Train and rail travel in France (2024)

About-France.com- the connoisseur's guide to France

1.High speedthrough France: Eurostar and the TGVnetwork

By Eurostarfrom St Pancras, the fastest journey time from London to Paris is nowjust 2 hours and 15 minutes, city centre to city centre. And for anyoneboarding the Eurostar at Ebbsfleet, the new station in south eastLondon, the trip is even faster, from just 2 hours and 5 minutes.
In terms of speed and convenience,Eurostarhas shown that on journeys of 200 miles or so, the train is far moreconvenient than the plane.
The opening of a new high-speed railline intoLondon was a novelty for Londoners in 2007; but Parisians were notparticularly impressed; after all, France has been steadily expandingits high-speed rail network for over a quarter of a century! The firstFrench TGV lines were on the drawing board in the early 1970s, and thefirst long-distance route, from Paris to Lyons, opened way back in 1981!
But if a lot of peoplealready knowthat the bestway to go from London to Paris for a day's shopping or a weekend break,is to take Eurostar,far less people realise that the extentof the Eurostar connections atLille to other cities in France French high-speed railnetwork means that taking the train is rapid option forreachinga large number of destinations in provincial France.

Connectingto provincial cities. It's easier to change at Lille than Paris.
The map above shows the extent of France's high-speed rail networkin 2015. At present, the network consists of some 2800 km (over 1600miles) of dedicated high-speed track, comprising four routes radiatingout from Paris, and half of the "Rhine-Rhone route". However,an "interconnection" route round the south andwest of Paris allows high-speed connections between the routes, notablyallowing north-south TGVs to avoid the centre of Paris.
Note that TGV services operate to allthe cities indicated on the map, and to many others too, since thesehigh speed trains can also run - at reduced speed - on the traditionalrail network.
This makes the TGVstation at Lille Europea very handy hub for passengers comingfrom the UK or Belgium and Holland.
The alternative to changing at Lille is to takeEurostarto Paris, and then travel beyond Paris from the appropriate mainlineterminus.; but this will normally involve changingterminus at Paris: see below.

Thelatest new TGV lines

• Spring 2018 :Nimes / Montpellier bypass route, for trains between Franceand Spain
• Summer 2017 :opening of almost 500 more kilometres of new high-speedroute, connecting Bordeaux and Rennes with Paris
• 2016Completion of Eastern TGV route from Paris to Strasbourg
• Autumn 2013 :Direct TGV services now operating netween Paris and Barcelona
• December2011 saw the opening of the first 140 kilometres ofthe first transverseTGV line, the "LGV Rhin-Rhône", or Rhine-Rhone HighSpeed Line, linking Mulhouse and Dijon. This has greatly sped up raillinksbetween Paris and Basel and Zurich, and between Germany,Strasbourg and the south of France.
• December2010saw the opening of 44 km of new high-speed line across theFrench-Spanish border, between Perpignan and Figueres.

Airportconnections:

Thanks to intelligent forward thinking, planners of the French TGVnetwork had the sense to connect it directly, when possible, to majorairports. Thus, there is a major TGV station right underneath Terminal2 at Paris's Charles deGaulleairport;and there is a TGV station in the middle of the Lyon Saint Exuperyairport.

Clickhereto checktrain timetables and book tickets.

2.Parisrail termini:

Like many capital cities, Paris suffers from having no central railwayhub, but a number of mainline termini. Here are the main destinationsserved from each of the principal termini: TGV services depart from theGare du Nord, Gare de l'Est, gare de Lyon and Gare Montparnasse.
► Booktickets safely online from any of these stationswithtTrainline.com

• Gare duNord: North east France, London (Eurostar), Brussels,Amsterdam (Thalys), Lille,Valenciennes, Calais.
• Gare del'Est: Nancy, Metz, Rheims(or Reims),Strasbourg,Germany, Luxembourg.
• Gare deLyon: Lyon,Dijon, Besançon,Geneva, Mulhouse,Zurich, Clermont-Ferrand,Marseille, Nice,Nimes,Montpellier, Perpignan; Italy and the east of Spain.
• Gared'Austerlitz: Non-TGV services to Tours, Poitiers, Limoges,,Biarritz, western Spain.
• GareMontparnasse: All western TGVs, Brittany,Brest, Rennes, NantesBordeaux,Toulouse
• GareSt. Lazare Caen,Cherbourg,Rouen,Le Havre

