Bordeaux-Saint-Jean ( oc, Bordèu Sent Joan, link=no) or formerly Bordeaux-Midi is the main

railway station 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 ...

in the French city of

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 ...

. It is the southern terminus of the

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 ...

, and the western terminus of the

Chemins de fer du Midi The Compagnie des chemins de fer du Midi (. CF du Midi), also known in English as the Midi or Southern Railway, was an early French railway company which operated a network of routes in the southwest of the country, chiefly in the area between ...

main

line Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Arts ...

from

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

. The station building, situated in Bordeaux city centre at the end of the Cours de la Marne, appears from the front as three parts. The middle part is home to the station buffet and separates the arrivals and departures halls. All three parts are parallel to the platforms. The station buildings hide a large metallic trainshed, built by

Gustave Eiffel Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (born Bonickhausen dit Eiffel; ; ; 15 December 1832 – 27 December 1923) was a French civil engineer. A graduate of École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, he made his name with various bridges for the French railway ...

Since the arrival of the

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 ...

the station has been renovated and upgraded with modern equipment, but has kept its original features. The great hall has a large map of the network of the Midi on one of the walls and reminds passengers of the origins of the station. The station is the main railway interchange in

Aquitaine Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 January ...

and links Bordeaux to Paris,

Sète Sète (; oc, Seta, ), also historically spelt ''Cette'' (official until 1928) and ''Sette'', is a commune in the Hérault department, in the region of Occitania, southern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Sétois'' (male) and ''Sétoises' ...

, Toulouse Matabiau and Spain.

History

The station was built in 1855 under the name ''Gare du Midi'' (Midi station) by the

, as the western terminus of its main line linking Bordeaux and

. It used to be less important than the former Bordeaux-Bastide station connecting Bordeaux with Paris on the right bank of the river Garonne. A long metal viaduct, built by

in 1860, allowed trains to cross the river and progressively Bordeaux-Saint-Jean became the Bordeaux main station, needing larger infrastructures. The current station building opened in 1898. As well as Midi trains, trains from the Paris-Orléans and the État companies called there. The station was built by M Toudoire and S Choron. It includes a large metallic trainshed 56 m wide and covers 17,000 m², one of the largest in Europe, conceived Daidé&Pillé and constructed by G. Eiffel. Eiffel two-track bridge became a bottleneck, but it was replaced only in 2008 by a new four-track railway bridge next to it, to prepare the St-Pierre-des-Corps-Bordeaux high speed line opening in 2017.

Train services

Current services

The following services call at Bordeaux-Saint-Jean as of January 2021: ^ indicates not all trains stop there *High speed services (''

'') **Paris - Bordeaux - Dax - Lourdes - Tarbes **Paris - Bordeaux - Dax - Bayonne - Biarritz - Hendaye **Paris - Bordeaux - Agen - Toulouse **Paris - Bordeaux - Arcachon **Paris - Tours - Poitiers - Angoulême - Bordeaux **Lille - Aéroport CDG - Tours - Bordeaux **Strasbourg - Aéroport CDG - Tours - Bordeaux *Discount high speed services (''Ouigo TGV'') **Paris Montparnesse - St-Pierre-des-corps (Tours)^ - Poitiers^ - Angoulême - Bordeaux - Agen - Montaubon - Toulouse *Intercity services (''Intercités'') **Bordeaux - Toulouse - Montpellier - Marseille **Nantes - La Rochelle - Bordeaux *local services (TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine) **Bordeaux - Libourne - Angoulême **Bordeaux - Saintes - La Rochelle **Bordeaux - Libourne - Périgueux - Limoges **Bordeaux - Libourne - Périgueux - Brive-la-Gaillarde - Ussel **Bordeaux - Libourne - Bergerac - Sarlat-la-Canéda **Bordeaux - Arcachon **Bordeaux - Lesparre - Le Verdon **Bordeaux - Langon - Marmande - Agen **Bordeaux - Morcenx - Mont-de-Marsan **Bordeaux - Dax - Bayonne - Hendaye **Bordeaux - Dax - Pau - Tarbes

Projected services

* High speed service (

Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated sep ...

)

London St Pancras St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It is ...

- Bordeaux in 2022 *Intercity service Bordeaux-

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

in mid 2022 by a new private societary operator

Railcoop Railcoop is a French rail cooperative society, headquartered in Cambes, Lot. It is one of the first private passenger service companies to be created in the aftermath of the liberalisation of rail transportation in France and the end of the monop ...

Twinning

In October 2019, Gare de Bordeaux-Saint-Jean was twinned with

London St Pancras International St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It i ...

in England. The association was made in the hope that a high speed service could connect the two stations, and was announced at a ceremony headed by Claude Solard, Director General of

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

References

External links

Gare de Bordeaux Saint-Jean
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bordeaux-Saint-Jean Railway stations in Gironde

Gare Saint-Jean Bordeaux-Saint-Jean ( oc, Bordèu Sent Joan, link=no) or formerly Bordeaux-Midi is the main railway station in the French city of Bordeaux. It is the southern terminus of the Paris–Bordeaux railway, and the western terminus of the Chemins de f ...

Railway stations in France opened in 1898