The Narbonne—Portbou railway is an important 104-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 city of

Narbonne Narbonne (, also , ; oc, Narbona ; la, Narbo ; Late Latin:) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

to northeastern

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 built by the Compagnie des Chemins de fer du Midi. The first section that was opened in 1858 led from

to Perpignan. The line was extended to the Spanish border town

Portbou Portbou () is a town in the Alt Empordà county, in the Province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It has a population of people (). Portbou is located near the French border in the Costa Brava region, and frequently serves as a dropping off poin ...

in 1878.

Route

The Narbonne–Portbou railway leaves the

Bordeaux–Sète railway The railway from Bordeaux to Sète is an important French 476-kilometre long railway line, that connects the southwestern port city Bordeaux (on the Bay of Biscay) to the southern port Sète (on the Mediterranean) via Toulouse and Narbonne. Th ...

towards the south. It runs close to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

coast for much of its length. South of Perpignan the new high-speed rail to Figueres branches off. The Narbonne–Portbou railway 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

Cerbère Cerbère (; ca, Cervera de la Marenda) is a commune and railway town in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.Portbou Portbou () is a town in the Alt Empordà county, in the Province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It has a population of people (). Portbou is located near the French border in the Costa Brava region, and frequently serves as a dropping off poin ...

, 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 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 Cerbère and Portbou has tracks with both gauges.

Main stations

The main stations on the Narbonne–Portbou railway are: *

Narbonne station Narbonne is a railway station in Narbonne, Occitanie, France. The station opened on 22 April 1857 and is on the Bordeaux–Sète railway and Narbonne–Portbou railway lines. The station is served by TGV (high speed), Intercités (long distance, ...

* Perpignan station * Cerbère station *

Portbou railway station Portbou is a railway station serving Portbou in Catalonia, Spain. It is on the Barcelona–Cerbère railway and the Narbonne–Portbou railway. The station is owned by Adif and is served by Rodalies de Catalunya regional line and Girona commute ...

Services

The Narbonne–Portbou 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 Barcelona on the section between Narbonne and Perpignan *

AVE ''Alta Velocidad Española'' (''AVE'') is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to . As of December 2021, the Spanish high-speed rail network, on part of which the AVE s ...

from Barcelona to Toulouse or Lyon, and from Madrid to Marseille on the section between Narbonne and Perpignan *

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 Paris to Portbou via Toulouse on the whole line *

TER Occitanie TER Occitanie or liO TER Occitanie is the regional rail network serving the region of Occitanie, southern France. It is operated by the French national railway company SNCF. It was formed in 2017 from the previous TER networks TER Languedoc-Rous ...

regional services on the whole line

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Narbonne-Portbou railway Railway lines in Occitania (administrative region) Railway lines in Catalonia Standard gauge railways in Spain