sncf_mcp_server by belgrano9 - MCP Server

SNCF MCP Server 🚄

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for querying SNCF (French national railway) train schedules using the official Navitia API. Integrates seamlessly with Claude Desktop and other MCP-compatible clients.

✨ Features

🔍 Search trains between any two French cities with real-time data
🚉 Find stations in any city across France
📅 Flexible date parsing - accepts ISO, European, and written date formats
⚡ Real-time data - uses official SNCF Navitia API with live timetables
🎯 Smart journey planning - shows transfers, duration, and route details
🌍 International routes - supports cross-border journeys (e.g., Paris-Munich)
🛠️ Claude Desktop ready - works out of the box with MCP clients

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

Python 3.12 or higher
uv (recommended) or pip
SNCF API key (free registration)

Installation

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/belgrano9/sncf_mcp_server.git
cd sncf_mcp_server

Install dependencies
```
uv sync
```
Get your SNCF API key
- Register at SNCF Digital API Portal
- Request access to the Navitia API
- Copy your API key
Configure environment variables

Create a .env file in the project root:
```
SNCF_API=your-api-key-here
```
⚠️ IMPORTANT: Never commit your .env file! It's already in .gitignore.
Test the server
```
uv run server.py
```

📖 Usage

Standalone Testing

Test the search functionality directly in Python:

from server import search_trains, find_station

# Search for trains
result = search_trains("Paris", "Lyon", "2025-11-20 14:00")
print(result)

# Find a station
stations = find_station("Paris")
print(stations)

Or use the included Jupyter notebook (test_notebook.ipynb) for interactive testing.

Claude Desktop Integration

Add to your Claude Desktop config file:

Windows (%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sncf": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "C:\\Users\\YourName\\path\\to\\sncf_mcp_server",
        "run",
        "server.py"
      ]
    }
  }
}

macOS (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sncf": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/path/to/sncf_mcp_server",
        "run",
        "server.py"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Linux (~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sncf": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/path/to/sncf_mcp_server",
        "run",
        "server.py"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop, and you can ask:

"Show me trains from Paris to Lyon tomorrow at 2pm"
"What's the earliest train from Paris Gare de l'Est to Munich tomorrow?"
"Find all train stations in Paris"
"How long does it take to get from Bordeaux to Marseille?"

🛠️ MCP Tools

1. `search_trains`

Find trains between two stations with real-time data.

Parameters:

origin (string): Origin station/city name (e.g., "Paris", "Lyon", "Paris Gare de l'Est")
destination (string): Destination station/city name (e.g., "München Hbf", "Barcelona")
departure_datetime (string, optional): Travel date/time in flexible formats:
- ISO: "2025-11-28 08:00" (recommended)
- European: "28/11/2025 08:00"
- Written: "November 28, 2025 8:00am"
- Default: current time

Example Output:

═══════════════════════════════════
    SNCF JOURNEY SEARCH
═══════════════════════════════════

🔍 Searched for 'Paris Est':
  ✓ Paris Gare de l'Est (ID: stop_area:SNCF:...)
    Paris - Bercy (ID: stop_area:SNCF:...)
    Paris Montparnasse (ID: stop_area:SNCF:...)

→ Selected: Paris Gare de l'Est

🔍 Searched for 'München Hbf':
  ✓ München Hauptbahnhof (ID: stop_area:OCE:...)

→ Selected: München Hauptbahnhof

📅 Searching for trains departing after: 2025-11-28 08:00
🔄 API datetime format: 20251128T080000

─────────────────────────────────
🚄 AVAILABLE TRAINS
─────────────────────────────────

Found 5 journey option(s):

  1. Depart: 2025-11-28 08:55 → Arrive: 2025-11-28 14:54
     Duration: 5h 59min | Direct

  2. Depart: 2025-11-28 10:55 → Arrive: 2025-11-28 16:54
     Duration: 5h 59min | Direct

  3. Depart: 2025-11-28 12:55 → Arrive: 2025-11-28 19:18
     Duration: 6h 23min | 1 change(s)
     Route: Paris Gare de l'Est → Stuttgart Hbf | Stuttgart Hbf → München Hbf

═══════════════════════════════════

2. `find_station`

Search for train stations in a city or by name.

