Gare Montparnasse

Terminal railway station in Paris, France

Paris Montparnasse

Main station concourse

General information
Location| Place Raoul-Dautry
Paris
France
Coordinates| 48°50′24″N 2°19′07″E﻿ / ﻿48.84000°N 2.31861°E﻿ / 48.84000; 2.31861
Elevation| 63 m (207 ft)
Operated by| SNCF
Line(s)|

* LGV Atlantique
* Paris–Brest railway
* Paris–Granville railway

Tracks| 28
Connections|

* at Montparnasse–Bienvenüe
* RATP Bus: 28 39 58 88 91 92 94 95 96
* Noctilien: N01 N02 N12 N13 N61 N62 N63 N66 N145

Construction
Structure type| At-grade
Platform levels| 2
Parking| Yes
Bicycle facilities| Parking station
Accessible| Yes[1]
Other information
Station code| 87391003
Fare zone| 1 (Public transport fares in the Île-de-France)
History
Opened| 10 September 1840 (1840-09-10)
Passengers
2022| 56,862,435[2]
Rank| 4th in France

Services

| Preceding station  | SNCF | Following station

|
|

Terminus |  | TGV

|  | Saint-Pierre-des-Corps

towards Tours

Massy TGV

towards Bordeaux

Rennes

towards Brest

Le Mans

towards Rennes

Rennes

Terminus

Massy TGV

towards Toulouse

Vendôme-Villiers-sur-Loir TGV

towards Poitiers

Angers Saint-Laud

towards Nantes

Le Mans

towards Nantes

Niort

towards La Rochelle

Le Mans

towards Saint-Malo

Rennes

towards Quimper

Preceding station  | Ouigo | Following station
Terminus |  | Grande Vitesse  |  | Massy TGV

towards Rennes

Massy TGV

towards Nantes

Saint-Pierre-des-Corps

towards Bordeaux

Bordeaux

towards Toulouse

Preceding station  |  Transilien | Following station
Terminus |  | Line N |  | Vanves–Malakoff

towards Dreux, Mantes-la-Jolie or Rambouillet

Preceding station  | Le Réseau Rémi | Following station
Versailles-Chantiers

towards Le Mans

|  | 3.2  |  | Terminus
Preceding station  | TER Normandie | Following station
Terminus |  | Krono

|  | Versailles-Chantiers

towards Granville

Connections to other stations

| Preceding station  |  Paris Métro | Following station

|
|

Vavin

towards Bagneux–Lucie Aubrac

|  | Line 4

transfer at Montparnasse–Bienvenüe

|  | Saint-Placide

towards Porte de Clignancourt

Pasteur

towards Charles de Gaulle–Étoile

|  | Line 6

transfer at Montparnasse–Bienvenüe

|  | Edgar Quinet

towards Nation

Falguière

towards Mairie d'Issy

|  | Line 12

transfer at Montparnasse–Bienvenüe

|  | Notre-Dame-des-Champs

towards Mairie d'Aubervilliers

Gaîté

towards Châtillon–Montrouge

|  | Line 13

transfer at Montparnasse–Bienvenüe

|  | Duroc

towards Les Courtilles or Saint-Denis–Université

Gare Montparnasse (French pronunciation: [ɡaʁ mɔ̃paʁnas]; Montparnasse station), officially Paris Montparnasse, is one of the seven large Paris railway termini, and is located in the 14th and 15th arrondissements.

The station opened in 1840, was rebuilt in 1852 and relocated in 1969 to a new station just south of the original location, where subsequently the prominent Montparnasse Tower was constructed. It is a central element to the Montparnasse area. The original station is noted for the Montparnasse derailment, where a steam train crashed through the station in 1895, an event captured in widely known photographs and reproduced in full scale in several locations.[3]

The station serves intercity TGV trains to the west and southwest of France including Tours, Bordeaux, Rennes and Nantes, and suburban and regional services on the Transilien Paris – Montparnasse routes. There is also a metro station. Gare Montparnasse is the only mainline terminus in Paris not directly connected to the RER system, though the Montparnasse main line is connected to the RER at Versailles-Chantiers and the LGV Atlantique at Massy Palaiseau.

## History

[edit]

The station opened in 1840 as Gare de l'Ouest,[4] later being renamed. A second station was built between 1848 and 1852.

On 25 August 1944, the German military governor of Paris, General von Choltitz, surrendered his garrison to the French General Philippe Leclerc at the old station. (see Liberation of Paris).

During the 1960s, a newer station integrated into a complex of office buildings was built further down the track.[5][6] In 1969, the old station was demolished and the Tour Montparnasse built on its site. An extension was built in 1990 to host the TGV Atlantique.

* Concourse of the station

* Platform of the station

## 1895 derailment

[edit]

Granville–Paris Express wreck on 22 October 1895.

Main article: Montparnasse derailment

The Gare Montparnasse became famous for the derailment on 22 October 1895 of the Granville–Paris Express, which overran the buffer stop. The engine careened across almost 30 metres (100 ft) of the station concourse, crashed through a 60-centimetre (2 ft) thick wall, shot across a terrace and smashed out of the station, plummeting onto the Place de Rennes 10 metres (33 ft) below, where it stood on its nose. Two of the 131 passengers sustained injuries, along with the fireman and two conductors. The only fatality was a woman on the street below, Marie-Augustine Aguilard, who was temporarily taking over her husband's work duty while he went out to get the newspapers. She was killed by falling masonry.[7] The railway company later paid for her funeral and provided a pension to look after her two children. The accident was caused by a faulty Westinghouse brake and the engine driver, who was trying to make up lost time.[8] A conductor was given a 25-franc fine and the engine driver a 50-franc fine.

