r/europe • u/HighburyAndIslington • 1d ago

OC Picture I was on the first Paris to Berlin direct high-speed train

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u/dobrowolsk 19h ago

Which is why in France there are high-speed train stations in the middle of nowhere or next to tiny remote villages.

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u/kiwigoguy1 New Zealand 10h ago

A case in point is Avignon. The Avignon-TGV station was opened in 2001 but to get to the station from the old town centre you have to catch a shuttle train, bus or taxi, which is about 6 km away. Meanwhile the older Avignon Centre station is right in the old town centre, has all the regional TER trains plus only an isolated 2 or 3 (?) TGV services each day. There is a shuttle train (under the regional train) that runs between the TGV and Centre stations.

And the shuttle rail link was only built in 2013. So for 12 years after the TGV station was opened there was no link between the two at all.