The Chemins de fer de l'État, often referred to in France as the Réseau de l'État, was an early state-owned French railway company.
Émile Pereire and his brother Isaac Pereire were major figures in the development of France's finance and infrastructure during the Second French Empire. The Pereire brothers challenged the dominance of the Rothschilds in continental European finance, known at the time as haute finance. Their attempt was temporarily successful, and even though it collapsed in the late 1860s, it contributed to a more developed and vibrant economic landscape. Like the Rothschilds, the Pereires were Jews, but unlike them, they were Sephardi of Portuguese origin.
Bordeaux-Saint-Jean or formerly Bordeaux-Midi is the main railway station in the French city of Bordeaux. It is the southern terminus of the Paris–Bordeaux railway, and the western terminus of the Chemins de fer du Midi main line from Toulouse. The station is the main railway interchange in Aquitaine and links Bordeaux to Paris, Sète, Toulouse Matabiau and Spain.
Pessac is a railway station in Pessac, a western suburb of Bordeaux, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. The station is located on the Bordeaux–Irun railway line. The station is served by TER (local) services operated by SNCF. The Pessac Centre tram stop of the Bordeaux tramway is adjacent to the railway station, with direct access between station and tram stop platforms.
The Paris–Le Havre railway is an important 228-kilometre long railway line, that connects Paris to the northwestern port city Le Havre via Rouen. Among the first railway lines in France, the section from Paris to Rouen opened on 9 May 1843, followed by the section from Rouen to Le Havre that opened on 22 March 1847.
The railway from Paris to Bordeaux is an important French 584-kilometre long railway line, that connects Paris to the southwestern port city Bordeaux via Orléans and Tours. The railway was opened in several stages between 1840 and 1853, when the section from Poitiers to Angoulême was finished. The opening of the LGV Atlantique high speed line from Paris to Tours in 1989 has decreased the importance of this section of the line for passenger traffic; the opening of the LGV Sud Europe Atlantique in 2017 has seen all long distance passenger trains migrating to that line and leaving space for more regional and local trains, as well as freight trains.
Bayonne station is a railway station in Bayonne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. The station is located on the Bordeaux - Irun, Toulouse–Bayonne and Bayonne–Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port railway lines. The station is served by TGV, Intercités de Nuit, Intercités and TER (local) services operated by the SNCF.
The railway from Toulouse to Bayonne is an important French 319-kilometre long railway line, that connects the southern city Toulouse to the southwestern town Bayonne, running along the foothills of the Pyrenees. The railway was opened in several stages between 1861 and 1867.
The railway from Bordeaux to Sète is an important French 476-kilometre long railway line, that connects the southwestern port city Bordeaux to the southern port Sète via Toulouse and Narbonne. The railway was opened in several stages between 1855 and 1858.
The railway from Strasbourg to Basel is a French and Swiss 141.3-kilometre long railway line. It is used for passenger and freight traffic. The railway was opened in 1840–1844. It was the first railway line to serve Switzerland.
Saint-Jean-de-Luz-Ciboure is a railway station in Saint-Jean-de-Luz and across the river from Ciboure, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. The station is located on the Bordeaux–Irun railway line. The station is served by TGV, Intercités de Nuit, Intercités and TER (local) services operated by the SNCF.
Hendaye station is a railway station in Hendaye, France, on the Bordeaux-Irun and Madrid-Hendaye lines. The station is served by TGV high speed trains, Intercités de nuit night trains, Intercités long distance and TER local services operated by the SNCF, Trenhotel and Arco services operated by RENFE, and EuskoTren services.
The Bayonne - Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port railway is a French 52-kilometre long railway line, that connects the Bayonne to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, running through the foothills of the Pyrenees. The railway was opened fully in 1898.
The railway from Orléans to Montauban is an important French 544-kilometre long railway line, that connects Orléans and northern France to Montauban and southern France via Limoges. The railway was opened in several stages between 1847 and 1893, when the section from Limoges to Brive-la-Gaillarde was finished.
The railway from Moret-Veneux-les-Sablons to Lyon is a French 492-kilometre long railway line, that connects the Paris region to the city Lyon via Nevers and Saint-Étienne. The railway was opened in several stages between 1828 and 1861. The section between Saint-Étienne and Saint-Just-sur-Loire was the first railway line in France. It has functioned as an alternative line for the Paris–Marseille railway between Paris and Lyon. Its main use, besides local traffic, is now for the connection between Paris and Clermont-Ferrand.
The Portet-Saint-Simon - Puigcerdà railway is a secondary railway line in southwestern France. It connects Portet-sur-Garonne, 11 km south of Toulouse on the Toulouse–Bayonne railway, to Latour-de-Carol and Puigcerdà, towns located on each side of the French/Spanish border in Cerdanya. The railway was opened in several stages between 1861 and 1929.
The Narbonne—Portbou railway is an important 104-kilometre long railway line that connects the city of Narbonne, France to northeastern Spain. The railway was built by the Compagnie des Chemins de fer du Midi. The first section that was opened in 1858 led from Narbonne to Perpignan. The line was extended to the Spanish border town Portbou in 1878.
The Étendard was an express train that linked Paris and Bordeaux in France. Introduced in 1968, it was operated by the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer français (SNCF), and was initially a Rapide.
Nouvelle-Aquitaine is the largest administrative region in France by area, spanning the west and southwest of Metropolitan France. The region was created in 2014 by the merging of Aquitaine, Limousin, and Poitou-Charentes in a territorial reform. Nouvelle-Aquitaine has an area of 84,035.7 km2 (32,446.4 sq mi) – more than 1⁄7 of Metropolitan France – and has a population of 6,033,952 as of 2020. The new region was established on 1 January 2016, following the regional elections in December 2015.