Replicas of the train crash are recreated outside the Mundo a Vapor ("Steam World") museum chain buildings in Brazil, in the southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, in the city of Canela.[9]

## Train services

[edit]

From Paris Montparnasse train services depart to major French cities such as: Le Mans, Rennes, Saint-Brieuc, Brest, Saint-Malo, Vannes, Lorient, Quimper, Angers, Nantes, Saint-Nazaire, Tours, Poitiers, La Rochelle, Angoulême, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Bayonne and Granville. The station is also served by suburban trains heading to the west and south-west of Paris.

* High speed services (TGV) Paris – Bordeaux – Dax – Lourdes – Tarbes
* High speed services (TGV) Paris – Bordeaux – Dax – Bayonne – Biarritz – Hendaye
* High speed services (TGV) Paris – Bordeaux – Agen – Toulouse
* High speed services (TGV) Paris – Bordeaux – Arcachon
* High speed services (TGV) Paris – Tours – Poitiers – Angoulême – Bordeaux
* High speed services (TGV) Paris – Poitiers – La Rochelle
* High speed services (TGV) Paris – Tours
* High speed services (TGV) Paris – Le Mans – Rennes – St Brieuc – Brest
* High speed services (TGV) Paris – Le Mans – Vannes – Lorient – Quimper
* High speed services (TGV) Paris – Rennes – St Malo
* High speed services (TGV) Paris – Le Mans – Rennes
* High speed services (TGV) Paris – Nantes – St-Nazaire – Le Croisic
* High speed services (TGV) Paris – Le Mans – Angers – Nantes
* Discount High Speed Services (Ouigo TGV) Paris (Vaugirard.Montparnesse Hall 3) - Poitiers - Saint-Pierre-des-Corps- Angoulême - Bordeaux
* Discount High Speed Services (Ouigo TGV) Paris (Vaugirard.Montparnesse Hall 3) - Le Mans - Laval - Rennes
* Regional Services (TER Normandie) Paris (Vaugirard.Montparnesse Hall 3) to Granville with numerous stops
* Regional services (TER Centre) Paris – Versailles – Rambouillet – Chartres – Le Mans
* Regional services (Transilien) Paris – Versailles – St-Quentin-en-Yvelines – Rambouillet
* Regional services (Transilien) Paris – Versailles – Plaisir – Dreux
* Regional services (Transilien) Paris – Versailles – Plaisir – Mantes-la-Jolie
* Regional services (Transilien) Paris – Versailles – Plaisir

* Map

* Aerial view

## Lines serving this station

[edit]

Adjacent metro station:

* Montparnasse – Bienvenüe

Nearby station:

* Pasteur

## See also

[edit]

* France portal

* List of Paris railway stations
* Transportation in France
* List of stations of the Paris RER
* List of stations of the Paris Métro
* Gare d'Austerlitz
* Gare de l'Est
* Gare de Lyon
* Gare du Nord
* Gare Saint-Lazare
* Georges Méliès, who worked at the station later in his life.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Plan pour les voyageurs en fauteuil roulant" [Map for travelers in wheelchairs] (PDF). Île-de-France Mobilités (in French and British English). 2023. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
2. ^ "Fréquentation en gares" [Attendance at stations]. SNCF (in French). Retrieved 11 January 2024.
3. ^ Train Wreck Replica, retrieved 4 March 2009
4. ^ Musee Orsay, retrieved 9 July 2009
5. ^ Rebuilding a Paris Terminus Modern Railways issue 213 June 1966 pages 320-322
6. ^ Paris Montparnasse rebuilt Modern Railways issue 250 July 1969 page 375
7. ^ Danger Ahead, retrieved 4 March 2009
8. ^ Let's pause for a station break on Failure Magazine
9. ^ The Trainwreck Industry Archived 9 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 4 March 2009

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gare de Paris-Montparnasse.

* Gare Montparnasse at Transilien, the official website of SNCF (in French)
* Gare Montparnasse at "Gares & Connexions", the official website of SNCF (in French)
* Gare Montparnasse – current photographs and of the years 1900.
* Satellite image from Google Maps
* Mundo a Vapor Museum The Brazilian museum which contains the 1895 derailment accident replica.

* v
* t
* e

Paris passenger rail stations

Mainline|

| Operating|

* Austerlitz
* Bercy
* Est
* Lyon
* Montparnasse
* Nord
* Saint-Lazare

|

Closed|

* Bastille
* Orsay

Transilien|

* Est
* Lyon
* Montparnasse
* Nord
* Pont Cardinet
* Saint-Lazare

RER|

|  Line A|

* Charles de Gaulle–Étoile
* Auber
* Châtelet–Les Halles
* Lyon
* Nation

|

Line B|

* Nord
* Châtelet–Les Halles
* Saint-Michel–Notre-Dame
* Luxembourg
* Port-Royal
* Denfert-Rochereau
* Cité Universitaire

Line C|

* Porte de Clichy
* Pereire–Levallois
* Neuilly–Porte Maillot
* Avenue Foch
* Avenue Henri Martin
* Boulainvilliers
* Avenue du Président Kennedy
* Pont du Garigliano
* Javel
* Champ de Mars–Tour Eiffel
* Pont de l'Alma
* Invalides
* Musée d'Orsay
* Saint-Michel–Notre-Dame
* Austerlitz
* Bibliothèque François Mitterrand

Line D|

* Nord
* Châtelet–Les Halles
* Lyon

Line E|

* Neuilly–Porte Maillot
* Haussmann–Saint-Lazare
* Magenta
* Rosa Parks

* See also: List of Paris Métro stations, Tramways in Île-de-France, and Transport in Paris

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* France
* BnF data

Other|

* Deutsche Bahn

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