Marseille to Paris

Completed in June 2001, the LGV Méditerranée joined up with the LGV Rhône Alpes and the original Paris/Lyon TGV line completing the link between Marseille and Paris.

Now is your chance to see this truly amazing feat of engineering from the cab of a Duplex (double deck) TGV. The Ligne a Grande Vitesse (LGV) features dozens of massive viaducts, tunnels and earthworks cutting a swathe through the French countryside (with no expense spared) to allow for very high speed running.

Marseille vies with Lyon to be the second City of France, having a population of 1.25 million. As well as being the gateway to the French Riviera, there is ample demand for a high speed rail service with the capital. To make the service comparable with air, a target journey time of three hours had to be set for the 466 mile route. This could only be achieved with an average start to stop speed of around 155 miles an hour! Our non-stop service achieves just that, taking us over the longest TGV route in France whilst beginning and ending via the classic main lines into each City.

Bonus footage: TGV Duplex interior and specification.