Paris–Bordeaux railway

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.[2] 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.

Paris–Bordeaux railway
Viaduct over the Indre
Overview
StatusOperational
OwnerRFF
LocaleFrance (Île-de-France, Centre-Val de Loire,
Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
TerminiGare d'Austerlitz, Paris
Bordeaux-Saint-Jean station
Service
SystemSNCF
Operator(s)SNCF
History
Opened1840-1853
Technical
Line length584 km (363 mi)
Number of tracksDouble track
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8 12 in) standard gauge
Electrification1.5 kV DC[1]
Route map
RER C from Champ de Mars
0.9 Musée d'Orsay
2.5 Saint-Michel – Notre-Dame
4.6
0.0
Paris-Austerlitz
000.0 Paris – Orléans 
000.0
2.0 Petite Ceinture
3.6 Ivry-sur-Seine
5.4 Vitry-sur-Seine
7.4 Les Ardoines
9.5 Choisy-le-Roi
11.2 Grande Ceinture
12.4 Villeneuve-le-Roi
14.2 Ablon
Grande Ceinture
16.0 Athis-Mons
RER D from Paris-GdLyon
19.0 Juvisy
000.0
21.8 Savigny-sur-Orge
22.3 Grande Ceinture to Massy
23.5 Épinay-sur-Orge
25.9 Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois
28.0 Saint-Michel-sur-Orge
31.3 Brétigny
31.5 to Vendôme
000.0
39.7 Bouray
42.8 Lardy
45.9 Chamarande
48.7 Étréchy
55.9 Étampes
000.0
000.0
66.2 Guillerval
69.8 Monnerville
74.4 Angerville
80.9 Boisseaux
88.3 Toury
94.4 Château-Gaillard
101.5 Artenay
107.6 Chevilly
112.1 Cercottes
from Pithiviers
from Montargis
118.9 Les Aubrais
Line from Limoges
121.1 Orléans
000.0 Orléans – Tours 
000.0
122.4 to Chartres
128.3 La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin
132.0 Chaingy-Fourneaux-Plage
135.0 Saint-Ay
140.7 Meung-sur-Loire
143.4 Baule
148.2 Beaugency
160.3 Mer
165.1 Suèvres
170.5 Menars
175.7 La Chaussée-Saint-Victor
178.9 from Vendôme
179.8 Blois
000.0
189.1 Chouzy
194.9 Onzain
199.9 Veuves-Monteaux
206.2 Limeray
212.2 Amboise
000.0
218.8 Noizay
225.2 River Loire
225.5 Montlouis
227.7 LGV ParisBordeaux
from Vierzon
LGV from Bordeaux
233.0 Saint-Pierre-des-Corps
235.8 Tours
from Le Mans and Vendôme
Line to Nantes
000.0 Tours – Poitiers 
237.9 River Cher
240.5 to Chinon and Loches
247.0 LGV from Paris
000.0
249.2 Monts
258.2 Villeperdue
269.7 Sainte-Maure – Noyant
276.1 Maillé
from Nouâtre
281.1 Port-de-Piles
281.5 River Creuse
to Tournon-Saint-Martin
285.5 Les Ormes-sur-Vienne
289.3 Dangé
297.0 Ingrandes-sur-Vienne
303.5 Châtellerault
000.0
306.2 River Vienne
308.2 Nerpuy
311.7 Naintré-les-Barres
317.4 La Tricherie
320.7 Dissay
324.7 Jaunay-Clan
326.1 Futuroscope
328.1 Chasseneuil
from Chalandray
336.6 Poitiers
000.0 Poitiers – Bordeaux 
340.8 to La Rochelle
341.1 to Limoges
000.0
343.8 Ligugé
348.2 Iteuil
356.0 Vivonne
365.2 Anché-Voulon
379.0 Épanvilliers
from Civray
388.0 Saint-Saviol
402.1 Ruffec
420.0 River Charente
420.3 Luxé
from Limoges
449.4 Angoulême
449.9 Tunnel of Angoulême (779m)
452.3 to Saintes
000.0
483.5 Montmoreau
500.0 Chalais
513.9 Saint-Aigulin-La-Roche-Chalais
521.7 Les Églisottes
531.0 from Périgueux
531.1 Coutras
000.0
532.6 River Isle
to Cavignac
539.4 Saint-Denis-de-Pile
546.5 from Bergerac
547.1 Libourne
000.0
548.8 River Dordogne
556.1 Vayres
561.6 Saint-Sulpice-Izon
565.0 Saint-Loubès
568.8 SaintesCenon
000.0
570.5 La Gorp
from port of Bordeaux
to port of Bordeaux
574.6 Bassens
579.6 from Saintes
580.0 Cenon
583.1 River Garonne
583.8 Bordeaux-Saint-Jean
Line to Toulouse
to Pointe de Grave
Line to Bayonne

