The railway from Bordeaux to Irun is an important

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

235-kilometre long

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

line, that connects the southwestern city

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

to northern

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. 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 () 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 fer du Midi main line from Tou ...

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 p ...

branches off, and the line turns south. At

Dax The DAX (''Deutscher Aktienindex'' (German stock index); ) is a stock market index consisting of the 40 major German blue chip companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. It is a total return index. Prices are taken from the Xetra t ...

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 Latail ...

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

Adour The Adour (; ; ) 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. is known as the ' ...

until

Saubusse Saubusse (; ) is a commune in the Landes department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. The church of Saubusse was built in the 13th Century under the reign of Louis IX of France commonly known as Saint Louis. Population The inhab ...

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

Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...

, and turns southwest. It passes along the ocean resorts

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; also spelled ; ) 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. It is a luxu ...

and

Saint-Jean-de-Luz Saint-Jean-de-Luz (; ,Donibane Lohitzune
Auñamendi Encyclopedia, Auñamendi Eu ...

. 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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

border between

Hendaye Hendaye (; Basque: ''Hendaia'',HENDAIA
Irun Irun (, ) is a town of the Bidasoaldea region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. History It lies on the foundations of the ancient Oiasso, cited as a Roman- Vasconic town. During the Spanish Civil War, ...

, where the railway ends. France and Spain have different

rail gauges In rail transport, track gauge 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 different track gauges exist worldwide, gauge dif ...

(

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 in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

and

Iberian gauge Iberian gauge (, ) is a track gauge of , most extensively used by the railways of Spain and Portugal. A broad gauge, it is the second-widest gauge in regular use anywhere in the world, with only Indian gauge railways, , being wider (by ). As ...

, 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 Hendaye station () 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 opera ...

Irun railway station Irun is a railway station in Irun, Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, Spain. The station is located on the Bordeaux–Irun railway, Bordeaux - Irun, Bilbao - Hendaye and Madrid–Hendaye railway, Madrid–Hendaye railway line ...

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

Irun Irun (, ) is a town of the Bidasoaldea region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. History It lies on the foundations of the ancient Oiasso, cited as a Roman- Vasconic town. During the Spanish Civil War, ...

Services

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

TGV The TGV (; , , 'high-speed train') is France's intercity high-speed rail service. With commercial operating speeds of up to on the newer lines, the TGV was conceived at the same period as other technological projects such as the Ariane 1 rocke ...

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

Intercités Intercités (IC), known before September 2009 as ''Corail Intercités'', is a brand name used by France's national railway company, the SNCF, to denote non High-speed rail in France, high-speed services on the classic rail network in France. The ...

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, TE ...

regional services on the section between Bordeaux and Hendaye

References

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