LGV North

LGV Nord: Paris – Calais
Eurostar on the Viaduc de la Haute-Colme
Route number (SNCF) :	216,000 (Fretin – Fréthun) 226,000 (Gonesse – Lille-Frontière)
Course book route (SNCF) :	222 and 250
Route length:	333 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	25 kV 50 Hz  ~
Top speed:	300 km / h
Legend 0.0 Paris north Villiers-le-Bel 15.41 0.0 Unwinding from the Paris − Amiens line Viaduc du Crould (545 m) -12.81 Junction triangle to LGV Interconnexion Est Viaduc de Verberie ( Oise ; 1527 m) Paris - Compiègne route Viaduc de Longueil-Sainte-Marie ( A 1 ) Amiens - Laon route 110.81 TGV Haute-Picardie 147.81 Branch of the connecting line to Arras Route Arras Douai Lens -Douai route Route Douai-Lille 197.83 0.0 Branch of HSL 1 to Belgium Lille- Valenciennes line The confluence of HSL 1 from Belgium Lille - Ghent route 11.74 Lille-Europe Lille - Calais route 58.24 Unfiring to the route to Dunkirk Hazebrouck - Dunkirk route Viaduc de la Haute-Colme ( Aa and Canal de la Haute-Colme; 1827 m) Lille - Calais route Extension to the Boulogne-sur-Mer- Calais line 112.65 Calais-Fréthun Threading from the Boulogne-sur-Mer-Calais line Eurotunnel to the CTRL

The LGV Nord , short for Ligne à grande vitesse North , is a railroad - high-speed line in France . It is 333 km long and connects Paris with the Belgian border and the Eurotunnel . Opened in 1993, the line was the third high-speed line to open in France.

The maximum operational speed on the 320 km / h route is 300 km / h. It shortened the travel time between regions of France, Belgium and Great Britain . In the north, the route connects via the Eurotunnel to the Channel Tunnel Rail Link to London and to the HSL 1 to Brussels , in the south to the LGV Interconnexion Est , which runs around the Paris area to the LGV Est européenne , to the LGV Sud-Est and leads to LGV Atlantique . Due to its location in flat terrain, the route is nowhere steeper than 2.5%. TGV , Eurostar and Thalys trains run on LGV Nord .

route

The route crosses five departments ; these are Seine-Saint-Denis , Oise , Somme , Pas-de-Calais and Nord . It begins 16.6 km north of Paris-Nord station , at Gonesse on the Paris - Creil line . About 11 km further northeast, at Vémars, there is a junction triangle that leads to the LGV Interconnexion Est ; this makes it possible to take direct trains from Brussels or London to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport , Marne-la-Vallée - Chessy train station (with access to Disneyland Resort Paris ), Massy TGV train station and generally to the south of France. Connections between LGV Interconnexion Est and Paris-Nord are also possible, but corresponding journeys are not offered.

After crossing the forest of Ermenonville the track meets in Chevrières on the highway A1 and follow it then km on 130th The TGV Haute-Picardie train station is near the small village of Ablaincourt-Pressoir , halfway between the cities of Amiens and Saint-Quentin . To the west of Croisilles there is a nine-kilometer connecting route that leads to Arras and thus enables the development of numerous cities in northern France. At Fretin , a junction triangle connects the LGV Nord with the Belgian high-speed line HSL 1 , which leads east to near Brussels.

To the north of the Fretin triangle is the Lille area . The line runs here for a length of around seven kilometers parallel to old lines and serves the Lille-Europe train station on the edge of the city center. It runs south past Armentières and north past Hazebrouck . At Cassel , a connection route enables Dunkirk to be served . The LGV Nord ends southwest of the city of Calais near Fréthun , in front of the portal of the Eurotunnel .

The route was heavily criticized, especially by politicians from Picardy , as the LGV does not develop any of the larger cities. Amiens in particular advocated a further west running route. The government, however, considered the route via Amiens to be unfavorable, since otherwise the development of Lille would only have been possible with a long detour and the total travel time Paris-London would have increased considerably. The LGV Picardie project envisages the development of Amiens in the long term; once the route is complete, the travel time Paris − London would be less than two hours.

The route between Paris and Lille was bundled with motorways over a length of 135 km (41%) .

Train stations

There are three train stations at LGV Nord:

• TGV Haute-Picardie , at Ablaincourt-Pressoir between Amiens and Saint-Quentin
• Lille-Europe , on the edge of Lille city ​​center
• Calais-Fréthun , southwest of Calais in front of the portal of the Eurotunnel

Events

• September 29, 1989: Building permit granted
• September 2, 1991: Laying of the first rails
• September 9, 1992: Overhead line is energized
• September 20, 1992: First test drives with the TGV Atlantique 301 train
• February 23, 1993: During a test drive, a TGV Atlantique traveled the route at 350 km / h for more than 30 minutes. The set covered a distance of 175 km in 36 minutes.
• 23 May 1993: opening of the first section between Gonesse and Croisilles and the junction between Croisilles and Arras
• September 21, 1993: A TGV from Valenciennes to Paris derailed at 300 km / h near Ablaincourt-Pressoir . The last four cars and the power car jump off the rails, a passenger is injured. Due to the rain, a cavity from the time of the First World War had opened up under the tracks, which had remained undiscovered when the line was built.
• September 26, 1993: opening of the second section between Croisilles and Fréthun (portal of the Eurotunnel )
• May 6, 1994: Opening of the Eurotunnel
• December 14, 1997: Opening of the French section of HSL 1 between Fretin and the Belgian border near Wannehain
• June 5, 2000: A Eurostar derailed at 250 km / h at the junction of Croisilles. The gearbox of a bogie fails after parts of it have fallen onto the track bed. Four of the 24 bogies jump off the tracks. Seven passengers suffer injuries.
• May 26, 2001: The long-distance world record called Opération Sardine leads over the route

As part of the construction of the line, the Paris-Nord station was extensively rebuilt after the opening of the line (and the Eurotunnel ) should increase the number of travelers from 21 to 36 million per year.

Routing and technical equipment

Compared to the LGV Atlantique , the track center distance was increased from 4.20 to 4.50 m in order to enable speed increases of up to 350 km / h. The possible speed of the turnouts in the branching branch has been increased from 160 to 170 km / h.

Web links

• LGV North. In: Structurae
• Track plan of the LGV Nord

literature

• Gerhard Scheuch : Two high-speed lines in France . In: Baukultur , Heft 3, 1994, pp. 58-62, ISSN  0722-3099

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Report TGV-Est trains travel 320 km / h . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 12/2004, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 576.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Notification of third TGV line opened . In: Railway technical review . 42, No. 7/8, 1993, p. 432
3. ↑ International Union of Railways : High speed rail: Fast track to sustainable mobility . 28-page brochure dated February 2008, Paris 2008, p. 8
4. ↑ Report TGV Nord at 350 km / h . In: Railway technical review . 42, No. 7/8, 1993, p. 432