The TGV is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated mainly by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 1974 and presented the project to President Georges Pompidou who approved it. Originally designed as turbotrains to be powered by gas turbines, TGV prototypes evolved into electric trains with the 1973 oil crisis. In 1976 the SNCF ordered 87 high-speed trains from Alstom. Following the inaugural service between Paris and Lyon in 1981 on the LGV Sud-Est, the network, centered on Paris, has expanded to connect major cities across France and in neighbouring countries on a combination of high-speed and conventional lines. The TGV network in France carries about 110 million passengers a year.
The SNCF BB 26000 locomotives are a class of dual voltage, four axle B'B' electric locomotives capable of a top speed of 200 km/h built by GEC Alsthom between 1988 and 1998 for SNCF. The locomotives are also commonly known as the Sybics.
The TGV Atlantique (TGV-A) is a class of high-speed trains used in France by SNCF; they were built by Alstom between 1988 and 1992, and were the second generation of TGV trains, following on from the TGV Sud-Est trainsets. The trains were named after the Ligne à Grande Vitesse Atlantique that they were originally built for.
The SNCF TGV Réseau (TGV-R) is a TGV train built by Alstom between 1992 and 1996 for SNCF, the French national railway for use on high-speed TGV services. The Réseau trainsets are based on the earlier TGV Atlantique. The first Réseau sets entered service in 1993.
The TGV La Poste were dedicated trainsets for high-speed freight and mail transportation by French railway company SNCF on behalf of the French postal carrier La Poste. The top speed of this TGV Sud-Est derivate was 270 km/h (168 mph), making them the fastest freight trains in the world. They were withdrawn in 2015.
The Ligne à Grande Vitesse Est européenne, typically shortened to LGV Est, is a French high-speed rail line that connects Vaires-sur-Marne and Vendenheim. The line halved the travel time between Paris and Strasbourg and provides fast services between Paris and the principal cities of Eastern France as well as Luxembourg and Germany. The LGV Est is a segment of the Main Line for Europe project to connect Paris with Budapest with high-speed rail service.
The LGV Sud-Est is a French high-speed rail line which connects the Paris and Lyon areas. It was France's first high-speed rail line. The inauguration of the first section between Saint-Florentin and Sathonay-Camp by President François Mitterrand on 22 September 1981 marked the beginning of the re-invigoration of French passenger rail service.
The LGV Atlantique is a high-speed rail line running from Gare Montparnasse in Paris towards the Atlantic coast of France. It opened in 1989–1990 and has two intermediate stations: Massy TGV station and Vendôme-Villiers-sur-Loir TGV station. It divides into two parts at Courtalain, one going westward to Le Mans, the second one going southwestward to Tours. Both branches have been extended, by the LGV Bretagne-Pays de la Loire and the LGV Sud Europe Atlantique.
The TGV POS is a TGV train built by French manufacturer Alstom which is operated by the French national rail company, the SNCF, in France's high-speed rail lines. It was originally ordered by the SNCF for use on the LGV Est, which was put into service in 2007. POS is an abbreviation of Paris-Ostfrankreich-Süddeutschland the route of the LGV Est.
The TGV Duplex is a French high-speed train of the TGV family, manufactured by Alstom, and operated by the French national railway company SNCF. They were the first TGV trainsets to use bi-level passenger carriages with a seating capacity of 508 passengers, increasing capacity on busy high-speed lines. While the TGV Duplex started as a small component of the TGV fleet, it has become one of the system's workhorses.
The TGV is France's high-speed rail service. The idea of a high-speed train in France was born about twenty years before the first TGVs entered service. At that time, about 1960, a radical new concept was thought up; combining very high speeds and steep grades would allow a railway to follow the contours of existing terrain, like a gentle roller coaster. Instead of one or two percent grades which would be considered steep in normal applications, grades up to four percent would be feasible, thus allowing more flexible routing of new lines. Over the next several years, this very general idea gave rise to a variety of high speed transportation concepts, which tended to move away from conventional "wheel on rail" vehicles. Indeed, the French government at the time favoured more "modern" air-cushioned or maglev trains, such as Bertin's Aérotrain; Steel wheel on rail was considered a dead-end technology. Simultaneously, SNCF was trying to raise the speeds of conventional trains into the range 180 to 200 km/h for non-electrified sections, by using gas turbines for propulsion. Energy was reasonably cheap in those years, and gas turbines were a compact and efficient way to fulfil requirements for more power. Following on the TGS prototype in 1967, SNCF introduced gas turbine propulsion with the ETG turbotrains in Paris - Cherbourg service, in March 1970.
The TGV holds a series of land speed records for rail vehicles achieved by SNCF, the French national railway, and its industrial partners. The high-speed trials are intended to expand the limits of high-speed rail technology, increasing speed and comfort without compromising safety.
The SNCF class BB 15000 is a class of 25 kV 50 Hz electric locomotives built by Alstom and MTE between 1971 and 1978. Initially 65 locomotives strong, the class was widely deployed on the whole French 25 kV network before being replaced by TGV trains when the LGV Est went into service in 2007.
TGV Lyria is the brand name used for TGV railway lines connecting France and Switzerland. Lyria is also a corporation that runs the service using the staff of the SNCF in France and Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS) in Switzerland – the staff consists of one French and one Swiss train manager on the whole journey.
France has a large network of high-speed rail lines. As of June 2021, the French high-speed rail network comprises 2,800 km (1,740 mi) of tracks, making it one of the largest in Europe and the world. As of early 2023, new lines are being constructed or planned. The first French high-speed railway, the LGV Sud-Est, linking the suburbs of Paris and Lyon, opened in 1981 and was at that time the only high-speed rail line in Europe.
The SNCF Class Z 50000, also known as the 'Francilian', or 'NAT' is a type of dual-voltage electric multiple unit trainset designed in the 2000s. It is commuter rail system serving Paris and its Île-de-France suburbs on the Transilien network. Departing stations are Gare du Nord, Gare de l'Est and Gare Saint-Lazare.
The British Rail Class 373, known in France as the TGV TMST and branded by Eurostar as the Eurostar e300, is a French designed and Anglo-French built electric multiple unit train that was used for Eurostar international high-speed rail services from the United Kingdom to France and Belgium through the Channel Tunnel. Part of the TGV family, it was built with a smaller cross-section to fit the smaller loading gauge in Britain, was originally capable of operating on the UK third rail network, and has extensive fireproofing in case of fire in the tunnel. It is both the second longest—387 metres —and second fastest train in regular UK passenger service, operating at speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour (186 mph).
Ouigo is a French low-cost service range of both conventional and high-speed trains. The literal translation of Ouigo from French to English is "yes go"; the name is also a play on words with the English homonym "we go." It is composed of two different services: Ouigo Grande Vitesse, which is a brand of SNCF operating high-speed trains; and Ouigo Vitesse Classique, a brand under which Oslo, a subsidiary of SNCF, operates conventional speed trains.
Avelia Euroduplex, more commonly known as just Euroduplex or TGV 2N2 in France, is a high-speed double-decker train manufactured by Alstom. It is primarily operated by the French national railway company SNCF, and also in operation with the Moroccan national railway company ONCF. It is the 3rd generation of the TGV Duplex.
