The railway from Bordeaux to Sète is an important French 476-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 Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

line, that connects the southwestern port 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 prefecture ...

(on the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

) to the southern port

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 ...

(on 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 and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

) via

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. The city is on t ...

and

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 M ...

. The railway was opened in several stages between 1855 and 1858.

Route

The Bordeaux–Sète 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 ...

in southeastern direction, following the river

Garonne The Garonne (, also , ; Occitan, Catalan, Basque, and es, Garona, ; la, Garumna or ) is a river of southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux – a ...

upstream on its left bank. It crosses the Garonne at Langon, and continues upstream along the right Garonne bank in eastern direction, turning southeast near

La Réole La Réole (; oc, La Rèula) is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. Geography La Réole is located on the right bank of the Garonne, southeast of Bordeaux by rail. La Réole station has rail conne ...

. It crosses the river Lot near Aiguillon, and passes through

Agen The commune of Agen (, ; ) is the prefecture of the Lot-et-Garonne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It lies on the river Garonne southeast of Bordeaux. Geography The city of Agen lies in the southwestern department of ...

. At

Castelsarrasin Castelsarrasin (; oc, Los Sarrasins) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in Occitanie region of France. The inhabitants are called ''Castelsarrasinois''. It is the second most populous commune in Tarn-et-Garonne after Montauban. ...

the railway leaves the Garonne and runs east towards

Montauban Montauban (, ; oc, Montalban ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, region of Occitania, Southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, ...

on the river Tarn, where it turns sharply southeast, and then south to

. At Toulouse the railway leaves the Garonne again, following the small river Hers-Mort in southeastern direction. Beyond

Carcassonne Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the ...

it follows the river

Aude Aude (; ) is a department in Southern France, located in the Occitanie region and named after the river Aude. The departmental council also calls it " Cathar Country" (French: ''Pays cathare'') after a group of religious dissidents active i ...

downstream, in eastern direction. At

the railway turns northeast until

Béziers Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a subprefecture of the Hérault department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hosts the famous ''Feria de Béziers'', which is centred on bullfighting. A million visitors are attra ...

, where it turns east. At

Agde Agde (; ) is a commune in the Hérault department in Southern France. It is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi. Location Agde is located on the Hérault river, from the Mediterranean Sea, and from Paris. The Canal du Midi ...

it reaches the

Mediterranean Sea 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 and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

coast, and runs northeast along the spit that separates the

Étang de Thau The Étang de Thau (; oc, Estanh de Taur) or Bassin de Thau is the largest of a string of lagoons (''étangs'') that stretch along the French coast from the Rhône river to the foothills of the Pyrenees and the border to Spain in the Languedoc-R ...

from the sea. It reaches its eastern terminus

after 476 km.

Main stations

The main stations on the Bordeaux–Sète railway are: *

Agen station Agen is a railway station in Agen, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. The station was opened in 1856 and is located on the Bordeaux–Sète railway, Niversac-Agen railway and Agen-Auch railway, which is used for freight. The station is served by TGV (h ...

Montauban-Ville-Bourbon station Montauban or Montauban-Ville-Bourbon is a railway station serving the town of Montauban, Tarn-et-Garonne department, southwestern France. The station The station lies on the Bordeaux–Sète railway and it is the southern terminus of the Orléan ...

Toulouse-Matabiau station Toulouse-Matabiau is the main railway station in Toulouse, southern France. It is in the city centre and connected to the Toulouse Metro. The station is situated on the Bordeaux–Sète railway, Toulouse–Bayonne railway, Brive–Toulouse (v ...

Carcassonne station Carcassonne is a railway station in Carcassonne, Occitanie, France, on the Bordeaux–Sète and Carcassonne–Rivesaltes lines. The station is served by TGV, Intercités and TER services operated by SNCF. History The station built in 1857 by ...

* Narbonne station *

Béziers station The ''gare de Béziers'' (in occitan: ''Gara de Besièrs'') is the railway station that serves the town of Béziers in the Hérault ''département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of ...

Sète station Sète station (French: ''Gare de Sète'') is the railway station serving the town of Sète in the Hérault ''département'' of southern France. It is the eastern terminus of the Bordeaux–Sète railway The railway from Bordeaux to Sète is an ...

History

The railway was built by the Compagnie des Chemins de fer du Midi. The first section that was opened in 1855 led from

Tonneins Tonneins (; oc, Tonens) is a town in the Lot-et-Garonne department of south-western France. It stands above the river Garonne, between Marmande to the west and Agen to the east, and is the first major town below the confluence of the Lot and Gar ...

. The section between Tonneins and

was opened in 1856. In 1857 the line was extended to near

. Finally in 1858 the line was connected with the existing PLM line from Sète to Montpellier.

Services

The Bordeaux–Sète 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 1 ...

from Paris to Toulouse on the section between Bordeaux and Toulouse *

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 on the section between Toulouse and Narbonne *

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 Toulouse and Perpignan on the section between Montauban and Narbonne, from Nantes to Toulouse on the section between Bordeaux and Toulouse and from Bordeaux to Marseille and Nice on the whole line *

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, TER ...

and

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-R ...

regional services on the whole line

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bordeaux-Sete railway Railway lines in Nouvelle-Aquitaine Railway lines in Occitania (administrative region) Railway lines opened in 1855 1855 establishments in France