3. OuiGo !thelow-cost TGV service.

To compete with low-costairlines, some TGVs offer major reductions if tickets (or e-tickets)are purchasedonline. OUIGOservices(originally called ID-TGV, and pronounced we go) –sometimescomplete trains, at othertimes a quota of seats in a standard service – now operatefrom Paristoabout 20 destinations
For example, you can buy a first class ticketfromParis to Lyon for 29 Euros on certain off-peaktrains,compared to 56 to 66 €uros, or 114 €uros for a normalfirst classticket on certain trains . However, don't pay much attention to thesites that say "Paris-Marseille" or "Paris-Montpellier" for just 19€:these very low prices are indeed available, but only on about one traina month, if that!
OUIGO train tickets can be bought at OUIGOprices and no booking fee, and all the options, ontheTrainline.comwebsite. Ouigo services and rates will appear among the search results.

4. France'simpressive railways

On main routes not served byTGVs, such asParis-Clermont-Ferrand or Paris - Limoges - Brive, very comfortableexpress trains run at speeds that can reach 200 km/hr on somestretches. These long-distance express trains, previously known as"corails" are now known as"Intercités".

French railways have a reputation for punctuality, though delays seemslightly more common these days than in the past. Most trains howeverrun on time, and delays of over ten minutes are unusual. This isdoubtless one of the reasons why the French are regular railtravellers. If a mainline train (TGV or Intercités) is over30 minutes lateat arrival, on a journey of over 200 km., demand a late-arrival formwhen you reach your destination ; in some stations, staff will handthem out automatically. Fill this in and send it off with your ticketin the business-reply envelope provided, and you should receive avoucher worth 30% of the cost of your ticket.
It's not just on main lines,however, thatrail travel in France can be a great way to travel. More and morebranch lines and feeder services are now operated with state-of-the artand very comfortable new railcars that resemble miniature TGV's. Withmassive picture windows along the sides, the experience of travellingalong somerural rail routes is rather like that ofriding ascenic railway; and regional councils, that are now in charge ofrunning local rail services, seem to be competing with eachother, particularly in tourist areas, to boost their image by investingin these very impressive new railcars. Even better, many French regionshave invested quite heavily in recent years in upgrading regionalbranch lines with new track as well as new rolling stock. And in somedepartments, local services all cost just one Euro a ride ! And as withall rail trips, you'll find them at the same price if you bookonline ontheTrainline.comwebsite.

France also offers plenty ofscope for rail tourism on its various scenicrailways.
There are or course other lesscomfortablerides to be had on French railways. Some suburban routes and localservices on main lines are still operated using old and sometimes noisyand uncomfortable stock - but even on such routes, this is by no meansalways the case.

Thecost of rail travel in France:

Finally,there's the question of tickets. As a nationalised system, the Frenchrailways used to run a clear and coherent ticketing system, andgenerally speaking rail travel remains relatively cheap - about 15p akilometer (1.7 Euro per 10 km in 2017) for a standard second classfare. Thisis more than the cost of rail travel in Spain or Italy, but far cheaperthan standard tickets in the UK. Lots of discounts can be obtained,generally varying between 25%and 50%, and longer journeys tend to cost proportionally less thanshorter ones.
In recent years, particularly on busyroutes and TGVs, the cost of tickets has begun to vary wildly infunction of the date and time of the journey; on many intercity routes,special low-cost tickets , known as "Prems", are available to the earlybirds who book well in advance. These are even available on overnightsleepers - but not at busy times, of course.

BuyingFrench train tickets online

All French train tickets can also be ordered online - and even printedout on your own computer as an e-ticket, like a plane ticket.Check outTrainline.com

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