TGV

From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.

A TGV train in the Montparnasse railway station in Paris
Enlarge
A TGV train in the Montparnasse railway station in Paris

The TGV (train à grande vitesse, French for "high-speed train"), is a category of high speed trains. They are used in France, and for a few services from France to England,Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. The trains have an operating speed between 270 km/h and 320 km/h. They operate inside France, but there are also services to Brussels, Amsterdam, London, and Köln.

Section of the European High speed network, the yellow part is TGV
Enlarge
Section of the European High speed network, the yellow part is TGV

Inside France, there are the following (high speed) lines

A line to Strasbourg, via Reims and Metz is currently being built. This will cut the time Paris to Strasbourg from shortly under 4 hours to shortly over 2 hours. Lines to Spain and Italy are in the planning phase.

The construction of the network has shortened travel times considerably. Paris to Marseille (750km) can now be done in 3 hours. Two thirds of the traffic volume is done by the TGV, only one third is done by airplanes.


[edit] External links


This short article can be made longer. You can help Wikipedia by adding to it.