The railway from Tours to Saint-Nazaire is an important French 282-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, following the lower course of 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 ...

. It is used for passenger (express, regional and suburban) and freight traffic. The railway was opened in several stages between 1848 and 1857.

Main stations

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 ...

* Saumur station * Angers-Saint-Laud station * Nantes station * Saint-Nazaire station

Line history

Construction of the railway was started by the ''Chemin de Fer de Tours à Nantes'', that became part of the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans in 1852. The section between

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 ...

and

Saumur Saumur () is a Communes of France, commune in the Maine-et-Loire Departments of France, department in western France. The town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon, Bourgu ...

was opened in 1848. Saumur was linked to

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

in 1849, and the section between Angers and

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

was opened in 1851. Finally, the section between Nantes and

Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Oc ...

was opened in 1857.

References

Railway lines in Centre-Val de Loire Railway lines in Pays de la Loire 1848 establishments in France {{France-rail-transport-stub