Major train travel disruption as Paris-Lyon TGV route closes for four days
Services across France – and internationally – will see journey times increased or be cancelled
Journey times will be more than doubled between the cities
Victor Velter/Shutterstock
Train travel across France will see major disruptions in the coming days as modernisation works take place on the high-speed TGV line between Paris and Lyon.
The works are taking place between 23:00 tonight (November 8) to 04:00 on Tuesday (November 12).
Between these dates, no trains will be able to run on the high-speed line, although trains will be able to travel between the cities on traditional rail links.
This will see journey times between the cities more than double, taking at least four hours compared to the current two.
It means that only 30% of typical rail traffic between the two cities will be running this weekend.
The high-speed line linking the cities is the busiest of its kind in Europe and sees dozens of services each day.
The works will see the rail route’s signalisation system modernised, contributing in part to a planned 25% increase in traffic on the route by 2030.
Knock-on effect across European rail network
It is not only Paris and Lyon that are affected by the works as the route is a key axis for many train services passing through France.
Journeys between Paris to Grenoble will take six hours instead of three, and to Marseille, seven and a half hours (compared to three hours usually).
It means direct trains from Paris to Nice are not running this weekend, as a single journey would take too long. Passengers will need to catch a connecting train in Marseille
This is the same for services between Paris and Perpignan, which are also cancelled (high-speed trains will only serve stations up to Montpellier in the south).
It is not only links to Paris that are affected as the line is also used for several routes between the south of France and the north/west.
No Nantes-Lyon, Lyon-Rennes, Le Havre-Marseille or Lille-Marseille will run whilst works are taking place.
International services between Paris and Barcelona, Paris and Milan, and Brussels and Marseille are also cancelled this weekend.
Finally, six stations will see no TGV trains stop during the works: Le Creusot-Montceau-Montchanin TGV, Mâcon-Loché TGV, Lyon Saint-Exupéry TGV, Valence TGV, Montpellier-Sud-de-France and Nîmes-Pont-du-Gard.
Read more: French rail strike call: wide-scale disruption expected later this month
