Mistral (train)

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mistral


Mistral locomotive 241 P 17
in Lyon Perrache station

Train type:

1950–1965: Express train 1965–1981: TEE

First drive: May 14, 1950
Last drive: September 26, 1981
Former operator: SNCF
route
Departure station: Paris Gare de Lyon
Destination station: Nice-Ville
Technical specifications
Rolling stock: Locomotives:
1952–1961: 141 R
1961–1969: BB 9200
1969–1981: CC 6500

Car:
1969–1981: Mistral 69

Gauge (s) : 1435 mm
Power system (s): 1500 V DC
Train run


The route of the Mistral from 1952

The Mistral was a high-class long - distance train from the SNCF that connected Paris with Marseille and Nice . It got its name from the so-called strong wind that blows from the northwest over France into the Mediterranean region . With an average cruising speed he was last of 127.7 km / h to 1981 as the fastest scheduled moderately propelled train in Europe .

history

The Mistral used the Gare de Lyon in Paris . As a daytime express train , it was the counterpart to the Train Bleu night train that had been in service for a long time .

Fast

The Rapide Mistral was launched between Paris and Marseille in 1947 . The prestigious train was given the train number "R 1" (in the opposite direction: "R 2"). He led only car of that first and second class and Pullman cars of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL). In 1952 the route was extended to Nice. The train took exactly 11 hours to cover the 1088 km. Between Paris and Lyon the train had electric traction, between Lyon and Marseille the then still new steam locomotives of the class 241 P and in the section between Marseille and Nice oil-fired 141 R were used.

From 1953 onwards, new types of INOX wagons made of stainless steel were procured for the train , which were later called " Mistral 56 ". For the first time in Europe, these cars had air conditioning . A pre-war Pullman car and a dining car of the CIWL, which had no air conditioning, but were used until 1969 - the Mistral later became the only TEE to carry a Pullman car. After the European class reform of 1956, the Mistral only led the (new) 1st class.

In 1956 the maximum speed for the train was increased to 150 km / h. He achieved an average travel speed of 132.2 km / h between Paris and Dijon .

TEA

The train was integrated into the TEE network with the timetable change in summer 1965. He now drove as TEE 1 from Paris to Nice and as TEE 2 in the opposite direction. In sections, the maximum speed of the train was increased to 160 km / h between 1965 and 1968. Intermediate stops were Dijon (until February 1969 only TEE 1), Lyon , Valence , Avignon , Marseille , Toulon , Saint-Raphaël , Cannes and Antibes . The TEE 1 started its journey at 1:10 p.m. in Paris and reached Nice at 11:20 p.m., later the arrival time was brought forward to 10:25 p.m. The return train to Paris left Nice at 1:20 p.m. (later 2:35 p.m.) and reached the French capital at 11:25 p.m. (11:35 p.m.). At times the train also ran a cinema car .

In 1969 the train received new wagons , called Mistral 69, which largely corresponded to the TEE Inox PBA wagons from 1964. With the exception of the Pullman cars, which were parked, the previous vehicles were used in the Goethe TEE train . The Mistral also had its own generator car for the power supply on the train. Secondly, the train in 1969 with the then modern was fast - electric locomotives of the series BB 9300 and CC 6500 covered.

In 1981, the new high-speed line Paris – Lyon was opened and used with the high-speed trains TGV . There was no longer any need for the expensive and now relatively slow connection with a TEE. The last train with the train numbers TEE 10 and TEE 11 ran on September 26, 1981 for the last time.

literature

  • Maurice Mertens: TEA. Trans Europ Express . Alba-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1987, ISBN 3-87094-114-6 (French: Les TEE - Trans Europ Express . Translated by Berndt von Mitzlaff).
  • Stefan Vockrodt: Mistral, Capitol and other legends. Famous trains to, from and via Paris . In: Railways in Paris = Railway History Special 2 (2015). ISBN 978-3-937189-94-9 , pp. 60-67.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vockrodt: Mistral , S. 65th
  2. ↑ Vockrodt: Mistral , S. 65th
  3. ↑ Vockrodt: Mistral , p 65, called the 1956th
  4. ↑ Fritz Stöckl, The Great Railway Routes of the World , Hamburg 1985, p. 108ff.
  5. ^ Renzo Perret: The history of the CIWL. The Pullman car. Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-440-05612-0
  6. ↑ Vockrodt: Mistral , S. 65th
  7. ↑ Vockrodt: Mistral , S. 65th
  8. ↑ Vockrodt: Mistral , S. 65th
  9. ↑ Vockrodt: Mistral , S. 65th