The railway from Bordeaux to Irun is an important

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 ...

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 p ...

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 prefectu ...

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") , ...

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

Route

The Bordeaux–Irun railway leaves the

Bordeaux-Saint-Jean station 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 ...

in southwestern direction. The first approximately 145 km of its course runs through the Landes forest. At Lamothe the line to Arcachon branches off, and the line turns south. At Dax the line leaves the Landes forest, and the line to Puyoô 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. ...

until Saubusse, 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 r ...

, 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 Spa ...

and Saint-Jean-de-Luz. It crosses the Spanish border between Hendaye and Irun, 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 E ...

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: *

* Dax station * Bayonne station *

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 ope ...

* Irun railway station

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 Arcachon. The line was extended to Dax 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 Irun.

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 from Hendaye to Toulouse on the section between Bayonne and Hendaye * TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine regional services on the section between Bordeaux and Hendaye

References

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