France’s TGV, that stands fortrain a grande viteese or high speed train in English, is world famous for its speed and convenience. The TGV runs on five main tracks in France.
The TVG south east track links Paris to the south east of France including the main regional towns of Lyon, Dijon, Avignon, Marseille, Nice and Perpignon. This TGV train service also passes through the French Alps and pulls in at Geneva in Switzerland.
The TGV Atlantic line connects Paris and the west coast. The stops for this TGV line include the French Basque, La Rochelle, Nantes, the Loire Valley, Toulouse and Bordeaux.
The high speed TGV northern train line connects Paris to Lille and Calais, two of the principal towns in the north of France.
Eurostar, a very popular railway line in France runs between Paris and London through the Channel Tunnel and it stops at Calais, Lille and Ashford in Kent on the way.
The high speed TGV Thalys line benefits main European cities like Brussels, Cologne and Amsterdam, making travel to various European countries from France much easier.
The past several years have witnessed improvements in high speed train travel in France. It is no longer necessary to go through Paris in order to travel between many of France’s major regional cities. The high speed TGV train in France now runs directly between Lyons and Nantes, Bordeaux and Lilles and several other destinations.
While in service the TGV generally runs at a speed of 280-300km p/h with a record speed of 515km p/h.
Purchasing a train ticket in France is a complicated affair as it involves so many special offers for the European and the non-European citizens. For a non-European national a pass called Eurailpass is given that allows one to travel for over a 2-week period but this pass costs more in France than in other countries where it can be bought 30% cheaper.
The France TGV train is a remarkable engineering achievement. If you want to know more on train networks in France please click on the links.
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