France - General Information

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Country Name

France (France)

National Railway System

National Railway Operator

Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF).

Thalys services are managed jointly with the Belgian railways. Other international services are operated jointly with neighbouring administrations using various concocted trading names such as TGV Lyria (Switzerland) and Elipsos (Spain). Joint operation to Italy ceased from December 2011: Trenitalia and Veolia-Transdev jointly operate the night services under the title Thello and SNCF alone operates the day trains. Eurostar is operated by Eurostar International Ltd, owned by SNCF (controlling interest of 55%), London & Continental (itself currently owned by the UK government and formerly owning the UK Eurostar operation) (40%) and SNCB/NMBS (5%).

Various open-access freight operators (particularly ECR, a DB Schenker subsidiary) are starting to appear depite French reluctance to embrace the spirit of the relevant European legislation. Voies Ferrées Locales et Industrielles (VFLI) is a SNCF subsidiary (with more flexibility of staff deployment) which contracts for the operation of certain secondary lines as well as some open access operation.

Infrastructure Authority

Infrastructure is owned and managed by Réseau Ferré de France (RFF).

Languages

French. Breton is spoken in Brittany, but the visitor is likely to be aware of this only in the form of signs as most people speak French. There is limited use of Basque in the Pyrenees and German in Alsace.

Currency

Euro

UIC code

  • SNCF: numeric 87 alpha F.
  • Eurotunnel: numeric 69. This is used only for accounting purposes and does not appear on rolling stock.

Timetable

Only some of this material is available in languages other than French

Journey Planner

SNCF website

Downloadable Timetable

  • Grandes Lignes (long distance services): None
  • Transilien (Île de France, including Paris): Transilien website Fiches horaires en poche
  • TER (local services elsewhere except Corsica): TER Website Région > Fiches Horaires > fiche
  • Corsica: CFde la Corse website

Printed Timetable

None in book form. Individual route leaflets (fiches) are available for local services and some long distance routes. A few Régions may still issue their TER fiches as a combined volume.

Engineering and strike (grève) Information

SNCF Info trafic. Alternatively Infolignes website or CFC (Corsica). Espacetrain will give current references in the French media.

Note that it is the practice to close sections of line for electrification or other reconstruction work for periods of several months: potential travellers should check carefully for such temporary closures

Bus Information

Bus services are very sparse outside large centres of population. Most are run by the Région or Département. See the TER web pages or fiches.

Maps

Printed Maps

  • Nouvelle Géographie Ferroviaire de la France: Tome 2: L'Organisation Régionale du Trafic by Gérard Blier (La Vie du Rail, 1993) (ISBN 2-902808-43-7) contains a large number of maps and track layout diagrams.
  • European Railway Atlas: France, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg by M.G. Ball (1991) (ISBN 0-7110-2011-6)
  • European Railway Atlas by M.G. Ball (2008 onwards)

Web-based Maps

Privately produced maps/plans include:

Ticketing

SNCF does not offer any type of network ticket. However, range of network tickets is available in the Paris (RATP) area and also in some Régions, including in some cases cross-border travel into Luxembourg and Germany. The best source of information on these is the Today's Railways "Railpass Guide Continental Europe" booklet.

Tickets purchased in France need to be validated before boarding the train by inserting them in a yellow machine (composteur) at the platform entrance. This stamps them with the station name, date and time.

Reservations are obligatory for travel on TGV, Thalys, ICE and Eurostar services, and on certain categories of service within the Intercités brand, such as Téoz and Lunéa. However, subject to space being available, it is possible to change reservations up to the time of departure (or check-in time for Eurostar). If travel plans are not definite, it is best to reserve on a later train and change this for an earlier one if desired. Passengers without a reservation on trains for which reservation is obligatory (or on the wrong train) have to pay a penalty charge. It is possible to make reservations up to the time of departure (or check-in), including from intermediate stations, because reserved seats are not labelled; "vacant" seats may be claimed by passengers joining the train later in the journey. On some "high speed" services - particularly Thalys, ICE and Eurostar - fares are specific and not interavailable with tickets for other trains.

