Wednesday, 3 March 2010

Improvements Of TGV In France


By Pierre Fontaine

Train a grande viteese or TGV as it is popularly known is a high speed train in France and is very famous for its speed and for the comfort it offers. Five major tracks are used by TGV.

Paris and the south-east France together with Lyon Dijon, Nice, Marseille, Avignon and Perpignon are linked by the TGV south-east line. This train halts at Geneva in Switzerland and passes through the French Alps.

The TGV Atlantic line links the capital city of France to the west coast. Major stations on this TGV train line include Nantes, the Loire Valley, La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Toulouse and the French Basque country.

The TGV northern line is linked between Paris and Lille and Calais which are the main cities in northern France.

Eurostar, probably the most well known train line, runs between Paris and London through the Channel Tunnel, stopping at Lille, Calias and Ashford in Kent along the way.

The high speed TGV Thalys line benefits major European cities such as Brussels, Cologne and Amsterdam, making travel to several European countries from France much easier.

Since the high speed train travel service has widely improved in the last few years, travelling via Paris is no longer a mandatory feature while travelling between provincial cities in France. For instance the TGV line between Lyons and Nantes is direct now. So is with Bordeaux and Lilles and several other cities.

515 km p/h is the record speed for the TGV at present. The TGV usually goes at a speed of 280-300km p/h while in service.

Securing a train ticket in France is an intricate affair as it involves so many special offers for the European and the non-European nationals. For a non-European national a pass known as 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 purchased 30% cheaper.

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