The ''Île de France'' was an international

express train An express train is a type of passenger train that makes a small number of stops between its origin and destination stations, usually major destinations, allowing faster service than local trains that stop at most or all of the stations alon ...

on the PBA route (Paris–Brussels–Amsterdam). The train was named after the

French region France is divided into eighteen administrative regions (french: régions, singular ), of which thirteen are located in metropolitan France (in Europe), while the other five are overseas regions (not to be confused with the overseas collect ...

surrounding

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

Trans Europ Express

The ''Île de France'' was the French share of the initial

Trans Europ Express The Trans Europ Express, or Trans-Europe Express (TEE), was an international first-class railway service in western and central Europe that was founded in 1957 and ceased in 1995. At the height of its operations, in 1974, the TEE network compri ...

(TEE) services on the PBA route. On 2 June 1957 the TEE services on the PBA route started with three trains. One of them, the TEE ''L'Oiseau Bleu'', only served the Paris–Brussels section; the other, the TEE ''Étoile du Nord'', linked Amsterdam with Paris. Both were existing services upgraded to TEE and were operated by Dutch and Belgian railways. The ''Île de France'' was introduced as the "mirror" of the ''Étoile du Nord'', that started in the morning in Amsterdam and returned to Amsterdam just before dinner. In order to have a morning service from Paris to Amsterdam, returning from Amsterdam in the evening the ''Île de France'' was added at the start of the TEE network.

Rolling stock

The

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffic ...

initially used their RGP-825

diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

s for this new TEE service. Meanwhile, the French started the development of locomotive-hauled TEE coaches and multi-system electric locomotives. The Swiss were the first to introduce quadruple-voltage TEE trainsets in 1961; the French presented their class CC 40100 in 1964. On 31 May 1964 the ''Île de France'' was the first locomotive-hauled TEE to use the specially made . On 2 August 1964 all TEE services on the PBA-route received Inox-PBA stock operated by the

and

NMBS french: Société nationale des chemins de fer belgesgerman: Nationale Gesellschaft der Belgischen Eisenbahnen , type = Statutory corporation , industry = Rail Transport , foundation = 1926 , founder = Government o ...

. This stock stayed in use until the opening of the Paris–Brussels high-speed railway in 1995. However, some modifications took place between 1983 and 1987, when a part of the coaches were refurbished to 2nd class and received a green band instead of a red (TEE) band above the windows.

Route and timetable

The timetable remained nearly unchanged during the whole period of service, although in 1984 the service was shortened to the Paris–Brussels part.

EuroCity

In 1987 the ''Île de France'' was, like the other PBA TEE services, integrated into the new

EuroCity EuroCity, abbreviated as EC, is a cross-border train category within the European inter-city rail network. In contrast to trains allocated to the lower-level "IC" (InterCity) category, EC trains are international services that meet 20 criteri ...

network. On 23 May 1993 the EuroCity services between Paris and Brussels were classified as TEE again. After the opening of the

LGV Nord The Ligne à Grande Vitesse Nord (North High-Speed Line), typically shortened to LGV Nord, is a French -long high-speed rail line, opened in 1993, that connects Paris to the Belgian border and the Channel Tunnel via Lille. With a maximum speed ...

on 23 January 1995, the Brussels–Paris service was withdrawn and by the time this highspeed railway was fully operational on 26 May 1995 the opposite service was withdrawn too. La Légende des TEE p. 405.

References

Works cited

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ile de France (train) EuroCity International named passenger trains Named passenger trains of Belgium Named passenger trains of France Named passenger trains of the Netherlands Trans Europ Express Railway services introduced in 1957 Railway services discontinued in 1995