diff --git a/flatland/envs/rail_env.py b/flatland/envs/rail_env.py
index 2999554d332c7312a03fdec327a1ff1b2cd70b9e..19c15f854dfb4c620ac3cb635ea143bc9f2c029a 100644
--- a/flatland/envs/rail_env.py
+++ b/flatland/envs/rail_env.py
@@ -731,9 +731,11 @@ class RailEnv(Environment):
                     with open(filename, "wb") as file_out:
                         file_out.write(self.get_full_state_dist_msg())
                 else:
-                    raise Exception("Unable to save distance map")
+                    print("[WARNING] Unable to save the distance map for this environment, as none was found !")
+
             else:
-                raise Exception("Unable to save distance map")
+                print("[WARNING] Unable to save the distance map for this environment, as none was found !")
+
         else:
             with open(filename,"wb") as file_out:
                 file_out.write(self.get_full_state_msg())
diff --git a/notebooks/simple_example1_env_from_tuple.ipynb b/notebooks/simple_example1_env_from_tuple.ipynb
index 0fcfe26325e5778cbbfdf66591346972edb2406d..2d13585156b447fe4f9eed07834b3dc04ccf84d6 100644
--- a/notebooks/simple_example1_env_from_tuple.ipynb
+++ b/notebooks/simple_example1_env_from_tuple.ipynb
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@
    "name": "python",
    "nbconvert_exporter": "python",
    "pygments_lexer": "ipython3",
-   "version": "3.6.8"
+   "version": "3.7.3"
   },
   "latex_envs": {
    "LaTeX_envs_menu_present": true,