LGV Rhône-Alpes

The LGV Rhône-Alpes (French: Ligne à Grande Vitesse; English: high-speed line) is a 115 km French high-speed rail line situated in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region which extends the LGV Sud-Est southwards. Opened to service in 1994, the line bypasses the built-up Lyon area towards the east; in addition it serves Lyon-Saint-Exupéry TGV station (known until June 2000 as Satolas TGV station). Beyond Valence TGV station the line is continued by the LGV Méditerranée. LGVs Rhône-Alpes, Sud-Est and Méditerranée, when completed, received their official nickname, the City To Coast (C2C) Highway ("Ville à la Mer").

The line was constructed in two sections, north and south. The first section was opened in time for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville.

Route
The line crosses four departments from north to south: Ain, Rhône, Isère and Drôme.

The route of the new line represents a total length of 115 km; 42 km from Montanay to Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, and 73 km from Saint-Quentin-Fallavier to Valence. The line is connected to the regular network by links at Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, enabling links to Savoie, Isère and Italy via Chambéry and Modane.

Line specifics
The line has a surface area of 12.18 km2 (in comparison Lyon-Saint-Exupéry Airport occupies the same area).

Like the LGV Sud-Est, the line was designed for a nominal speed of 300 km/h, with a minimum curve radius of 4000 m, and a space between track centres of 4.2 m. The second section is designed for 320 km/h.

The line includes 10 large viaducts (total length 4.3 km), and 4 tunnels (total length 5.3 km).

A command post named CCT (Commande centralisée des trains - Central Train Command) enables the continual monitoring of trains running on the entire line and to remotely control security installations. It is situated in Lyon, in an SNCF building near the gare de Perrache.

Stations
The line comprises one new station: Gare de Lyon Saint-Exupéry, situated in the commune of Colombier-Saugnieu. This station, with its striking architecture, is the work of the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. It serves the Lyon–Saint-Exupéry Airport.

History

 * 28 October 1989: declaration of public utility
 * 13 December 1992: service begins on 42 km first section between Montanay and Saint-Quentin-Fallavier
 * 3 July 1994: service begins on 73 km second section between Saint-Quentin-Fallavier and Saint-Marcel-lès-Valence
 * 3 July 1994: inauguration of Gare de Lyon-Saint-Exupéry TGV
 * 7 June 2001: inauguration of LGV Méditerranée extending this line southwards