Paris–Brest railway

The railway line Paris -Brest is a railway line, which connects the capital with Paris Brest via Le Mans and Rennes. The total distance is in operation since 1865. Today mainly frequented passenger trains the route, including the French TGV. This requires about 4.5 hours from Paris to Brest.

History

The line was gradually opened. The section of Paris - Versailles went into operation in 1840, the extension to Chartres in July 1849. The track reached Rennes in May 1857 Guingamp in September 1863 and finally in 1856 Brest.

There were many different possible routes in the conversation. On a map from 1853 ran the route on Montfort- sur -Meu, Napoléonville and Châteaulin. They circumnavigated the Monts d' Arree south. Finally, it was decided to Arree Mounts to lead the route north around.

Some sections have remained for a long time, single track. The section from Rennes to Saint- Brieuc and Guingamp after Kerhuon were in 1892 still single track.

Route

Between Paris and Le Mans, the route leads mostly to the southwest. The route is electrified at 1.5 kV DC voltage to Le Mans, from there with 25 kV 50 Hz AC. The route is two-pronged. From Paris -Montparnasse to La Verrière it is expanded to four tracks since 1934.

Since the commissioning of the LGV Atlantique in 1989, the long-distance transport ( almost) runs exclusively on these high-speed line. With the planned commissioning of the LGV Bretagne- Pays de la Loire in 2017 will also take no TGV trains between Le Mans and Rennes more.

From Rennes, the route runs to the east. Since the September 12, 1989, this section is electrified at 25 kV 50 Hz.

The line has gradients of up to 10 ‰, between Rennes and Brest. It was planned to use the TGV there Pendulaire.

Infrastructure

The route is mostly with the block automatique lumineux. Otherwise it is with the block automatique à permissivité restreinte ( BAPR ) backed up. The speed limit is between Rennes and Brest on some sections 200 km / h Between Saint -Brieuc and Guingamp installing permanent de contre- sens ( IPCS ) is installed (Eng. permanent installation for driving on the wrong track ).

Operation

The trunk is used by trains of the TER Bretagne, Centre and Pays de la Loire. Between Paris -Montparnasse and Rambouillet trains of Tansilien N. TGV use the distance between Connerré and Brest.