Passengers boarding a train without a ticket or a valid reservation (when one is required) should advise the conductor immediately and a modest charge will be levied for purchasing a ticket on the train. Waiting until the conductor comes round the train to check tickets will result in a much higher penalty charge being payable. If a passenger has purchased a ticket in advance on line for later collection from a ticket machine and is unable either to print the ticket from the machine or obtain it from a booking office, they must purchase a ticket immediately on boarding the train and reclaim the cost later. Refusal to pay on the grounds that a ticket has already been paid for is not permitted, even if supported by evidence that the ticket machine is out of order, and could render the passenger liable to prosecution.

A large number of local services and connections to TGV stations are operated by buses. Rail tickets are valid on bus services shown in the three regional railway timetables unless there is a note to the contrary.

Regional express (RER) suburban services in the Paris area are operated jointly by SNCF and RATP. Tickets such as InterRail and FIP are not valid on RER lines owned by RATP, but can be used on RATP trains working over SNCF lines. Holders of such tickets can obtain from booking offices free of charge a special pass (contremarque) to open the automatic gates at platform entrances.

Gauge

Standard. The following SNCF lines are metre gauge: Villefranche-Vernet-les-Bains to La Tour-de-Carol-Enveitg, St Gervais-les-Bains-le-Fayet to Chamonix-Mont-Blanc and Salbris to Valençay.

Electrification

Main lines from Paris to Le Mans, Hendaye, Toulouse, Marseille and Modane, together with many associated routes are 1500V dc. Other standard gauge lines are 25kV 50Hz. All high speed lines (LGV - Lignes à Grande Vitesse) are 25kV 50Hz, except for the Contournement TGV de Tours (Montlouis to Monts Indre et Loire) which can be used by conventional trains and is, therefore, 1500V dc. Villefranche-Vernet-les-Bains to La Tour-de-Carol-Enveitg is 850 volts dc third rail and St Gervais-les-Bains-le-Fayet to Chamonix-Mont-Blanc is 750 volts dc third rail. All 750 volts dc third rail operation has been eliminated from the SNCF Paris suburban network.

Rule of the road

Left, except in Alsace and Lorraine, which were part of Germany between 1871 and 1918, where right hand running is the rule and German-style signalling can still be found. The change from left to right hand running is made on the flat at Mulhouse, but at all other locations there are flyovers. These are west of Molsheim, west of Sarrebourg, north of Ars-sur-Moselle, west of Rombas-Clouange, west of Fontoy, as part of the LGV Est junction at Baudrecourt and in the future, with the completion of the LGV Est to Strasbourg, at Vendenheim. The arrangements at Ars-sur-Moselle, near Metz, are particularly complicated as the railway is quadruple track. Reversible signalling is extensively used.

On the high speed line between Figueres-Vilafant and Perpignan, right-hand running applies for about 10km north of the Perthus tunnel whereupon the northbound line flies over the southbound line to change to left-hand running.

An explanation (in French) of French signalling practice is at http://geillon.pagesperso-orange.fr/trains/signaux/index.html.

Other railways

  • Montenvers Mer de Glace train (metre gauge, electrified 11kV 50Hz)
  • Chemin de fer de la Corse (metre gauge; from January 2012 operated by a local authority-controlled company, in which SNCF has a minority holding)
  • Chemins de fer de Provence (Nice - Digne; metre gauge; operated by Veolia - see below)
  • Le Petit Train de la Rhune (St Ignace - La Rhune; metre gauge, rack-worked, electrified 3000V 50Hz three-phase; operated by Veolia - see below. The only surviving line of the Voies Ferrées Départmentales du Midi)
  • Houillères du Bassin de Lorraine (network of standard gauge freight lines in the Béning area; operated by VFLI (see above) since 2001)
  • RDT13 (Régie Départmentale des Transports des Bouches-du-Rhône) (several standard gauge freight lines near Arles and Tarascon, as well as the short remaining section of the CF de l'Hérault; local authority owned and operated; is also amongst Tourist lines)
  • Tramway du Mont Blanc (Le Fayet - Le Glacier; metre gauge, electrified 11kV 50Hz)

Eurotunnel SA, in partnership with UK company Eurotunnel plc, has a concession to operate the Channel Tunnel between Calais and Folkestone.

