France was arguably the first country to develop a truly countrywide high speed rail network. Radiating out from Paris, the first section of LGV Sud-Est towards Lyon opened in 1981, with a ’Y-’shaped Atlantique route serving western France added in 1989 and a line north to the Channel Tunnel following in 1993. A link from this to the Sud-Est route - the Interconnexion Est - bypassing Paris opened in 1994, with the Sud-Est route extended beyond Lyon in 2001. In 2007 the first phase of LGV Est opened, with a second phase nearing Strasbourg completed in 2016. The following year the last major sections opened, extending each of the two arms of LGV Atlantique, and taking the national high speed network to just over 2 600 route-km.
Currently, only a 5 km spur north from Interconnexion Est to link with the classic Paris – Creil line at Survilliers-Fosses is under construction. Extension of the isolated LGV Rhin-Rhône is planned, but currently unfunded, while plans are also in place to develop links southwest from Bordeaux to serve Toulouse and Dax.
How is the TGV model evolving in an era of competition? Read our exclusive interview with the leadership of SNCF Voyageurs, setting out how the incumbent operator is responding to the challenge.
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