The railway from Bordeaux to Irun is an important French 235-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 the southwestern city

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

to northern

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. The railway was opened in several stages between 1841 and 1864.

Route

The Bordeaux–Irun railway leaves the Bordeaux-Saint-Jean station in southwestern direction. The first approximately 145 km of its course runs through the

Landes forest The Landes forest (; La forêt des Landes in French) in the Landes de Gascogne (las Lanas de Gasconha in the Gascon language), in the historic Gascony natural region of southwestern France now known as Aquitaine, is the largest man-made woodlan ...

. At Lamothe the line to

Arcachon Arcachon ( ; ) is a commune in the southwestern French department of Gironde. It is a popular seaside resort on the Atlantic coast southwest of Bordeaux, in the Landes forest. It has a sandy beach and a mild climate said to be favourable for inv ...

branches off, and the line turns south. At

Dax Dax or DAX may refer to: Business and organizations * DAX, stock market index of the top 40 German companies ** DAX 100, an expanded index of 100 stocks, superseded by the HDAX ** TecDAX, stock index of the top 30 German technology firms * Dax ...

the line leaves the Landes forest, and the line to

Puyoô Puyoô () is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. Geography The town is situated on the Gave de Pau, a river running through the region, and some of the river's tributaries, including the streams of Lataill ...

and Pau branches off. The railway continues downstream along the right bank of the river

Adour The Adour (; eu, Aturri; oc, Ador) is a river in southwestern France. It rises in High-Bigorre (Pyrenees), in the commune of Aspin-Aure, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean (Bay of Biscay) near Bayonne. It is long, of which the uppermost ca. i ...

until

Saubusse Saubusse (; oc, Saubuça) is a commune in the Landes department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. Its population has increased from 616 in 1975 to 1,113 inhabitants in 2018. The church of Saubusse was built in the 13th Century unde ...

, where it turns west towards the Atlantic coast, and then south. It crosses the river Adour in

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...

, and turns southwest. It passes along the ocean resorts

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. ...

and

Saint-Jean-de-Luz Saint-Jean-de-Luz (; eu, Donibane Lohitzune,Donibane Lohitzune
Auñamendi Ency ...

. It crosses the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

border between

Hendaye Hendaye (Basque language, Basque: ''Hendaia'')HENDAIA
Auñamendi Encyclopedia, Auñamendi Eusko Entz ...

and

Irun Irun ( es, Irún, eu, Irun) is a town of the Bidasoaldea region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. History It lies on the foundations of the ancient Oiasso, cited as ...

, where the railway ends. France and Spain have different

rail gauges In rail transport, track gauge (in American English, alternatively track gage) is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many d ...

(

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

and

Iberian gauge Iberian gauge ( es, ancho ibérico, trocha ibérica, pt, bitola ibérica) is a track gauge of , most extensively used by the railways of Spain and Portugal. This is the second-widest gauge in regular use anywhere in the world. The Indian gauge, , ...

, resp.), which requires change of trains. The section between Hendaye and Irun has tracks with both gauges.

Main stations

The main stations on the Bordeaux–Irun railway are: * Bordeaux-Saint-Jean station *

Dax station Dax station is a railway station serving the town Dax, Landes department, southwestern France. It is situated on the Bordeaux–Irun railway The railway from Bordeaux to Irun is an important French 235-kilometre long railway line, that connects t ...

Bayonne station Bayonne station (French: ''Gare de Bayonne'') is a railway station in Bayonne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. The station is located on the Bordeaux - Irun, Toulouse–Bayonne and Bayonne–Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port railway lines. The station is se ...

Hendaye station The gare d'Hendaye is a railway station in Hendaye, France, on the Bordeaux-Irun and Madrid-Hendaye lines. The station is served by TGV high speed trains, Intercités de nuit night trains, Intercités long distance and TER local services operat ...

Irun railway station Irun is a railway station in Irun, Basque Country, Spain. The station is located on the Bordeaux - Irun, Bilbao - Hendaye and Madrid–Hendaye railway lines. The station is served by TGV (high speed trains) operated by the SNCF and Alvia (Hig ...

History

The railway was built by the Compagnie des Chemins de fer du Midi and its predecessor ''Compagnie du chemin de fer de Bordeaux à La Teste''. The first section that was opened in 1841 led from

to Lamothe, a section that is shared with the railway to

. The line was extended to

in 1854. The section between Dax and

was opened in 1855. Finally in 1864 the line was extended from Bayonne to the Spanish border town

Services

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

TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...

from Paris to Irun on the whole line, and from Paris to Tarbes on the section between Bordeaux and Dax *

Intercités Intercités (before September 2009: ''Corail Intercités'') is a brand name used by France’s national railway company, SNCF, to denote non high speed services on the 'classic' network in France. SNCF established the Intercités brand in January ...

from Hendaye to Toulouse on the section between Bayonne and Hendaye *

TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine is the regional rail network serving the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It is operated by the French national railway company SNCF. It was formed in 2017 from the previous TER networks TER Aquitaine, TER ...

regional services on the section between Bordeaux and Hendaye

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bordeaux-Irun railway Railway lines in Nouvelle-Aquitaine Railway lines in Spain