Parameters:

station_name (string): Station/city name to search (e.g., "Paris", "Lyon Part-Dieu")

Example Output:

═══════════════════════════════════
    STATION SEARCH
═══════════════════════════════════

🔍 Searched for 'Paris':
  ✓ Paris Gare de Lyon (ID: stop_area:SNCF:87686006)
    Paris Montparnasse (ID: stop_area:SNCF:87391003)
    Paris Gare du Nord (ID: stop_area:SNCF:87271007)

→ Selected: Paris Gare de Lyon

✅ Best match: Paris Gare de Lyon
   ID: stop_area:SNCF:87686006

═══════════════════════════════════

3. `get_train_prices` ⚠️ EXPERIMENTAL

Educational Proof of Concept Only - May Not Work

Attempts to scrape price information from SNCF's booking system.

⚠️ IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS:

This is an experimental feature for educational purposes only
May violate SNCF's Terms of Service
Likely blocked by anti-scraping measures (403 Forbidden)
NOT recommended for production use
For real pricing, use commercial APIs (Lyko, Trainline) or SNCF Connect website

Parameters:

origin (string): Origin station/city name
destination (string): Destination station/city name
departure_datetime (string, optional): Travel date/time (same formats as search_trains)
page (integer, optional): Page number (default: 1)
per_page (integer, optional): Results per page (default: 5, max: 20)

Example Output (if it worked):

═══════════════════════════════════
  SNCF PRICE CHECK (EXPERIMENTAL)
═══════════════════════════════════

⚠️  WARNING: Experimental feature
    May not work due to anti-scraping measures
    For educational purposes only

📍 Route: Paris Gare de Lyon → Marseille Saint-Charles
📅 Date: 2025-11-17

─────────────────────────────────
Attempting to fetch prices...
─────────────────────────────────

❌ Price check failed: Access forbidden - anti-scraping measures detected

This feature is experimental and may not work.
For real pricing, please visit:
- SNCF Connect: https://www.sncf-connect.com
- Or use commercial API providers

Why This Probably Won't Work:

SNCF employs anti-scraping measures (403 Forbidden)
Requires reverse-engineering their booking API
API structure is proprietary and undocumented
May violate Terms of Service

Recommended Alternatives for Production:

Lyko SNCF Connect API - Commercial provider
Trainline API - Multi-operator booking
Official SNCF partnership programs

See for technical details and ethical considerations.

🏗️ Architecture

sncf_mcp_server/
├── server.py              # FastMCP server implementation
├── price_checker.py       # Price scraping wrapper (experimental)
├── pyproject.toml         # Dependencies & project config
├── .env                   # API key (not committed)
├── .gitignore             # Git ignore rules
├── README.md              # This file
├── test_notebook.ipynb    # Jupyter notebook for testing
├── sncf_scraper/          # Price scraper module (experimental)
│   ├── __init__.py          # Module exports
│   ├── models.py            # TrainOffer, PriceSearchResult models
│   ├── scraper.py           # SNCFPriceScraper implementation
│   └── README.md            # Scraper documentation & disclaimers
└── tests/                 # Test suite
    ├── test_simple.py         # Simple train search test
    ├── test_pagination.py     # Pagination feature test
    ├── test_search.py         # MCP wrapper test
    ├── test_price_scraper.py  # Price scraper tests (experimental)
    ├── debug_*.py             # Debug/diagnostic scripts
    ├── run_all_tests.py       # Test runner
    └── README.md              # Test documentation

How It Works

Station Search: Queries Navitia API's /places endpoint with fuzzy matching
Journey Planning: Uses /journeys endpoint with origin, destination, and datetime
Date Parsing: Flexible parser handles multiple date/time formats
Response Formatting: Returns human-readable journey information with:
- Departure and arrival times
- Journey duration
- Number of transfers
- Route details for multi-leg journeys

Key Implementation Details

✅ Real-time data (no local database needed)
✅ Flexible date parsing with python-dateutil
✅ European date format support (day-first parsing)
✅ Automatic station ID resolution from city names
✅ Shows top 3 station matches for transparency
✅ Handles both domestic and international routes
✅ Transfer information with route breakdown
✅ Pagination support - Returns 10 results per page (up to 100 journeys)
✅ Comprehensive test suite - See

