Arrival of a Train in Perrache is kind of a companion piece, and reversal, to Arrival by Train in Perrache. Whereas Arrival by Train was a point of view shot from the moving train, this film, like the more famous Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat, focuses on the action at the station as the train arrives. As the train pulls into the station, the people waiting at the platform scurry about. The railroad workers scramble to help passengers disembark from the train while several women walk about, looking for their arriving companions.
Although filmed at a different train station, there is little thematically to distance this film from its much more well regarded predecessor La Ciotat. Nor is this film as visually striking as its companion piece, which had the benefit of its sweeping motion. A railroad enthusiast or historian may find some value in this particular piece, but for the average viewer, it suffers from being a lesser entry in an already over-saturated market of railroad films released in 1896.