From: jis@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (jishnu.mukerji)
Subject: TGV Nord (Was Re: Orlyval bankrupt?)
Organization: AT&T
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 21:31:07 GMT

In article <515@chorus.chorus.fr> grob@chorus.fr writes:
>The real problems with Orlyval ie the reason they are under used
>are that a) You need to buy seperate tickets for it.
>	 b) You can get there cheaper if not faster using bus
>	    and existing RER lines
>	 c) And this us the big one for most people in Paris,
>	    it is not covered by Carte Orange or other transit passes
>	    which many salaried people have. Thus, you must stop your
>	    rush to the airport to buy seperate more expensive tickets.

Very well stated. I have never used OrlyVal in my several trips to
Paris in the recent past. I invariably get off the plane at Orly, get
myself a Coupon Hebdomedaire Cinq Zone for my Carte Orange, and hop
onto the OrlyRail bus and head out to Pont de Rungis to catch
RER-C into Paris. That way in effect I get a much cheaper trip into
Paris. This time I noticed that RATP has something called OrlyBus from
Orly to Denfert-Rochreau Metro/RER station too.

>Other French rail news: The new TGV north line will be having its
>first opening, service between Paris and Lille on May 23 1993.
>The continuation of the line, between Arras and Lille will 
>not be running until later. The new line will make the trip
>from Paris to Lille in 1h20 but by September 1993 the same trip will
>take 1 hour. This is  more than an hour off the current best time.

>This is the same line that will eventually go to the Channel Tunnel.

In the past two weeks I was in London and Paris and had a bit of free
time in both cities, so I decided to check out what was going on in
preparation the London Paris Trans-Menche service. First I went and
checked out Waterloo Station in London where they are building several
brand new platforms on the south side of the station under a brand new
canopy. Then I took a Network SouthEast Train out of Waterloo to check
out the new interconnection that has been built to connect the
Ashford-Victoria line that is used by Victoria-Folkstone trains, to
Waterloo, so that the trains from Paris can get to Waterloo. the
interconnection appeared to be more or less complete and almost ready for
service. The construction at Waterloo has a little ways to go. The
platforms do not have any tracks yet.

Then in Paris I went to Gare du Nord and found that massive
construction is in progress in connection with TGV Nord. Lot of track
realignment and new track laying in the yard, construction of a brand
new track paralleling the RER-D line to the point where the spanking
new TGV line veers off to the right. The track on this new alignment
is in place and so are the electrification post. Catenary is yet to be
installed in this section. Further north where the new TGV line
crosses the SNCF mainline to Brussels, the TGV line seems to be ready
for service with tracks, catenary and the works in place. I did not
get a chance to go out to Lille to see what is going on there.

>The SNCF frequently runs exhibits on the TGV, where the trains will
>run and when, what the running times will be etc. If they are running
>one whenyou are in Paris and you are interested, its well worth
>the time to see.

There is a permanent exhibit and information center at Gare du Nord,
where one can pick up all sorts of very informative brochures about
TGV Nord, TGV Atlantique and future plans of SNCF. The amount of new
TGV lines that SNCF plans to construct by 2015 is very impressive. The
fact that most of the financing will be arranged through bonds is also
very impressive.

Jishnu Mukerji
jis@usl.com





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