Trains and other things: Metz to Toulouse

Friday, December 29, 2017

Metz to Toulouse

Today I'm continuing further south, from Metz to Toulouse. I was originally planning to take a route through Dijon and Lyon to Toulouse, but it turned out to take too much time. According to interrail.eu, it would take 22h35min travelling with TER and IC trains that are avoiding Paris. The fastest route would be with two TGV trains and it would take 5h30min without changing time in Paris, so at the end I decided to take this route.

Some historic artifacts at Metz station

SNCF Class B 84500 Régiolis

SNCF Class Z 27500 AGC

SNCF Class X 73500

Since 2016 TER Alsace, Lorraine and Champagne-Ardenne have been merged into TER Grand Est

SNCF Class X 76500 XGC

TGV train to Paris that I will take

Another TGV is coupled with the first one. TGV 508 and 543 are TGV Réseau and they were built by Alstom between 1992 and 1996. They are dual voltage 25 kV AC and 1.5kV DC, but on this route only 25kV AC is necessary.

The train was full booked, and I got a seat with a limited view, so I just have few photos along this non-stop route which took only 1h24min.

This was the only sunny part I could see during that day, the rest of the day would be grey and rainy.

Approaching Paris

Inside TGV Réseau

Arriving to Paris Gare De l'Est, ICE train to/from Stuttgart and TGV Euroduplex trains

Two TGV 2N2 Euroduplex trains (3UA) tricurrent and equipped with German and Swiss signalling systems.

Soon it will not be possible to access the platform without a ticket

Gare De l'Est is used for regional Transilien services

SNCF Class BB 15000

Another BB 15000

Gare De l'Est from 1849

I have 1h30min before my next train, on the other hand it is from another station Montparnasse, but I decided to take metro to some of the central Paris.

I took metro line 4 and got off at "Les Halles". Here is Musée du Louvre

Pont Neuf

The Eiffel tower in the clouds

Love locks from Pont des Arts

At the station Saint-Michel - Notre-Dame i took RER train

I arrived to Montparnasse station just before departure

TGV L'Océane (2N2 3UFC) branded as inOui

The next trip from Paris to Toulouse would take 4h8min

After queuing in the dining coach, I got myself some lunch and a beer

Between Paris and Bordeaux, the train is keeping its 300km/h speed

Bridge over Dordogne river

Pont d'Aquitaine

Arriving on time to Bordeaux

TGV L'Océane looks very fresh, and has even a USB plug

And a mirror

10min stop here in Bordeaux

Bar coach

Agen

Golfech Nuclear Power Plant. Nuclear power is the largest source of electricity in the country, with a generation of 416.8 TWh, or 76.3% of the country's total production of 546 TWh, the highest percentage in the world (Wikipedia).