Gare Montparnasse

Gare Montparnasse
Montparnasse exterior
Location	Place Raoul-Dautry, 75015 Montparnasse, Paris France
Coordinates	48°50′24″N 2°19′07″E / 48.84000°N 2.31861°ECoordinates: 48°50′24″N 2°19′07″E / 48.84000°N 2.31861°E
Elevation	63 m (207 ft)
Owned by	RFF / SNCF
Operated by	SNCF
Line(s)	Paris–Brest railway
Other information
Fare zone	1 (Public transport fares in the Île-de-France)
History
Opened	10 September 1840
Traffic
Passengers (2002)	50 million
Services
Preceding station   SNCF   Following station Terminus TGV Massy TGV toward western and southwestern France Terminus Intercités Dreux toward Granville Terminus TER Basse-Normandie 2 Dreux toward Granville Terminus TER Haute-Normandie Versailles-Chantiers toward L'Aigle Versailles-Chantiers toward Le Mans TER Pays de la Loire 23 Terminus Terminus Transilien Vanves-Malakoff toward Dreux, Mantes-la-Jolie or Rambouillet

Gare Montparnasse (French pronunciation: ​[ɡaʁ mɔ̃paʁnas]) is one of the six large Paris railway termini, in the 14th arrondissement and 15th arrondissement of Paris. It was opened in 1840, rebuilt in 1852, and then rebuilt completely further south in 1969. A steam train crashed through the station in 1895; there is a well-known photograph of the event, and full scale reproductions outside a museum chain in South America.^[1]

It is used by intercity TGV trains to the west and south-west of France including Tours, Bordeaux, Rennes and Nantes, and by suburban and regional services on the Transilien Paris – Montparnasse routes. There is also a metro station.

History

The station opened in 1840 as Gare de l'Ouest,^[2] 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, after disobeying Adolf Hitler's direct order to destroy the city (see Liberation of Paris).

During the 1960s, a newer station integrated into a complex of office buildings was built. In 1969, the old station was torn down 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

Granville–Paris Express wreck on October 22, 1895.

The Gare Montparnasse became famous for the derailment on October 22, 1895, of the Granville–Paris Express, which overran the buffer stop. The engine careered 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.^[3] 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.^[4] 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.^[5]

Train services

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 – Irun
• 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
• Intercity services (Intercités) Paris – Dreux – Argentan – Granville
• 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

Lines serving this station

Adjacent metro station:

• Montparnasse – Bienvenüe

Nearby station:

• Pasteur

See also

• 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

References

1. Train Wreck Replica, retrieved 4 March 2009
2. Musee Orsay, retrieved 9 July 2009
3. Danger Ahead, retrieved 4 March 2009
4. Let's pause for a station break on Failure Magazine
5. The Trainwreck Industry, retrieved 4 March 2009

External links

• 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.