The LGV Picardie is a proposed French

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated railway track, tracks. While there is ...

line running between

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...

, via

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

, in Northern France. When the

LGV Nord The (), typically shortened to LGV Nord, is a French -long high-speed rail line, opened in 1993, that connects Paris to the Belgium–France border, Belgian border and the Channel Tunnel via Lille. With a maximum speed of , the line appreciably ...

was planned, the residents of the city of Amiens in the

Picardy Picardy (; Picard language, Picard and , , ) is a historical and cultural territory and a former regions of France, administrative region located in northern France. The first mentions of this province date back to the Middle Ages: it gained it ...

region campaigned for the line to run through Amiens. The

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...

decided instead to build the new high-speed line on a more direct route between

and

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

. The Picardy region is now served by the TGV Haute Picardie station, though this has been criticised for its lack of intermodal connections, summarised by the saying, ''la gare des betteraves'' ("station in a beetroot field"). The LGV Picardie would presumably deviate from the existing line north of the

Gare du Nord The Gare du Nord (; ), officially Paris Nord, is one of the seven large mainline railway station termini in Paris, France. The station is served by trains that run between the capital and northern France via the Paris–Lille railway, as well ...

and proceed directly to a new junction with the Calais branch of the LGV Nord to the east of Calais-Fréthun station. It is unclear how Amiens itself would be served, though the cheaper and more likely option would be to use existing infrastructure. Twenty minutes would be saved on the journey between Paris and Calais, thus making it possible to travel from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to Paris (

Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service in Western Europe, connecting Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The service is operated by the Eurostar Group which was formed from the merger of Eurostar, ...

) in under two hours. An additional benefit would be to relieve congestion on the

itself. The French government has announced their SNIT future investment plans that are to be built by 2030, and for the first time the LGV Picardie is now included for implementation between 2020 and 2030, a project to cost €4.8bn, via either Amiens or Rouen. However as of 2024, this line is not studied.

References

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Picardie Picardy (; Picard and , , ) is a historical and cultural territory and a former administrative region located in northern France. The first mentions of this province date back to the Middle Ages: it gained its first official recognition in the ...

Proposed railway lines in France

See also

References