Route

The Paris–Bordeaux railway leaves the Gare d'Austerlitz in Paris in southeastern direction. It follows the left Seine bank upstream until Juvisy-sur-Orge, where it starts following the small river Orge upstream until Brétigny-sur-Orge. Between Lardy and Étampes the railway follows the small river Juine upstream. It then crosses the Beauce plains until it reaches Orléans. The Orléans station is a terminus; many long distance trains call at the nearby Les Aubrais station instead.

At Orléans the railway turns southwest, following the river Loire downstream along its right bank. It passes through Blois and Amboise, and crosses the Loire at Montlouis-sur-Loire, an eastern suburb of Tours. The Tours station is a terminus as well; many long distance trains call at the nearby Saint-Pierre-des-Corps station instead. The railway turns south again, crosses the rivers Cher and Indre, and follows the right Vienne bank upstream beyond Maillé. At Châtellerault it crosses the Vienne and continues upstream along the river Clain, through the city Poitiers.

At Voulon the railway leaves the Clain valley and it follows the Charente valley from Saint-Saviol downstream. It leaves the Charente at Ruffec, crosses it again at Luxé and passes through the city Angoulême. It follows the small rivers Tude and Dronne downstream until its mouth at Coutras, where the railway crosses the river Isle. It follows the left Isle bank downstream to Libourne, where it continues west and downstream along the left Dordogne bank. It reaches the right Garonne bank at Bassens, and crosses the river at Cenon, entering its terminus Bordeaux-Saint-Jean station after a total length of 584 km.

Main stations

The main stations on the Paris–Bordeaux railway are:

History

The sections Paris–Orléans and Orléans–Bordeaux were built and exploited by two different companies, that became part of Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans in 1852.[3] The first section that was opened in 1840 led from Paris to Juvisy-sur-Orge, a southern suburb. The line was extended to Orléans in 1843. Tours was reached in 1846, and Poitiers in 1851. In 1852 Bordeaux was connected with Angoulême. Finally in 1853 the section from Poitiers to Angoulême was opened.[2] The Gare d'Austerlitz is the original terminus of the Paris–Bordeaux line. At the occasion of the 1900 Exposition Universelle the Gare d'Orsay was opened as the new terminus, with a more central location. The richly decorated Gare d'Orsay was only used by electric trains. After 1939 it was only used for suburban trains. Since 1986, the station building is a museum of 19th-century art.

Services

The Paris–Bordeaux railway is used by the following passenger services:

  • TGV on the section between Juvisy and Orléans
  • Intercités from Paris to Montluçon and from Paris to Toulouse (on the section between Paris and Orléans), from Bordeaux to Lyon (on the section between Coutras and Bordeaux) and from Paris to Tours
  • TER Centre-Val de Loire and TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine regional services on the whole line
  • RER Paris rapid transit line C on the section between Paris and Étampes

References

  1. "RFF - Map of electrified railway lines" (PDF).
  2. Direction Générale des Ponts et Chaussées et des Chemins de Fer (1869). Statistique centrale des chemins de fer. Chemins de fer français. Situation au 31 décembre 1869 (in French). Paris: Ministère des Travaux Publics. pp. 146–160.
  3. Joanne, Adolphe (1859). Atlas historique et statistique des chemins de fer français (in French). Paris: L. Hachette. p. 39.
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