Veolia-Transdev (a merger of the passenger interests of Transdev and Veolia Transport [previously Connex, Vivendi, and CGE]) - through subsidiary Sociéte Générale de Chemin de fer et de Transports Automobiles (CFTA) - operate passenger trains on the branches from Guingamp to Carhaix and Paimpol and a number of tourist lines (see their website) and, directly, some urban tram systems.

Tourist lines

The best available list of French tourist lines is provided by the Union des Exploitants de Chemins de Fer Touristiques et de Musées (a grouping of preserved and tourist lines) (UNECTO) website, but fortunately the information given is not limited to UNECTO members. Similar information is often published in spring issues of French railway magazines. Some tourist trains operate over RFF freight lines and are, therefore, susceptible to suspension or withdrawal. Most lines operate quite infrequently, usually at weekends during the summer season.

Rail cycling is possible on a number of lines - see the Vélos-rail de France website. These lines are also shown - as Cyclorail, Cyclo-draisine or Vélorail - in the UNECTO list.

Metro

The Trams in France website provides comprehensive information.

Trams

The Trams in France website provides comprehensive information. All French tram systems are either of recent construction or extensively modernised. Lyon T3 tram route from Part-Dieu and its Rhônexpress eastward extension to Aéroport Saint Exupéry use part of the trackbed of the former Chemin de Fer de l'Est Lyonnais. Part of the Valenciennes system is over the trackbed of the former Chemin de Fer d'Anzin.

itransports.fr is a web site about public transport provision with zoomable geographical maps showing all public transport stations and stops. It includes trams, funiculars, etc., and local bus facilities in and around various towns.

Recent and future changes

Line closures

A significant number of local passenger services, mainly in rural areas, were withdrawn during the the late 1930s and again in the 1980s, but in most parts of France the Regional Councils now have a strong role in planning and funding local transport and are keen to promote railways. The exception, alas, is lines crossing Regional boundaries and where extensive deferred track maintenance has been in force - hence the closures of the lines between Volvic and Lapeyrouse (December 2007), between Montluçon and Eygurande-Merlines (March 2008), between Gisors and Serqueux (temporarily from January 2009, because of condition of track, and expected to reopen mid-2013), between Valençay and Luçay-le-Mâle (on the metre gauge Blanc Argent line) (October 2009), between Avallon and Autun and between Lourches and Somain (both December 2011), and between Alès and Bessèges (7 July 2012). Local trains between Erquelinnes [BE] and Jeumont [FR] were withdrawn by SNCB/NMBS from 10 September 2012, severing this international crossing point for passengers. The lines Montréjeau - Luchon and Rodez - Sévérac-le-Château may be under some threat of withdrawal of their Régional (local authority) financial support.

With the extension of the tram line to Les Aubiers (27 February 2008), those trains on the Ligne du Médoc which had avoided Bordeaux Ravezies by the Raccordement Bonnaous-Beyreman were diverted to serve that station - a tram interchange. To enable the extension of the tramway to Blanquefort along the railway alignment, Ravezies was closed from 27 August 2012, resulting in all SNCF trains reverting to use of the Raccordement and closure of the other two sides of the triangle there.

Many councils are funding new rolling stock and are requiring SNCF to introduce improved timetables. However, in November 2009 the French Cour des comptes ["Court of Accounts"] delivered a report critical of the value for money of many TER services, recommending bus substitution. Although no specific withdrawals (apart, possibly, from Autun - Avallon) seem to have resulted from the report some local authorities appear to be adopting a more hard-nosed attitude to SNCF in the provision of their local services.

