Paris–Bordeaux Railway
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The railway from Paris to Bordeaux is an important French 584-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 ...
to the southwestern port 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 ...
via
Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and
Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...
. The railway was opened in several stages between 1840 and 1853, when the section from Poitiers to Angoulême was finished. The opening of the
LGV Atlantique The LGV Atlantique (; ) is a high-speed rail line running from Gare Montparnasse in Paris towards the Atlantic coast of France. It opened in 1989–1990 and has two intermediate stations: Massy TGV station and Vendôme-Villiers-sur-Loir TGV s ...
high speed line from Paris to Tours in 1989 has decreased the importance of this section of the line for passenger traffic; the opening of the LGV Sud Europe Atlantique in 2017 has seen all long distance passenger trains migrating to that line and leaving space for more regional and local trains, as well as freight trains.


Route

The Paris–Bordeaux railway leaves the Gare d'Austerlitz in
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 ...
in southeastern direction. It follows the left
Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...
bank upstream until
Juvisy-sur-Orge Juvisy-sur-Orge (, literally ''Juvisy on Orge'') is a commune in the Essonne department in ÃŽle-de-France in northern France. It is located southeast of Paris and a few kilometres south of Orly Airport. The city is known for Gare de Juvisy, ...
, where it starts following the small river Orge upstream until Brétigny-sur-Orge. Between Lardy and Étampes the railway follows the small river Juine upstream. It then crosses the Beauce plains until it reaches Orléans. The Orléans station is a terminus; many long distance trains call at the nearby Les Aubrais station instead. At Orléans the railway turns southwest, following the river
Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...
downstream along its right bank. It passes through
Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher Departments of France, department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the mos ...
and Amboise, and crosses the Loire at Montlouis-sur-Loire, an eastern suburb of
Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...
. The
Tours station Tours station (French language, French: ''Gare de Tours'') is a railway station serving the city of Tours, Indre-et-Loire department, western France. It is situated on the Paris–Bordeaux railway, the Tours–Saint-Nazaire railway, and the non-e ...
is a terminus as well; many long distance trains call at the nearby
Saint-Pierre-des-Corps station Saint-Pierre-des-Corps station () is a railway station serving the town of Saint-Pierre-des-Corps and the Tours agglomeration, Indre-et-Loire department, western France. It is situated on the Paris–Bordeaux railway and the Tours–Saint-Naza ...
instead. The railway turns south again, crosses the rivers
Cher Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...
and
Indre Indre (); is a department in central France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are known as the ''Indriens'' (masculine; ) and ''Indriennes'' (feminine; ). Indre is part of the current administrative region of Cent ...
, and follows the right Vienne bank upstream beyond Maillé. At Châtellerault it crosses the Vienne and continues upstream along the river
Clain The Clain (; ) is a long river in western France, a left tributary of the river Vienne. Its source is near Hiesse, Charente. The Clain flows generally north, through the following departments and towns: *Charente * Vienne: Pressac, Vivon ...
, through the city
Poitiers Poitiers is a city on the river Clain in west-central France. It is a commune in France, commune, the capital of the Vienne (department), Vienne department and the historical center of Poitou, Poitou Province. In 2021, it had a population of 9 ...
. At Voulon the railway leaves the Clain valley and it follows the
Charente Charente (; Saintongese: ''Chérente''; ) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It is named after the river Charente, the most important and longest river in the department, and also the r ...
valley from Saint-Saviol downstream. It leaves the Charente at Ruffec, crosses it again at Luxé and passes through the city
Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; ) is a small city in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Charente, of which it is the Prefectures of France, prefecture. Located on a plateau overlooking a meander of ...
. It follows the small rivers Tude and Dronne downstream until its mouth at Coutras, where the railway crosses the river Isle. It follows the left Isle bank downstream to
Libourne Libourne (; ) is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the wine-making capital of northern Gironde and lies near Saint-Émilion and Pomerol. Geog ...
, where it continues west and downstream along the left
Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; ) is a large rural departments of France, department in south west France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and ...
bank. It reaches the right
Garonne The Garonne ( , ; Catalan language, Catalan, Basque language, Basque and , ; or ) is a river that flows in southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux †...
bank at Bassens, and crosses the river at Cenon, entering its terminus
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 ...
after a total length of 584 km.


Main stations

The main stations on the Paris–Bordeaux railway are: * Gare d'Austerlitz (Paris) * Les Aubrais station * Orléans station *
Saint-Pierre-des-Corps station Saint-Pierre-des-Corps station () is a railway station serving the town of Saint-Pierre-des-Corps and the Tours agglomeration, Indre-et-Loire department, western France. It is situated on the Paris–Bordeaux railway and the Tours–Saint-Naza ...
*
Tours station Tours station (French language, French: ''Gare de Tours'') is a railway station serving the city of Tours, Indre-et-Loire department, western France. It is situated on the Paris–Bordeaux railway, the Tours–Saint-Nazaire railway, and the non-e ...
* Poitiers station * Angoulême station *
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 ...


History

The sections Paris–Orléans and Orléans–Bordeaux were built and exploited by two different companies, that became part of Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans in 1852. The first section that was opened in 1840 led from
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 ...
to
Juvisy-sur-Orge Juvisy-sur-Orge (, literally ''Juvisy on Orge'') is a commune in the Essonne department in ÃŽle-de-France in northern France. It is located southeast of Paris and a few kilometres south of Orly Airport. The city is known for Gare de Juvisy, ...
, a southern suburb. The line was extended to Orléans in 1843. Tours was reached in 1846, and Poitiers in 1851. In 1852 Bordeaux was connected with
Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; ) is a small city in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Charente, of which it is the Prefectures of France, prefecture. Located on a plateau overlooking a meander of ...
. Finally in 1853 the section from Poitiers to Angoulême was opened. The Gare d'Austerlitz is the original terminus of the Paris–Bordeaux line. At the occasion of the 1900 Exposition Universelle the Gare d'Orsay was opened as the new terminus, with a more central location. The richly decorated Gare d'Orsay was only used by electric trains. After 1939 it was only used for suburban trains. Since 1986, the station building is a
museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...
of 19th-century art.


Services

The Paris–Bordeaux 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 section between Juvisy and Orléans *
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 Paris to Montluçon and from Paris to Toulouse (on the section between Paris and Orléans), from Bordeaux to Lyon (on the section between Coutras and Bordeaux) and from Paris to Tours *
TER Centre-Val de Loire TER Centre-Val de Loire (operated under the brand Rémi since 2019 and TER Centre prior to 2015) is the regional rail network serving Centre-Val de Loire ''région'' of France. Network The rail and bus network as of April 2022:
and TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine regional services on the whole line * RER Paris rapid transit line C on the section between Paris and Étampes


References


External links


Transilien network map
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paris-Bordeaux railway Railway lines in Centre-Val de Loire Railway lines in ÃŽle-de-France Railway lines in Nouvelle-Aquitaine Railway lines opened in 1840