Nantes – Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie railway line

Nantes – St Gilles Croix de Vie
Entrance to St. Gilles train station in 2010
Route number (SNCF) :	534,000, 535,000
Course book route (SNCF) :	383 to 1986: 548
Route length:	84 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Departments (F):	Loire-Atlantique , Vendée
Legend by Quimper / Le Croisic 0.000 Nantes 1.059 to Châteaubriant by Segré and Châteaubriant 1.059 to Angers 1.059 to and from La Rochelle 2,500 2,647 Pont Résal ( Loire ) (128 m) 0.000 Nantes-État 4.196 0.696 1.223 Viaduc de Pirmil ( Loire ) (252 m) 1,755 Rezé- Pont-Rousseau 14,595 Bouaye 18,588 Pont sur l ' Acheneau (25 m) 20,200 Port-Saint-Père - Saint-Mars 20.406 Sainte-Pazanne 20,841 after Pornic 40.038 Machecoul 40.392 Pont sur le Falleron (25 m) 47,470 Bois-de-Céné 53,413 La Garnache 59,071 Challans 65.095 Soullans 65.990 Pont sur le Ligneron (13 m) 68.427 0.000 new connection 1,310 old route 69.836 Commequiers beginning of Velo-Rail 73.992 Saint-Maixent-sur-Vie 81.094 Coëx end of Velo-Rail 93,800 Aizenay 101,600 La Génétouze 109.550 75.110 to Clisson / Nantes 75.110 after Thouars 75.999 La Roche-sur-Yon to La Rochelle to Les Sables-d'Olonne 4,979 Notre-Dame-de-Riez 5.246 Pont sur le Ligneron (8 m) 10,831 Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez 12.715 Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie

The Nantes – Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie railway is a regional SNCF route that is 84 kilometers long. A normal train needs an hour and 18 minutes for this route at an average speed of 64 km / h.

history

The history of the Nantes – Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie railway line begins with the construction of today's section from Nantes to Pornic as an independent line. The opening of this railway was completed on September 11, 1875. On March 25, 1876, an extension to Machecoul was inaugurated.

The finances of the railway company that built and operated the new line were not doing well, so they had to file for bankruptcy as early as 1878. The government nationalized the company on May 25, 1878 and operated it through the state railway company. In the same year, on December 30, 1878, an extension to Challans was put into operation.

On September 19, 1880, the extension to La Roche-sur-Yon was inaugurated. La Roche-sur-Yon, where there is a connection to several other railways, was planned as the end point of the route. On October 18, 1881, a branch line from Soullans / Commequier to St. Gilles was opened, today's end of the line.

In 1940, with the beginning of the Second World War , the route was closed. After the end of the war, traffic was resumed.

A second closure of the line followed in September 1970. However, twelve years later, in September 1982, the rail connection was reopened. However, the section from La Roche-sur-Yon to Soullans was not resumed, but the Nantes - Soullans section of the railway formerly leading to La Roche-sur-Yon in combination with that from Commequier to Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie leading route. The St. Gilles - Nantes trains passing through can now travel the route without turning in Commequier, as was the case before the interim closure in 1970 when trains were still running to La Roche. For this, a new connecting curve from Soullans to Notre-Dame-de-Riez had to be built. The connecting curve cuts driving time by nine minutes.

After the connection between Commequiers and La Roche has been closed, it will continue to operate as a tourist attraction between Commequiers and Coex.

The operation of the line from Nantes to Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie is carried out by the national Société nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF). A passenger train normally takes an hour and 18 minutes and reaches an average speed of 64 km / h.

future

modernization

In the near future, the line will be modernized and the route will be reconstructed, as some parts are from 1897. The signaling technology is also updated. This modernization aims to use modern rollerball material so that the route can be driven at up to 140 km / h. Furthermore, the St. Pazanne train station is to be driven through continuously at 30 km / h.

Two phases are planned or already carried out:

• Nantes - St. Pazzane started operating at the end of 2009.
• St. Pazanne – Saint Gilles / Pornic: Should be finished by 2013.

electrification

The route is to be electrified by 2015, so that it is possible to travel from Paris by TGV to St. Gilles in three hours . This development is supported by the elected officials and the Vendée Regional Administration, but it is still unknown whether they will contribute to the funding.

Traffic statistics

	1990	1995	2000	2005	2007
A thousand kilometers of travel	297	138	252	477	569
A thousand passenger kilometers	11,922	6,856	13,511	21,962	25.103

Web links

Website of the Société nationale des chemins de fer français