Paris–Marseille railway

The railway line between Paris and Marseille is a railway line, which connects the capital Paris with Marseille via Dijon and Lyon. It is also called " PLM Ligne ". The track was built in the years 1847 to 1855 and operated by the Compagnie des chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée. In 1938 the route was transferred to the ownership of the Société nationale des chemins de fer français ( SNCF). She moves through the regions, Ile -de -France, Burgundy, Rhône -Alpes and Provence- Alpes- Côte d' Azur.

On almost its entire length, there are parallel to the line a new line. Since 1997 part of the route, as the rest of the net, the railway infrastructure company, Réseau Ferré de France ( RFF).

Route

The line runs from Gare de Lyon in a southeasterly direction along the Seine, later it leads up the river Yonne, the Armançon and the Brenne along. It crosses the watershed between the Mediterranean - Atlantic Ocean at an altitude of 405 m. The route has between Les Laumes - Alesia and Dijon a gradient of 8 ‰.

From Dijon follows the route of the Saône, from Lyon it is located on the left bank of the Rhone. From Arles route in an easterly direction realigned. Marseille is reached after the Tunnel de la Nerthe ( 4640 m ) was moved.

Between Givors - Canal and Grezan exist alongside the railway line Givors - Canal - Grezan on the right bank of the Rhone, this is mainly used for freight.

History

The track was, as envisaged in the Star of Legrand, turned toward Paris. It was initially planned to build a long tunnel under the Mont Afrique, this was eventually rejected and led the route with a shorter tunnel about Blaisy -Bas. The line was gradually opened. The first 196 km from Paris to Tonnerre were opened on 12 August 1849. The section Dijon Chalon -sur -Saône was opened on 1 September of the same year. On 22 June 1851, the section Tonnerre, Dijon was put into operation. The section of Chalon -sur- Saone to Lyon was opened on July 10, 1854, three years later.

The operation was carried out from 1857 to 1938 by the Compagnie des chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée. From 1938 it was integrated nationale des chemins de fer français in the Société, since this provides the traffic.

The route is electrified at 1.5 kV DC since 1962. Work on the electrification have lasted from 1949 to 1962.

A first world speed record was set at Vougeot on February 20, 1954, there were 243 km / h, achieved with a locomotive CC 7100 series.

The travel time from Paris to Marseille have also been cut again and again. Took the Mistral in 1954 8 hours 3 min, so there were in 1962 only 7 h 10 min and 1969, the travel time of the TEE Mistral shortened to 6 h 40 min.

The largest travel time reductions were achieved but only with the commissioning of a grande vitesse Ligne. By the LGV Sud -Est, the traveling time was in 1983 reduced to 4 h 42 min, by the LGV Rhône -Alpes in 1994 was the traveling time only 4 h 14 min, the LGV Méditerranée shortens this since 2001, again at 3 h

Infrastructure

The route is double track throughout. From Gare de Lyon to Melun there are six or four tracks. South of Lyon, there are also four tracks until after Chasse -sur -Rhône. From there, the two tracks to Marseille -Saint -Charles. The track is equipped with the block Automatique Lumineux. The speed limit on many sections of 160 km / h

The route has many engineering structures. It has two tunnels, each with a length of more than 4 km, these are the Tunnel de la Nerthe ( 4638 m) and the Tunnel de Blaisy -Bas ( 4112 m). There are also some larger bridges.

Operation

By the year 1982 reversed the route of the TEA Mistral; this combined with Nice Paris via Dijon, Lyon, Valence, Avignon, Marseille, Toulon, Saint- Raphaël, Cannes and Antibes. With the commissioning of the high-speed lines of the long-distance passenger traffic increased on the route from strong, he was successively shifted to the LGV Sud -Est, LGV Rhône -Alpes and LGV Méditerranée the. On the route today Regional trains of TER Bourgogne, TER Rhône- Alpes and the TER Provence-Alpes- Côte d' Azur. Moreover runs between Paris and Montereau the Transilien Paris -Lyon. The track is also used for freight.