Rail transport in France

In 1814, the French engineer Pierre Michel Moisson-Desroches proposed to the Emperor Napoleon to build seven national railways from Paris, in order to travel "short distances within the Empire". However, the history of railways in France really begins in 1827, when the first trains operated on the Saint-Etienne to Andrezieux Railway, the first French line, granted by order of King Louis XVIII in 1823. ==Operation==

Since of 1842, French railways are highly focused on Paris. Traffic is concentrated on the main lines: 78% of activity is done on 30% of the network (), and the 46% of smaller lines () only drive 6% of the traffic. The 366 largest stations (12%) account for 85% of passenger activity, and the smallest 56% of stations take only 1.7% of traffic. Freight transport Freight transport has declined since the early 1980s. Today the network is predominantly passenger-centric; railways transport only 9% of French cargo, or about 1/2 of the European average, and less than a fourth of the US railways' share of US cargo. Since 1 January 2007, the freight market has been open to conform to European Union (EU) agreements (EU Directive 91/440). New operators had already reached 15% of the market at the end of 2008. Passenger transport Short and middle distance The Transport express régional (TER) is directed by the administrative Regions of France. They contract with the SNCF for lines exploitation. Regional rail on the island of Corsica is operated by Chemins de fer de la Corse. Rapid transit is known as (RER), present in Paris (Réseau Express Régional) and planned for Lyon (Réseau Express de l'Aire urbaine Lyonnaise). Commuter rail systems cenetred around the Swiss cities of Geneva (Léman Express) and Basel (Basel S-Bahn), in the Swiss canton of Jura (RER Jura), and in the Ortenau region of Germany (Ortenau Regional S-Bahn) also serve nearby towns in France. Several TER lines also connect to railway stations in neighbouring countries. Image:Strasbourg_train_2017_5.jpg|French regional train in Strasbourg Image:Z 20500 IDF Mobilités Ligne P.jpg|Regional train at Gare de l'Est, Paris Image:Paris - Gare Saint Lazare (3).JPG|Gare Saint Lazare, Paris Image:Bayeux train station - panoramio.jpg|Bayeux station in the Normandy region Long distance The SNCF directly manage this class of trains. The TGV (including TGV inOui and Ouigo) is used on the most important destinations, both national and international, while Intercités carriages are still used for other lines (Intercités de Nuit for nighttime services). Cross-border services are operated by TGV Lyria to Switzerland, EuroStar to Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, AVE to Spain, and Trenitalia France to Italy. == Network ==

The French railway network, as administered by SNCF Réseau, as of June 2007, is a network of of commercially usable lines, of which is electrified. of those are high speed lines (LGV), have two or more tracks. are supplied with 1,500 V DC, with 25 kV AC at 50 Hz. are electrified by third rail or other means. 1,500 V is used in the south; HSR lines and the northern part of the country use 25 kV electrification. Trains drive on the left, except in Alsace and Moselle where tracks were first constructed while those regions were part of Germany. Rail links to adjacent countries • Same gauge • Belgium — voltage change 25 kV AC/3 kV DC (except high-speed line to Brussels, same voltage) • Germany — voltage change 25 kV AC/15 kV AC • Italy — voltage change 25 kV AC or 1.5 kV DC/3 kV DC • Luxembourg — same voltage • Monaco — same voltage • Spain via the LGV Perpignan-Figueres — same voltage • Switzerland — voltage change 25 kV AC or 1.5 kV DC/15 kV AC • United Kingdom via the Channel Tunnel — voltage change 25 kV AC/750 V DC third rail (except high-speed line to London, same voltage) • Break-of-gauge, / • Spain (on conventional tracks) — voltage change 1.5 kV DC/3 kV DC • Andorra — No rail link to France • No rail links from Saint Martin to Sint Maarten or from French Guiana to Suriname or Brazil ==Current status==

and regional train in Nantes station The French non-TGV intercity service (TET) is in decline, with old infrastructure and trains. The French government is planning to remove the monopoly that rail currently has on long-distance journeys by letting coach operators compete. Travel to the UK through the Channel Tunnel has grown in recent years, and from May 2015 passengers have been able to travel direct to Marseille, Avignon and Lyon. Eurostar is also introducing new Class 374 trains and refurbishing the current Class 373s. The International Transport Forum described the current status of the French railways in their paper "Efficiency indicators of Railways in France": • The success of the TGV is undeniable (Crozet 2013). Work started in September 1975 on the first high-speed rail (HSR) line, between Paris and Lyon, and it was inaugurated in September 1981. New high-speed lines were opened in 1989 (towards the south-west), in 1993 (towards the north), etc. The high-speed network extent was 2,600 km in 2017, after the opening of four new lines. • The regionalisation of intercity and local services was tested in 1997 and fully deployed in the early 2000s. Since then, TERs (regional express trains) have seen traffic rise steeply (50% between 2000 and 2013) as, to a lesser extent, have services in the Ile de France region (25%). • Rail freight has been far less successful. The French network carried 55 billion tonne-km in 2001, but this figure scarcely reached 32 billion tonne-km in 2013. This weak performance contrasts sharply with the ambitious public policy of the last fifteen years. The Grenelle Environment Forum (2007–2010) oversaw the deployment of a costly freight plan that was no more effective than its predecessors. ==Funding==

, Germany, Spain, Italy and France in Euros Like roads, the French railways receive rail subsidies from the state in order to operate. Those amounted to €13.2 billion in 2013. == Rolling stock ==

Alstom is the manufacturer of the TGV, and is behind many regional train models (Régiolis, SNCF Class Z 26500 ... ) ==See also==