Development Of French Railway Network
Train a grande viteese or TGV as it is widely known is a high speed train in France and is very famous for its speed and for the comfort it offers. Five major tracks are used by TGV.
The TVG south east line links Paris to the south east of France including the main regional cities of Lyon, Dijon, Avignon, Marseille, Nice and Perpignon. This TGV train service also passes through the French Alps and pulls in at Geneva in Switzerland.
Paris and the west coast are connected by the TGV Atlantic line. Nantes, La Rochelle, Toulouse the Loire Valley, Bordeaux and the French Basque are the stops allotted for this TGV train line.
Paris and two other principal towns of northern France namely Lille and Calais are joined together by the TGV northern line.
Eurostar, probably the most well known train line, runs between Paris and London through the Channel Tunnel, stopping at Lille, Calias and Ashford in Kent along the way.
The high speed TGV Thalys line serves main European cities like Brussels, Cologne and Amsterdam, making travel to several European countries from France much easier.
There has been a major improvement in the high speed train travel in France in the last few years. It is no longer necessary to travel via Paris when you travel between provinces in France as a result of the TGV train service which runs directly between Lyons and Nantes now. The same is the case with Bordeaux and Lilles and many other provincial cities.
515 km p/h is the record speed for the TGV as of now. The TGV usually runs at a speed of 280-300km p/h while in service.
Purchasing a train ticket in France can be a difficult procedure because of so many different types of special deals on offer. If you're interested in buying a Eurailpass which allows you unlimited travel over a 2 week period, it's better to buy this in your country as it will be 30% cheaper than purchasing it in France. The Eurailpass is implemented specially for non Europeans so EU nationals cannot buy it.