Short-lived through TGV services between Normandy and eastern France - the only passenger services over the north-western arc of the Paris Grande Ceinture - were withdrawn from December 2010. Local reports in December 2011 suggest a threat to the future of the Nancy - Contrexéville line. Through TGV services between Melun and Marseille - the only passenger services over the Raccordement de Vergigny – appear to have been withdrawn by July 2012.

The Train Touristique d’Ardèche Méridionale (Saint-Jean-le-Centenier - Voguë; 14 km) closed after the 2011 season, in view of serious financial problems.

The Sarreguemines - Bitche line, which was closed by rock-fall in December 2011, still awaits finance for the necessary remedial work and so is replaced by bus until at least July 2013.

That portion of the SNCF line from Annemasse within Switzerland, between Chêne-Bourg and Genève Eaux Vives, closed permanently on 28 November 2011. The section between Annemasse and Chêne-Bourg closed temporarily from 1 April 2013. The line is forecast to be reopened in 2017 - partly diverted, wholly re-engineered, and linked to Genève Cornavin station. See website www.ceva.ch.

Line openings

An east - west curve avoiding St.Germain-des-Fossés opened in December 2006 and an east - south curve avoiding Tassin (Lyon) in December 2012, providing direct service between Lyon St.Paul and Brignais. Mulhouse - Neuenburg (Germany) increased to a full service (in place of seasonal service) from December 2012.

A north - west curve avoiding Folligny has been constructed and used by a railtour, but no information is available as to whether it will open for regular passenger service. A direct curve to the west of Mulhouse between the Colmar line near Mulhouse-Dornach and the Belfort line near Brunstatt opened for freight in June 2012 and will eliminate the need for use of obscure route FR1 by those TGVs between Strasbourg and Marseille without a Mulhouse call when they commence in December 2013. In conjunction with the completion of the LGV Est to Strasbourg, the 5km section of the Réding - Drulingen line, as far as Brouwiller-Lixheim, will reopen to enable Nancy <==> Strasbourg TGV services to access the LGV line.

The opening of the Ligne á Grande Vitesse Est - which has yet to be completed - represented a further phase of the extension of the LGV network. The ligne du haut-Bugey, Bourg-en-Bresse - La Cluse - Bellegarde, was modernised, electrified, and reopened (along with the branch to Oyonnax) from December 2010, offering a shorter, slightly faster route to Genève for TGV's from Paris; however, the overall alignment remains largely unchanged - it is not a "green field" LGV. An isolated, international section of LGV between Perpignan and a new station 2 km west of Figueres/Figueras [ES] also opened in December 2010, and was extended to Barcelona in January 2013.

The latest opening - in December 2011 - is the first phase of the new LGV Rhin-Rhône, between Villers-Le-Pots (Dijon) and Petit Croix (Mulhouse) - see the route map. This includes reopening to passengers of much of the Besançon - Devecey line (closed 11 May 1959), as a link to Besançon-Franche-Comté TGV station, and construction of an east-facing curve to the LGV. Subsequent phases of LGV Rhin-Rhône will extend west to avoid Dijon and south towards Lyon. Other projects being considered or developed include extensions of existing lines to Rennes, Bordeaux, Perpignan (to connect with the line to Figueres/Figueras [ES] (- Barcelona)), Modane (and Torino). Details of these projects are at the RFF website.

A new west-facing curve off the Alès line at Nîmes, enabling trains to avoid reversal at Courbessac yard, is scheduled to open in April 2013. A light rail system is being developed in Mulhouse; the first phase, which included conversion of the Kruth branch and its linking to the town tramway system, commenced operation in December 2010. Future plans may incorporate other closed or freight only lines.

Work is in hand to reopen the following lines: Nantes - Nort-sur-Erdre (as a tram-train, reopening originally targeted for September 2011 but delayed) and thence to Châteaubriant (originally targeted for December 2012), [Avignon -] Sorgues - Carpentras (reopening targeted for the end of 2014), Oloron Ste.Marie - Bedous, Chartres - Voves (work in hand, reopening targeted for December 2013).

