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 Société nationale des chemins de fer français is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffic along with Monaco, including the TGV, on France's high-speed rail network. Its functions include operation of railway services for passengers and freight, as well as maintenance and signalling of rail infrastructure. The railway network consists of about 35,000 km (22,000 mi) of route, of which 2,600 km (1,600 mi) are high-speed lines and 14,500 km (9,000 mi) electrified. About 14,000 trains are operated daily.
Gare Montparnasse, officially Paris Montparnasse, one of the seven large Paris railway termini, is located in the 14th and 15th arrondissements.
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.
Marne-la-Vallée – Chessy also appearing on platform displays as Marne-la-Vallée Chessy – Parcs Disneyland, is a large combined RER, and high-speed rail station in Chessy, Seine-et-Marne, France, about 30 km (19 mi) east of Paris, located on the LGV Interconnexion Est opened in 1994. The station is inside the Disneyland Paris resort, close to the entrances to the theme parks and at the entrance to Disney Village. The station opened as an extension of RER A in April 1992, in conjunction with the opening of the theme park, with The Walt Disney Company contributing €38.1 million of the €126.5 million cost. The high-speed rail part of the station opened in May 1994, two years after the RER portion of station.
Lyon-Saint-Exupéry TGV station is a railway station near Lyon, France, directly attached to Lyon–Saint-Exupéry Airport. The station was built as an addition to the airport to serve TGV trains on the LGV Rhône-Alpes, part of the main line running from Paris Gare de Lyon to Marseille Saint-Charles. It is situated about 20 km east of Lyon city centre.
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.
Rail transport in France is marked by a clear predominance of passenger traffic, driven in particular by high-speed rail. The SNCF, the national state-owned railway company, operates most of the passenger and freight services on the national network managed by its subsidiary SNCF Réseau. France currently operates the second-largest European railway network, with a total of 29,901 kilometres of railway.
SNCF Connect, formerly OUI.sncf until January 25, 2022, is a subsidiary of SNCF selling passes and point-to-point tickets for rail travel around Europe. It has commercial links to major European rail operators including SNCF, Eurostar, Deutsche Bahn, and Thalys, and is made up of four independent companies in distinct geographical areas. As at 2003, It was the largest French electronic commerce website in volume. One quarter of French SNCF tickets are sold by this website.
Lorraine TGV station is a railway station located in Louvigny, France, on the LGV Est, a high-speed rail line running from Paris to Strasbourg. Opened in 2007 as part of the first phase of the new line, it is situated near Metz–Nancy–Lorraine Airport, between the cities of Metz and Nancy. As the two other new LGV Est stations it is served by TGV inOui and Ouigo services.
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.
Saint-Pierre-des-Corps station is a railway station serving the town of Saint-Pierre-des-Corps and the Tours agglomeration, Indre-et-Loire department, western France. It is situated on the Paris–Bordeaux railway and the Tours–Saint-Nazaire railway.
Dijon-Ville station, sometimes simply Dijon, is a railway station located in Dijon, Côte-d'Or, eastern France. The station was opened in 1849. It is located at the junction of Paris–Marseille, Dijon–Saint-Amour, Dijon–Is-sur-Tille, and Dijon-Vallorbe lines. The train services are operated by SNCF and Lyria.
Montauban or Montauban-Ville-Bourbon is a railway station serving the town of Montauban, Tarn-et-Garonne department, southwestern France.
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.
On 14 November 2015, a TGV train derailed in Eckwersheim, Alsace, France, while performing commissioning trials on the second phase of the LGV Est high-speed rail line, which was scheduled to open for commercial service five months later. The derailment resulted in 11 deaths and 42 injuries. It was the first fatal derailment in the history of the TGV and the third derailment since the TGV entered commercial service in 1981.
SNCF Voyageurs is a state-owned enterprise founded on 1 January 2020, an independent subsidiary of the French National Railway Company (SNCF), in charge of operating passenger trains.
Ouigo España is an open-access operator of high-speed railway services in Spain. It is a subsidiary of SNCF Voyageurs, the French national railway company, and uses its trademark Ouigo.
Kevin Speed is a start-up French railway company planning to operate open-access high speed commuter services by 2028. Envisioned services would link Paris to Lille, Strasbourg, and Lyon, stopping at all intermediate stations on the high-speed line, every hour from morning to late evening. Whilst being structured as a simplified joint-stock company, it intends to implement employee stock ownership, with employees owning shares in the company.