🌍 Supported Routes

The server supports any route in the SNCF/Navitia network:

High-Speed (TGV): Paris-Lyon, Paris-Marseille, Paris-Bordeaux, Paris-Strasbourg
International: Paris-London (Eurostar), Paris-Munich, Paris-Barcelona, Paris-Brussels
Long-Distance (Intercités): Regional connections across France
TER (Regional Express): Local services
Cross-border: Connections to Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium

Major Cities:

Paris (multiple stations: Gare du Nord, Gare de Lyon, Montparnasse, Est, Austerlitz, Saint-Lazare, Bercy)
Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Toulouse
Strasbourg, Nantes, Nice, Lille
International: London, Munich, Barcelona, Brussels, Geneva, Milan
1000+ stations across France and Europe!

Use find_station to discover available stations in any city.

🔧 Development

Project Setup

# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/belgrano9/sncf_mcp_server.git
cd sncf_mcp_server
uv sync

# Set up your API key in .env
echo "SNCF_API=your-api-key-here" > .env

# Run the server
uv run server.py

# Or use FastMCP dev mode
fastmcp dev server.py

Dependencies

fastmcp - MCP server framework
requests (>=2.32.5) - HTTP client for API calls
python-dotenv (>=1.2.1) - Environment variable management
python-dateutil - Flexible date/time parsing
httpx (>=0.28.1) - Async HTTP client
loguru (>=0.7.3) - Logging
rich (>=14.2.0) - Terminal formatting

File Structure

server.py - Main MCP server with search_trains and find_station tools
.env - API key configuration (never commit!)
test_notebook.ipynb - Interactive testing notebook
tests/ - Test suite (see )

Testing

Run the test suite to verify everything works:

# Run all tests
uv run tests/run_all_tests.py

# Run individual tests
uv run tests/test_simple.py       # Simple train search
uv run tests/test_pagination.py   # Pagination feature
uv run tests/debug_env2.py         # Environment check

See for detailed test documentation.

📝 Data Source

Real-time data from SNCF Navitia API:

API Base URL: https://api.sncf.com/v1
Authentication: HTTP Basic Auth (API key as username)
Coverage: SNCF network across France and international connections
Update Frequency: Real-time (no manual updates needed)
Format: JSON responses
Documentation: Navitia API Docs

Getting an API Key

Visit SNCF Digital
Create an account
Request access to the Navitia API
Copy your API key to .env

🐛 Known Issues

Windows console may show encoding errors with Unicode characters (functionality not affected)
Station name matching uses first result - use find_station for ambiguous names
International routes may have limited availability depending on API coverage

🤝 Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please:

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

Ideas for Contributions

Add price information (if available in API)
Support for train status/real-time delays
Multi-leg journey optimization
Visualization of routes on maps
Additional query filters (train type, max transfers, etc.)
Support for round-trip queries
Save favorite routes

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

SNCF for providing the Navitia open API
FastMCP by @jlowin for the excellent MCP framework
Anthropic for Claude and the Model Context Protocol
Navitia for powering the transit data API

📮 Support

Issues: GitHub Issues
API Documentation: Navitia API Docs
MCP Docs: Model Context Protocol

🔗 Related Projects

Renfe MCP Server - Similar server for Spanish railways
FastMCP - The framework powering this server
MCP Servers - Official MCP server implementations

Built with ❤️ using FastMCP and Claude

Voyagez intelligent, voyagez en train! 🚄

belgrano9/sncf_mcp_server

SNCF MCP Server 🚄

✨ Features

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

Installation

📖 Usage

Standalone Testing

Claude Desktop Integration

🛠️ MCP Tools

1. search_trains

2. find_station

3. get_train_prices ⚠️ EXPERIMENTAL

🏗️ Architecture

How It Works

Key Implementation Details

🌍 Supported Routes

🔧 Development

Project Setup

Dependencies

File Structure

Testing

📝 Data Source

Getting an API Key

🐛 Known Issues

🤝 Contributing

Ideas for Contributions

📄 License

🙏 Acknowledgments

📮 Support

🔗 Related Projects

1. `search_trains`

2. `find_station`

3. `get_train_prices` ⚠️ EXPERIMENTAL