Train à Vapeur de Touraine (formerly operating between Richelieu and Chinon) are expected to start tourist operations over the line between Thouars, Arçay and Loudun in 2013.

Regional Councils have, over recent years, expressed intentions of reintroducing passenger services on the following further lines: Bedous - Canfranc, Thouars - Parthenay - Niort, Niort - Fontenay-le-Comte, Voves - Orléans (targeted for 2017/8), Orléans - Châteauneuf-sur-Loire (targeted for 2017/8), Quillan - Perpignan (the latter already partly reopened for seasonal tourist service), Valence - Nîmes (via the Rhône right-bank line), Colmar - Volgelsheim (Neuf-Brisach Gare), Colmar - Ste.Croix-en-Plaine, Digne - St.Auban, Rognac - Aix-en-Provence, Cavaillon - Pertuis, Gardanne - Carnoules, Les Arcs - Draguignan, Penne - Villeneuve-sur-Lot (targeted for 2014), La Suze - La Flèche, Sathonay - Trévoux and Chalon-sur-Saône - St.Marcel-lès-Chalon; Belfort - Delle (closed in September 1992; although targeted for 2015, this may be subject to delay; to restore connection with the Swiss network), La Rochelle la Porte-Dauphine - Pallice (possibly as a tram-train). Some of these are at early stages of development and others show little or no tangible result. The Cour des comptes 2009 report (see previous sub-section) does not seem to have impacted on such aspirations.

There has been revival of talk in Paris about a "new" link between central Paris and Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport, for a which various schemes have been in the offing since at least 2000; there is no prospect of an early opening - even when a route and financing have been decided.

Special notes

Until relatively recent decades, the only regular interval services operated by SNCF were on Paris suburban lines. The introduction of a regular interval service on the LGV lines from Paris to Lyon, Lille and Nantes resulted in increased traffic, and - at RFF prompting (for line capacity reasons) - schedules to standard clock-face pattern (cadencé) - although by no means necessarily every hour everywhere! - were widely introduced from December 2011 in the first total overhaul of French timetables other than for opening of LGVs. It had been the practice for many main lines to be closed for several hours each day, usually during the morning, for maintenance. The new cadencé schedule should minimise these blancs travaux which caused long gaps between trains. There had been a growing tendency - in an endeavour to catch up with deferred track maintenance - for services on secondary and local lines to be replaced by buses for exstensive periods without this being shown in the timetable; however, much of such work should now be completed. The infrequent services on many secondary or tertiary lines reflects the sparse population in much of France, and the relatively small size of many cities - or perhaps reflect the demand for travel to work fifty or more years ago, rather than the current needs of people working more flexibly or travelling for leisure. Certainly, the traveller on cross-country and local routes will hanker for the frequency of service found on just about all other European systems while concluding that the travel writers who lavish their praise on the TGV network never tangle with the more backward parts of the SNCF system!

Strikes (Grèves) are not uncommon on French railways. These may be localised and information about them may not be widely circulated elsewhere. It is the practice to close sections of line for electrification or other reconstruction work for periods of several months: potential travellers should check carefully for such temporary closures. See Engineering and strike (grève) Information above.

SNCF operates the railway through Monaco, which does not have its own railway administration. Journeys between French stations and Monaco-Monte Carlo are regarded as domestic and are subject to SNCF conditions of carriage, not CIV.

If a station name begins 'La' or 'Le', this is ignored in alphabetic indices; for example La Bastide-St Laurent-les-Bains is listed under B, and Le Havre under H. Treatment of places named after saints, of which there are a large number in France, varies. SNCF disregards gender, so Ste Gemme (female) comes between St Gely and St Genest (male) in the station index. However, in indices to Michelin guides and maps, female saints (Ste) all follow the male ones (St).

Four websites containing useful information are:

See also

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