Paris - Gare de Lyon - 11e

Plate LXXXV – Gare de Lyon…

One of the six major railway terminals in Paris, I simply had to get to the Gare de Lyon to catch a glimpse of a TGV train. (The station also has Métro and RER lines). My homeland, South Africa is one of the few remaining countries where you can take a trip on an old (and decidedly un-green) steam powered locomotive and exchange memories with a flourishing membership of steam preservation enthusiasts. Most young boys of my generation harboured an ambition to be a train driver at one point of their young lives, having grown up envying the seeming freedom of the world these hardy men of the iron horse seemed to have. Slowly, as the steam engines of my childhood gave way to a new generation of electric and diesel-electric engines the fascination with train travel diminished, for despite the great distances between our cities we never evolved to high speed travel such as is offered by the Trains à Grand Vitesse or TGVs.

I had heard of their development in the 1970’s, originally as gas turbine engined (a prototype named Zebulon) and ultimately electric powered units (Patrick and Sophie). I was more recently astonished at the slightly above 570kms per hour speed record set by a TGV in 2007. Inaugurated into service on the Paris-Lyon route in 1981, Gare de Lyon was the obvious choice for me to pay homage to this yet to me unseen generation of train. I was not disappointed, although it was only on a later visit I got to travel TGV class.

The station itself is also worth seeing. Another Parisian landmark built for a World Exposition (this time 1900) the clock tower has such a resemblance to London’s Big Ben that, but for its smaller scale, you may think you’d arrived in the wrong country, and the clear span interior is most impressive. In operation since the turn of the twentieth century, the Gare is still home to the restaurant Le Train Bleu - a beautiful setting to sample a little traditional French gastronomy.

This year (2010) TGV will carry its two billionth passenger – perhaps it will be one of us?