The railway from Mantes-la-Jolie to Cherbourg is an important French 228-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

Mantes-la-Jolie Mantes-la-Jolie (, often informally called Mantes) is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region of north-central France. It is located to the west of Paris, from the centre of the capital. Mantes-la-Jolie is a subprefe ...

, a western suburb of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, with the northwestern port city

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

via

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Paris–Le Havre railway The Paris–Le Havre railway is an important 228-kilometre long railway line, that connects Paris to the northwestern port city Le Havre via Rouen. Among the first railway lines in France, the section from Paris to Rouen opened on 9 May 1843, foll ...

. The line was opened between 1855 and 1858 by the

Chemins de Fer de l'Ouest The Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Ouest (CF de l'Ouest), often referred to simply as ''L'Ouest'' or ''Ouest'', was an early French railway company which operated from the years 1855 through 1909. History Birth of the company The Compa ...

Route

The line serves the towns

Évreux Évreux () is a commune in and the capital of the department of Eure, in the French region of Normandy. Geography The city is on the Iton river. Climate History In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named ...

, Bernay,

Lisieux Lisieux () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. It is the capital of the Pays d'Auge area, which is characterised by valleys and hedged farmland. Name The name of the town derives from the l ...

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

. It is 313 km long from Mantes-la-Jolie to Cherbourg (370 km from Paris). It was electrified with 25 kV AC in June 1996.

Main stations

The main stations on the Mantes-la-Jolie–Cherbourg railway are: *

Mantes-la-Jolie station Mantes-la-Jolie is a railway station in the town Mantes-la-Jolie, Yvelines department, northwestern France. It is on the Paris–Le Havre railway at the point where the line to Caen and Cherbourg diverges. Services The station is served by sev ...

Évreux-Normandie station Évreux-Normandie (until recently: ''Évreux Embranchement'') is the train station for the town of Évreux, Eure, France. It was built by CF de l'Ouest in 1887 (the line opened in 1855). The station was named ''Embranchement'' as it stands at th ...

Lisieux station is the main train station for the town of Lisieux, Normandy, France. It was built by Chemins de Fer de l'Ouest in 1855. The station is built in a Y shape and is situated on the Mantes-la-Jolie–Cherbourg railway main line from Paris to Caen and ...

Caen station Caen, ''Gare de l'Ouest'' or ''Gare Calvados'', is the main and now only station serving the city of Caen, Normandy, France. The station stands on the main line from Paris to Cherbourg and although it mainly is an intercity station many regional ...

Cherbourg station Gare de Cherbourg is the railway station of the city of Cherbourg, Normandy, France. It is the western terminus of the Mantes-la-Jolie–Cherbourg railway. History On 5 September 1850, the president Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte visited Cherbourg a ...

Line history

The

from Paris to

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

via Mantes-la-Jolie was opened in 1843. A concession for a railway from Mantes to Caen was already granted in 1846, but the first section from Mantes to

was only opened in July 1855. Lisieux–

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, American-built SNCF 141R steam engines as well as

turbotrain The Turbotrain was any of several French high-speed rail, high-speed, gas turbine trains. The earliest Turbotrain entered service in 1967, for use on France's SNCF intercity lines. There were four versions in total, with the last exiting service ...

-type trains from September 1970. After electrification in 1996, BB16000 and BB 26000 locomotive-hauled trains are used.

Services

The Mantes-la-Jolie–Cherbourg 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 Cherbourg to

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

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 Caen, Cherbourg and

Saint-Lô Saint-Lô (, ; br, Sant Lo) is a commune in northwest France, the capital of the Manche department in the region of Normandy.TER Normandie TER Normandie is the regional rail network serving the region of Normandy, northwestern France. It is operated by the French national railway company SNCF. It was formed in 2016 from the previous TER networks TER Basse-Normandie and TER Haute-Norm ...

regional services

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mantes-la-Jolie-Cherbourg railway Mantes-Cherbourg Mantes-Cherbourg Railway lines opened in 1858