Haute-Picardie TGV station (
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
: ''Gare de TGV Haute-Picardie'') is a
railway station on the
LGV Nord-Europe between
Lille and
Paris. Geographically, it is located about west of
Péronne, between the towns of
Saint Quentin and
Amiens, in the heart of the
Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...
territory.
Overview
When built, it was criticised by the press for being too far from any of the neighbouring towns to be useful. It was located near a
trunk road rather than a connecting railway line: it was often nicknamed ''la gare des betteraves,'' or 'sugar beet station', as it is surrounded by
sugar beet
A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wi ...
fields, as it was the case for some rail stations in the countryside at the beginning of the twentieth century, when those vegetables were still transported almost exclusively by train to the nearest sugar refinery.
Today, the station is connected with the two local main cities, namely
Amiens to the west and
Saint Quentin to the east, by the
A29 motorway – it takes around 30 minutes to reach either city and a bus shuttle service operates four times per day.
The annual number of passengers varies from 360,000 to 400,000.
As a very small TGV station, from the point of view of watching the trains the platform is only a few metres from the main running lines, where trains pass by at , and there is a good view of the lines in both directions. At most stations on
high-speed lines there is some form of barrier preventing this close up viewing from the platform. Since 2013, passengers are not allowed onto the platforms until the arrival of the next stopping train, in order to avoid any risk of being hit by flying
track ballast.
There is a business park close to the station.
References
External links
*
Haute-Picardie
Railway stations in France opened in 1994
{{Picardy-railstation-stub