Development of the French TGV network (2023)

Previous TGV developments

The opening of France's TGV Sud-Est in 1981, connecting Paris and Lyon, was a milestone in transport and railway history, with similar significance to the opening of the Shinkansen in Japan in 1964. High-speed trains continued to enjoy great technical and commercial success in all countries that adopted this technology. In addition to being fast, the high-speed train has proven to be a safe, comfortable and efficient means of transport for the general public. In short, it reinvigorated rail transport and became a symbol of modern society.
The high-speed train is a proven system that has become a milestone in world transport and railway history. The TGV Süd-Est was Europe's first high-speed line and there is no doubting the technical excellence of the TGV, having set the world rail-on-rail speed record of 515.3 km/h in 1990 in the southwestern section of the Atlantic. Over 20 years, from 1981 to 2001, the gradual opening of TGV Atlantique (1990), TGV Nord Europe (1993) and TGV Méditerranée (2001) proved the reliability of TGV technologies in real operation.
This article addresses high-speed rail transport in France, focusing on the past development of the TGV network, the current construction of the TGV Est and future prospects based on the French high-speed rail master plan approved in December 2003.

Operation of the French TGV network

technical decisions
The French State Railways (SNCF) began transmitting the first high-speed rail definition concepts in France in 1970 with a proposal to build a new line between Paris and Lyon based on three principles: dedicated line for passenger services, compatibility with the existing rail network and high frequency operation with short travel times. These decisions proved to be the right ones and made it possible to reduce the cost of building new lines, reach high operational speeds of 240-270 km/h, optimize the capacity of the new TGV lines and reduce the costs of operating and maintaining the new lines and rolling stock and free load capacity on existing conventional lines. All these factors contributed to the growth in traffic and higher profitability of high-speed rail.
A particularly unique selling point of the French TGV is its relatively low construction costs. The first TGV Sud-Est cost only US$ 4 million per kilometer, the lowest in the world (Table 1). More recent projects cost around US$10 million per kilometre, and the most recent TGV Méditerranée, with seven long viaducts (17,155 km) and one long tunnel (12,768 km), still costs just US$15 million per km.

French TGV lines
The French TGV network currently covers a total of 1,520 operational kilometers (Figure 1) as follows:

TGV through operation on the conventional network
As the TGV system was designed from the ground up to be compatible with the existing conventional rail network, TGV trains can operate on a much wider network than dedicated high-speed lines (Figure 2). TGV Paris connections also allow the TGV to serve French regions without passing through Paris.
In addition, TGV trains can also directly serve the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.

travel times
As shown in Figure 3, the TGV network has drastically changed the geography of France in terms of travel times from Paris.

TGV-Zugsets
Parallel to the advances in high-speed lines, the SNCF undertook extensive project development of TGV train sets. The current fleet of 388 multiple units includes five TGV generations, includingEurostareThalys, distributed according to Table 2.

TGV success story

The TGV is not only a technical success, but also a commercial success.
Since the TGV was first put into operation in 1981, the volume of TGV traffic has steadily increased as several TGV lines were put into service over the 20 years from 1981 to 2001 (Figures 4 and 5). Around 250,000 passengers use one of the 600 TGV trains every day; TGV annual traffic is 90 million passengers.
At the end of 2003, TGVs collectively transported more than 1 billion passengers, demonstrating their success as a fast, safe, frequent, comfortable and efficient means of transport for all.
In terms of passenger kilometers and commercial revenue, TGV traffic accounts for around 75% of all SNCF main line traffic. Operation of TGV trains in France and neighboring countries (includingEurostareThalysServices) is an important profit center for SNCF.
The experience shows an immediate public reaction after the opening of a new TGV. The sources of the traffic increase are passengers switching from air to road transport due to the added value of the TGV in terms of shorter journey times, frequent connections, high comfort and competitive fares.
The impact of high-speed trains on air travel is unquestionable; The competing flight routes of the TGVs recorded similar drops in volume, especially on trips lasting less than 3 hours. The impact on road transport is also clear – traffic figures show that motorways are experiencing a decline in traffic growth as they compete with TGVs. As an added benefit, the decrease in air and road travel reduces the negative impact of pollution, etc. on the environment due to the ecological nature of the TGV.

Synergy between TGV and planes

France has greatly developed the synergy between TGV and air services. For example, two airports - Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) near Paris and Lyon Saint Exupéry Airport (LYS) - have TGV stations at the airport itself. travel with a single ticket to the following destinations: Aix-en-Provence TGV, Angers, Avignon TGV, Bordeaux Saint-Jean, Le Mans, Lille-Europe, Lyon Part-Dieu, Marseille Saint-Charles, Montpellier, Nantes, Nimes, Poitiers, Rennes, Saint-Pierre-des-Corps Tours, Valence TGV. TGV Air is promoted not only by the SNCF, but also by travel agencies and airlines around the world. In 2004, Air France, Air Austral, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, KLM, Lufthansa and United Airlines were all partners of TGV Air, with other airlines planning to join.

