France: High Speed Rail Link Improved

The first high-speed train service between Paris and eastern French cities made its maiden passenger trip earlier this month, slashing travel times and opening up Germany to France’s Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) network.

The new line will enable France’s world-renowned high-speed trains to connect Paris with cities in Germany, France and Switzerland as well as the cities of Strasbourg, Nancy, Metz and Reims.

It will start to provide services into Germany from December, bringing Munich within just over six hours of Paris. Frankfurt, the German financial capital, will be a journey of three hours and fifty minutes.

The Paris-Strasbourg route will take only two hours and 20 minutes –almost halving from previous four hour travel time. Travelling times to Luxembourg and Switzerland will also be slashed.

Previous upgrades to the TGV line, in the southern cities of Marseille and Avignon, have resulted in tourism booms. House prices have increased 120 percent in the region since 2001, when the new TGV cut train journey times from Marseille to Paris to just three hours.