page_title: Transport in France
section_title: Railways
hierarchical_section_title: Transport in France / Railways
caption_attribution_description: English: double-decker TGV Français&#160;: TGV à deux étages en gare de Toulon.
context_page_description: Transportation in France relies on one of the densest networks in the world with 146 km of road and 6.2 km of rail lines per 100 km². It is built as a web with Paris at its center. Rail, road, air and water are all widely developed forms of transportation in France.
context_section_description: There is a total of 29,901 kilometres (18,580 mi) of railway in France, mostly operated by SNCF (Société nationale des chemins de fer français), the French national railway company. Like the road system, the French railways are subsidised by the state, receiving €13.2 billion in 2013. The railway system is a small portion of total travel, accounting for less than 10% of passenger travel.
  From 1981 onwards, a newly constructed set of high-speed Lignes à Grande Vitesse (LGV) lines linked France's most populous areas with the capital, starting with Paris-Lyon. In 1994, the Channel Tunnel opened, connecting France and Great Britain by rail under the English Channel. The TGV has set many world speed records, the most recent on 3 April 2007, when a new version of the TGV dubbed the V150 with larger wheels than the usual TGV, and a stronger 25,000 hp (18,600 kW) engine, broke the world speed record for conventional rail trains, reaching 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph).
  Trains, unlike road traffic, drive on the left (except in Alsace-Moselle). Metro and tramway services are not thought of as trains and usually follow road traffic in driving on the right (except the Lyon Metro).
caption: A high-speed double-decker TGV train in Toulon
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