TGV-Bahnhof am Flughafen Roissy Charles de Gaulle
The TGV station at Terminal 2 of the CDG opened in 1994 to provide a quick and convenient connection between trains and planes. The station has four floors and offers various services such as information points, ticket offices, bar, restaurant, currency exchange, car rental, day care, showers, toilets, etc.
CDG TGV services operate on the Nord Europe, Sud-Est, Méditerranée and Atlantique TGV lines, as well as on theThalysNetwork. In 2002, the CDG TGV station handled around 2.5 million passengers and this volume is expected to increase as airport traffic increases.

TGV station at Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport
The TGV station in the heart of LYS was opened in 1994. It was designed by the famous Spanish architect M. Santiago Calatrava. The architecture is bold, combining an aesthetic exterior with outstanding functionality on the inside.
Since the construction of the third airport for the Paris region was cancelled, LYS has fulfilled its ambition to become the second busiest airport in France. Its trump card is its connection to Europe's expanding high-speed network. This advantage will make LYS a unique multimodal transport base for Europe. Approximately 9 million people currently live within 90 minutes of LYS; By 2015, 21 million people (excluding Paris) will live within 2 hours.
In 2002, the LYS TGV station carried 300,000 passengers, a 19% increase over the previous year. This traffic will continue to grow in the future with additional TGV trains to the south and south east of France and the commercialization of services such as TGV Air, which combines air flights with TGV travel – a perfect combination of train and plane.

TGV East under construction

After the TGV Méditerranée, the next TGV project (2007) will be the TGV East from Paris to Strasbourg. The overall project includes 406 km of new lines to Vendenheim near Strasbourg. The first phase, already budgeted, will be 300 km long, linking Vaires-sur-Marne near Paris with Baudrecourt on the Moselle and the existing rail network, serving many destinations directly without any connections.
The project also includes improvements to lines and terminal facilities, mainly between Gare de l'Est station in Paris and Vaires-sur-Marne and on the Strasbourg–Kehl main line. Furthermore, the routes through the Vosges valleys will be electrified and prepared for the new high-speed trains. Thanks to the European HSR East France, Paris will be connected to the main cities in the east of France and the eastern regions will be connected to the high-speed network serving the north, west and south-west of France, creating a new European network.

driving speed and times
The first 300 km, linking Vaires-sur-Marne to Baudrecourt on the Moselle, will support speeds of up to 350 km/h - commercial operations will start at 320 km/h. Some typical travel times are shown in Figure 6.

Financing TGV East
This project was born after many studies to define a specific financing package and a roadmap that respected the natural environment and surroundings. The first infrastructure project of its kind to be recognized as a non-profit by the Ministry of the Environment, the European HSR line in eastern France is also the first railway to be largely funded by French regions and the European Union (EU). The total cost is around 4 billion euros (1 euro = 1.20 US dollars), broken down as follows: 61% public funding (French government, 17 local authorities, EU and Luxembourg); 17% RFF and 22% SNCF (of which €800 million for TGV vehicles).

Commercial network and traffic forecast
With a new 300km high-speed line from Vaires to Baudrecourt and connections to conventional lines and the rest of the TGV network, TGV Est will form a commercial network covering 26 French and 11 European cities.
For high-speed international commercial traffic, RHEALYS was founded as a joint venture between CFL (Luxembourg), SNCF (France), DB AG (Germany) and SBB (Switzerland).
The project will increase traffic by 66%, from 6.9 million passengers to 11.5 million.

Future TGV developments

On December 18, 2003, the Interministerial Commission for Land Planning and Development (CIADT) met. One of the themes was an ambitious long-term transport plan (2025) that would allow French regions to better participate in Europe and the world economy. The plan envisages around 50 major projects, including eight TGVs (Fig. 7): Rhine-Rhône (Dijon-Mulhouse); Sud Europe Atlantique (Tours-Bordeaux-Spain); Brittany - Pays de la Loire; Est (second phase with connection to the ICE network); Catalonia-Italy (Perpignan-Figueras, detour Nîmes and Montpellier, TGV to Nice); Lyon–Turin; Bordeaux - Toulouse; and connecting line south of Paris.
By 2010, the French high-speed network will cover a total of 2,117 km. In the long term, the network will cover around 3500 km. TGV lines also extend to neighboring countries; The EU has recently adopted Technical Interoperability Specifications (TSI) for the high-speed network, which will be mandatory for new EU high-speed lines. Its implementation will allow the EU to build a high-speed network with a total length of over 12,000 km, integrate European countries and revitalize rail passenger transport.