Narbonne–Portbou railway

Narbonne–Portbou railway
Overview
System	SNCF
Status	Operational
Locale	France (Languedoc-Roussillon), Spain (Catalonia)
Termini	Gare de Narbonne Portbou railway station
Operation
Opened	1858-1878
Owner	RFF
Operator(s)	SNCF
Technical
Line length	104 km (65 mi)
No. of tracks	Double track[1]
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	1.5 kV DC[2]
Route map Legend Line from Béziers 406.1 Narbonne Line to Bize-Minervois Line to Toulouse 425.1 Port-la-Nouvelle 435.4 Leucate-La Franqui 450.0 Salses Line from Axat 459.3 Rivesaltes River Têt 467.5 Perpignan Line to Figueres and Villefranche 481.2 Elne Line to Le Boulou 489.5 Argelès-sur-Mer 494.7 Collioure 497.3 Port-Vendres-Ville 502.1 Banyuls-sur-Mer 508.7 Cerbère 509.6 Border France/Spain 510.5 166.4 Portbou Line to Barcelona

The railway from Narbonne to Portbou is an important French 104-kilometre long railway line, that connects the southern city Narbonne to northeastern Spain. The railway was built by the Compagnie des Chemins de fer du Midi. The first section that was opened in 1858 led from Narbonne to Perpignan.^[3] The line was extended to the Spanish border town Portbou in 1878.

Route

The Narbonne–Portbou railway leaves the Bordeaux–Sète railway in Narbonne towards the south. It runs close to the Mediterranean coast for much of its length. South of Perpignan the new high-speed rail to Figueres branches off. The Narbonne–Portbou railway crosses the Spanish border between Cerbère and Portbou, where the railway ends. France and Spain have different rail gauges (standard gauge and Iberian gauge, resp.), which requires change of trains. The section between Cerbère and Portbou has tracks with both gauges.

Main stations

The main stations on the Narbonne–Portbou railway are:

• Gare de Narbonne
• Gare de Perpignan
• Gare de Cerbère
• Portbou railway station

Services

The Narbonne–Portbou railway is used by the following passenger services:

• TGV from Paris to Barcelona on the section between Narbonne and Perpignan
• AVE from Barcelona to Toulouse or Lyon, and from Madrid to Marseille on the section between Narbonne and Perpignan
• Intercités from Paris to Portbou via Toulouse on the whole line
• TER Languedoc-Roussillon regional services on the whole line

References

1. RFF - Network map PDF
2. RFF - Map of electrified railway lines PDF
3. Direction Générale des Ponts et Chaussées et des Chemins de Fer (1872). Statistique centrale des chemins de fer. Chemins de fer français. Situation au 31 décembre 1871 (in French). Paris: Ministère des Travaux Publics. p. 104.