact from an adviser, the booking shall be considered not validated. In no case should the User repeat their booking without first contacting the Customer Service. The booking confirmation summarises all elements of the booking. The User should keep this email as well as the reference number shown in it.

In the event that a replacement journey (by bus or taxi) should be provided, the adviser may choose this option without having to contact the customer in advance. If a customer does not wish to use a replacement journey (bus or taxi), they should call the platform to inform them of this, and this information will feature on their customer account.

The Assist'enGare service reserves the right to refuse the assistance booking for all or part of a journey with a connection which would not be possible to fulfil in satisfactory safety conditions (e.g. insufficient connection time).

3.2.2    Modifying or cancelling a booking

The User may modify their request up to 24 hours prior to departure of their first train, and cancel their request to book an assistance service, in whole or in part, up until the last minute before the train departure. No modification or cancellation is possible once the train has left the station.

• by telephone, by calling the Assist’enGare customer service centre
• by internet, via the Assist’enGare web booking form, accessible from the SNCF Gares & Connexions site.

To do this, it will be necessary to provide the reference number received by email when making the booking as well as personal data. An email to confirm identity shall also be sent using MFA (multi-factor authentication), in order to secure access to the content of the assistance file which contains sensitive personal data.

It shall then be possible to proceed to make the required modifications or cancel the assistance services concerned, then confirm the changes.

The User shall receive an email confirming the modification or cancellation of their assistance service request, within 24 hours following the modification. If the User does not receive this email, they should contact the Customer Service as soon as possible to confirm that the modification or cancellation has been recorded. If there is no confirmation email, it shall be considered that the modification is not made. 

3.2.3    Proof

The data collected by SNCF Gares & Connexions during use of Assist’enGare, retained in the SNCF Gares & Connexions IT system, constitutes admissible, valid and enforceable proof between the parties in the same way, in the same conditions and with the same probative value as any document that would be created, received or retained in writing if they are presented as evidence by SNCF Gares & Connexions in any litigation or other procedure.

SNCF Gares & Connexions retains all intellectual property rights relative to the Assist’enGare service (its general structure, its hierarchical organisation, and also the software, texts, animated or non-animated images, videos, sounds, expertise, graphics and any other component). Access to the service does not confer any intellectual property rights to the User. Without prior written authorisation from SNCF Gares & Connexions, the User may not in any circumstances reproduce, present, transmit, modify, publish, adapt or use, by any means whatsoever and on any medium, all or part of the service or any element contained therein.

In accordance with current French regulations, any unauthorised use or exploitation will be considered an infringement and will be prosecuted.

The SNCF Gares & Connexions logo is protected by trademark law. Brands and logos of Partners and Carriers featuring on the site may also be registered trademarks. Without prior written authorisation from SNCF Gares & Connexions, the User may not in any circumstances reproduce, present, modify, publish or adapt these brands or logos.

In accordance with current French legislation, any complete or partial reproduction or presentation of these brands or logos, alone or integrated with other elements shall incur the liability of the User.

Practices of scraping or use of robots for purposes of extraction or reproduction of any element of the Assist’enGare service are prohibited.

Similarly, insertion of hypertext links to any part of the Assist’enGare service is prohibited without prior written authorisation from SA SNCF Gares & Connexions.

The same applies to extraction and reuse of Assist’enGare database content (customers, services, etc.), which are protected by provisions of the law of 1 July 1998 regarding transposition in the intellectual property code of the European Directive of 11 March 1996 relating to legal protection of databases. As such, any reproduction, reuse or extraction of the database content shall incur the liability of the User.

5.1    Access to the Assist’enGare site

The Assist’enGare website is usually accessible 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. An interruption due to technical maintenance can however be decided by SA SNCF Gares & Connexions who will endeavour to communicate the dates and time of such action to Users in advance. Accessibility may also be interrupted in the event of force majeure or technical difficulties. SA SNCF Gares & Connexions may not be held responsible for malfunctions of the network or servers or any other event beyond its control, which could interfere with or hinder access to the services.

5.2    Use of the Assist’enGare site

SA SNCF Gares & Connexions shall not bear any liability in case of use contrary to the Terms and Conditions. Furthermore, SA SNCF Gares & Connexions reserves the right to temporarily or permanently refuse access, without any warning, to services to any User who does not abide by the present Terms and Conditions.

The User acknowledges that they are fully aware that the Assist’enGare site is not exempt from anomalies, errors and bugs, and that the data cannot be fully protected against any form of intrusion (hacking*). The User acknowledges that it is impossible to guarantee total security of data transmitted. As a consequence, SA SNCF Gares & Connexions shall in no circumstances be liable for any direct or indirect damage including but not limited to infection by viruses, loss of data or programmes, loss of use of IT equipment (including software, hard disks or any system), financial losses (such as loss of a deal or loss of an opportunity**) following a visit or use of the Site.

