The railway from Amiens to Rouen is a French 114-kilometre long

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line, that connects

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

. It was opened in 1867. The line was electrified on 27 August 1984 at 25 kW 50 Hz, and was equipped with the restrained permissivity automatic blocking system, which since the 1990s has offered increasingly unsatisfactory operating conditions with respect to the increasing mixed passenger and goods traffic on the line.

Route

The Amiens–Rouen railway begins near the

Saint-Roch (Somme) station __NOTOC__ Saint-Roch (Somme) is a station in the Northern French city of Amiens. The station was opened in 1847 when the line from Amiens to Abbeville opened. The station was heavily bombarded during the nights of 18 and 20 May 1940, but the build ...

, where it branches off the railway from Amiens to Boulogne. It runs in generally southwestern direction, passing through

Poix-de-Picardie Poix-de-Picardie (, literally ''Poix of Picardy''; pcd, Poé-d’Picardie) is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography The commune is situated at the junction of the N1 and N29 roads, some southwest of ...

, Abancourt and Serqueux until it reaches its terminus in

. A

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industri ...

from

Montérolier-Buchy station The Gare de Montérolier-Buchy (Montérolier-Buchy station) is a railway station in the commune of Montérolier in the Seine-Maritime department, France and near Buchy. The station is a stop on the Amiens–Rouen railway, and is the terminus a li ...

to Saint-Saëns has been closed and removed.

Main stations

The main stations on the Amiens–Rouen railway are: *

Amiens station Amiens station (locally known as: ''Gare du Nord'') is the main railway station for the Northern French city of Amiens. History The station opened on 15 March 1847 when the line to Abbeville started passenger operations. It was razed by German she ...

Abancourt station Abancourt is a railway station located in the commune of Abancourt in the Oise department, in Picardy, France. It is primarily served by TER Hauts-de-France trains. Lines The station is located at the intersection of: * the Rouen - Amiens cross ...

Serqueux station Serqueux station ( French: ''Gare de Serqueux'')is a railway station in the commune of Serqueux in the Seine-Maritime department, France. It is an interchange station between the Amiens–Rouen line and the Gisors–Serqueux–Dieppe line. His ...

Rouen-Rive-Droite station Rouen-Rive-Droite is a large railway station serving the city of Rouen, Normandy, France. The station is on Rue Verte in the north of the city. Services are mainly intercity but many services are local. There are also TGV from Le Havre to Marseill ...

Use

One of the peculiarities of this line is the role of freight traffic, which is far more important than passenger traffic. In 1992–93, this line saw transport of 8,000 tonnes of goods daily, 60% of it in the Amiens - Rouen direction. The importance of the freight traffic is explained by the industrial importance of the two regions linked by the line and in particular by the ports of Rouen and

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...

at the Rouen end. On the other hand, passenger demand is not strong but tends to be focussed by the express

TER Ter or TER may refer to: Places * River Ter, in Essex, England * Ter (river), in Catalonia * Ter (department), a region in France * Torre (river), (Slovene: ''Ter''), a river in Italy * Ter, Ljubno, a settlement in the Municipality of Ljubno ob ...

Rouen - Amiens -

Arras Arras ( , ; pcd, Aro; historical nl, Atrecht ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department, which forms part of the regions of France, region of Hauts-de-France; before the regions of France#Reform and mergers of ...

Douai Douai (, , ,; pcd, Doï; nl, Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some from Lille and from Arras, D ...

- Lille axis. The Amiens–Rouen railway is used by

TER Hauts-de-France TER Hauts-de-France is the regional rail network serving the region of Hauts-de-France, northern France. It is operated by the French national railway company SNCF. It was formed in 2017 from the previous TER networks TER Nord-Pas-de-Calais and T ...

and

TER Normandie TER Normandie is the regional rail network serving the region of Normandy, northwestern France. It is operated by the French national railway company SNCF. It was formed in 2016 from the previous TER networks TER Basse-Normandie and TER Haute-Norm ...

regional passenger services on the whole line. The typical daily service (2019) sees five passenger trains in each direction, two of which are extended to/from Lille.

References

External links

TER Hauts-de-France railway map
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amiens-Rouen railway Railway lines in Hauts-de-France Railway lines in Normandy Railway lines opened in 1867