The railway from Paris-Est to Strasbourg-Ville is a 493-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

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

via

Châlons-en-Champagne Châlons-en-Champagne () is a city in the Grand Est region of France. It is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, despite being only a quarter the size of the city of Reims. Formerly called Châlons ...

and Nancy,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Officially, the line does not start at the

Gare de l'Est The Gare de l'Est (; English: "Station of the East" or "East station"), officially Paris Est, is one of the seven large mainline railway station termini in Paris, France. It is located in the 10th arrondissement, not far southeast from the Ga ...

in Paris: the first 9 km until Noisy-le-Sec is shared with the

from Paris to

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Mìlhüsa'' ; , meaning "Mill (grinding), mill house") is a France, French city of the European Collectivity of Alsace (Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region of France). It is near the Fran ...

. The railway was opened in several stages between 1849 and 1852. The opening of the

LGV Est The Ligne à Grande Vitesse Est européenne (East European High Speed Line), typically shortened to LGV Est, is a French high-speed rail line that connects Vaires-sur-Marne (near Paris) and Vendenheim (near Strasbourg). The line halved the tra ...

high speed line from Paris to Baudrecourt in Lorraine in 2007 has decreased the importance of the section Paris–Sarrebourg for passenger traffic.

Route

The Paris-Est–Strasbourg-Ville railway branches off the Paris-Est - Mulhouse-Ville railway at Noisy-le-Sec. It continues in eastern direction, following the river Marne upstream and crossing it several times. The main stations along this section are

Meaux Meaux () is a Communes of France, commune on the river Marne (river), Marne in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, Franc ...

Château-Thierry Château-Thierry (; Picard: ''Catieu-Thierry'') is a French commune situated in the department of the Aisne, in the administrative region of Hauts-de-France, and in the historic Province of Champagne. The origin of the name of the town is u ...

Épernay Épernay () is a Communes of France, commune in the Marne (department), Marne Departments of France, department of northern France, 130 km north-east of Paris on the mainline railway to Strasbourg. The town sits on the left bank of the Marne ...

and Vitry-le-François. After Vitry, it continues east, following the small rivers Saulx and

Ornain The Ornain () is a 116 km long river in northeastern France, right tributary of the Saulx (Seine basin). It is formed near the village Gondrecourt-le-Château by the confluence of the small rivers Ognon and Maldite. It flows generally nort ...

upstream. It passes

Bar-le-Duc Bar-le-Duc (), formerly known as Bar, is a commune in the Meuse département, of which it is the capital. The department is in Grand Est in northeastern France. The lower, more modern and busier part of the town extends along a narrow valley, ...

, and crosses the river

Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...

near

Commercy Commercy () is a Communes of France, commune in the Meuse (department), Meuse Departments of France, department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. History Commercy dates back to the 9th century, and at that time its lords were dependent on th ...

. It enters the

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...

valley at

Toul Toul () is a Communes of France, commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle Departments of France, department in north-eastern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the department. Geography Toul is between Commercy and Nancy, Fra ...

, and follows the Moselle downstream until Frouard. The railway continues upstream along the river Meurthe, through Nancy and Lunéville. It continues east through

Sarrebourg Sarrebourg (; also , ; Lorraine Franconian: ; older ) is a commune of northeastern France. In 1895 a Mithraeum was discovered at Sarrebourg at the mouth of the pass leading from the Vosges Mountains. Geography Sarrebourg is located in the ...

, and crosses the main

Vosges Mountains The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian (linguistics), Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its France–Germany border, border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the bor ...

ridge near

Saverne Saverne (, ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Bas-Rhin departments of France, department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is situated on the Rhine-Marne canal at the foot of a mountain pass, pass ...

. It descends along the small river Zorn until

Brumath Brumath (; ) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. History Brumath occupies the site of the Roman '' Brocomagus''. Maria Christina of Saxony, aunt of Louis XVI, died in the château in the city. The b ...

, where it turns south and enters the agglomeration of

Main stations

The main stations on the Paris–Strasbourg railway are: * Gare de Châlons-en-Champagne *

Gare de Nancy-Ville Nancy-Ville station ( French: ''Gare de Nancy-Ville'') is the main railway station serving the city Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle department, northeastern France. It is situated on the Paris–Strasbourg railway. Services The station is served by ...

History

The railway Paris–Strasbourg had already been planned in 1833, and its route had been defined in 1844. It was built and exploited by the ''Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Strasbourg'', that became part of

Chemins de fer de l'Est The Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Est (, , CF de l'Est), often referred to simply as the Est company, was an early France, French railway, railway company. The company was formed in 1853 by the merger of ''Compagnie du chemin de fer de Pari ...

in 1854. The first section that was opened in 1849 led from Paris to Châlons-sur-Marne. In 1850 a line from Nancy to Frouard, and a line from Châlons to Vitry-le-François were built. In 1851 a line from Vitry-le-François to

, and a line from

were built. Finally in 1852 the sections between Commercy and Frouard, and between Nancy and Sarrebourg were opened.

Services

The Paris–Strasbourg 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 ...

on the sections from Paris to

Vaires-sur-Marne Vaires-sur-Marne (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, Northern France. Vaires-sur-Marne is at the western end of the LGV Est high-speed rai ...

, from Châlons-en-Champagne to Bar-le-Duc, from Frouard to Nancy, and from Sarrebourg to Strasbourg *

ICE Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

Paris–Munich on the sections from Paris to Vaires-sur-Marne, and from Sarrebourg to Strasbourg * TER Grand Est regional services on the whole line *

Transilien Transilien () is the brand name given to the commuter rail and tram-train network operated by SNCF and serving Île-de-France, the region surrounding and including the city of Paris. The network consists of lines Transilien Line H, H, Transilie ...

regional services on the section between Paris and

RER E RER E is one of the five lines in the Réseau Express Régional (English: Regional Express Network), a hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system serving Paris and its suburbs. The line travels between western and eastern suburbs, with all ...

Paris rapid transit on the section between Paris and Chelles-Gournay

References

External links

Transilien network map
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paris-Strasbourg railway Railway lines in Hauts-de-France Railway lines in Île-de-France Railway lines in Grand Est Railway lines opened in 1852 1852 establishments in France