It is expressly agreed that, except in the case of manifest error on the part of SA SNCF Gares & Connexions, the data stored in the IT system of SA SNCF Gares & Connexions and/or its partners has probative value. It shall be admissible as means of proof in any procedure, including in litigation.

The Site contains a number of hypertext links to other sites, used with the authorisation of SA SNCF Gares & Connexions. SA SNCF Gares & Connexions is unable to verify the content of sites and applications visited in this way, and consequently shall not accept any liability. It is the User’s responsibility to familiarise themselves with the policies of these sites, particularly when it comes to personal data.

5.3    Content of the Assist’enGare site

SA SNCF Gares & Connexions endeavours to provide as accurate information as possible on the Site. However, SA SNCF Gares & Connexions is only bound by an obligation of means regarding the accuracy of information provided and shall not bear any liability for omissions, inaccuracies, imprecisions and lack of updates, whether they are due to their own actions or to third party partners who provide them with this information.

Furthermore, SA SNCF Gares & Connexions shall not bear any liability in case of incompatibility between the information provided, the services offered and the needs of the User.

SA SNCF Gares & Connexions reserves the right to modify the Site content at any time and without warning, interrupt or suspend all or part of the features of the Site at any time and without warning; and the User shall have no recourse against SA SNCF Gares & Connexions. SA SNCF Gares & Connexions shall not bear any liability for consequences of these modifications and interruptions.

As an intermediary between its Partners and the User, SA SNCF Gares & Connexions cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information published.

The User is liable to SA SNCF Gares & Connexions and/or third parties for any material and/or immaterial, direct and/or indirect damage, of any kind caused by the User and/or their representatives due to use of the Site contrary to these terms. The User guarantees SA SNCF Gares & Connexions and its parent, sister or affiliate companies and its representatives, employees and partners against any demand, claim and/or recourse of any kind which results from any violation of these provisions.

* Intrusion on the Gares & Connexions website can represent a risk of hacking.
** The loss of an opportunity being defined as the deprivation of a reasonable likelihood of the occurrence of a positive event or the occurrence of a negative event. In this case, SNCF Gares & Connexions specifies that it shall not bear any liability for this loss of opportunity.

As part of the operation of the Assist’enGare service, SA SNCF Gares & Connexions may collect some personal data. This will be processed in accordance with law 78-17 dated 6 January 1978 and European regulation 2016/679 dated 27 April 2016, the GDPR.

The Personal Data is essentially for SA SNCF Gares & Connexions, the data controller. 

Personal Data collected by the Site or by phone helps in the running of services offered by Assist’enGare. It also facilitates contact with the User, subject to their consent, by means of electronic communications or via outgoing calls.

This data is kept until the SNCF Gares & Connexions departments concerned have finished processing your request and deleted after 3 years. 
It is possible to withdraw consent for processing of personal date at any time by contacting the Data Protection Officer: [email protected]

For more information, view our personal data protection policy here. It is also possible to make a claim on the CNIL site.

SA SNCF Gares & Connexions also provides a privacy charter, available to Users by clicking here.
 

7.1    Questions

For any questions regarding use of the Site or services offered by the Assist’enGare service, the User may visit the ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ section, available by clicking here, or contact the Assist’enGare customer service centre.

7.2    Claims

For any claim relative to the booking or fulfilment of assistance services, the User may fill in the relevant form, accessible by clicking here. Claims shall be processed within 10 working days. Some personal data may be sent to a third party (carriers or service providers) when it is necessary in order to investigate the claim. It should be noted that the only role of the Assist’enGare site of SNCF Gares & Connexions is to collect claims and redirect them to the entity responsible for responding to them. SA Gares & Connexions shall not in any circumstances incur liability or pay compensation to Users in the event of dispute. 

8.1     Invalidity of a clause

The invalidity in whole or in part of one or more of the provisions of these Terms and Conditions, under the terms of a legal or regulatory provision or a legal decision that has become definitive does not mean the invalidity of the other provisions or the part of the provision that is not invalid.

Any potential dispute including relating to the application, execution, interpretation and/or validity of the Terms and Conditions and/or use of the Site and/or services offered, where an amicable solution cannot be found, will be subject to French law. Exclusive jurisdiction is granted to the competent courts of Paris.

You can contact the Assist’enGare service:  

• By telephone via an interactive voice service 7 days a week, from 8am to 8pm, by calling 3212 or from abroad +33 (0)9 72 72 00 92 (free service + call rate). 
• Thanks to a call centre to enable the deaf and hearing impaired to communicate with the Assist’enGare advisors via a translator operator. This service will be available Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 9pm (except public holidays) in French sign language, cued French and real-time speech-to-text transcription, as well as 24/7 as text transcription. 
• It will also be possible to book, modify or cancel an assistance service via an online form here. 

An Emergency Accessibility Line is available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week by calling 09 72 72 00 65 (free service + call rate). This line is for people with disabilities or reduced mobility, only on the day of their travel when they encounter a problem with their assistance service in France.