French Rail in no longer one of the countries than can be chosen for travel as part of the popular three, four and five-country Eurail Select Pass.

The guess here as to why France withdrew from participation in the Select Pass is that too many passholders were unable to make seat reservations for the country's airline-style, capacity-controlled seat reservation system which puts Eurail passes on the lowest rung of the priority list. Seat reservations are required on all TGV trains in France and fewer seats are set aside for rail passes than for full-fare individual ticket holders and all other ticket and pass categories.

France is still one of the 24 countries of the Eurail Global Pass system and it still shares Eurail's two-country passes with neighboring Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the Benelux countries (Luxembourg, Holland and Belgium are a single country for Eurail purposes). American and Canadian buyers of those passes should be aware, however, that obtaining seat reservations on popular TGV routes on heavy travel days may be difficult.