Gare Montparnasse

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.

Paris Montparnasse
Main station concourse
General information
Location	Place Raoul-Dautry Paris France
Coordinates	48°50′24″N 2°19′07″E
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

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

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

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

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

Adjacent metro station:

• Montparnasse – Bienvenüe

Nearby station:

• Pasteur

See also

• 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

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

• 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.