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The 'Gare Montparnasse' is one of the six large terminus train stations of Paris, located in the Montparnasse area, in the XVe arrondissement.
The station is used for the trains to West and South West France, and the TGV to Tours, Bordeaux, Rennes, Nantes. There is also a metro station, and a high-speed moving sidewalk.^[1]

Contents

History

Popular culture

Regional lines serving this station

See also

References

External links

History

The original station opened in 1840. A second station was built between 1848 and 1852.
Gare Montparnasse became famous for a derailment on 22 October 1895 of the Granville-Paris Express that overran the buffer stop. The engine careened across almost 30 metres (100 ft) of the station concourse, crashed through a 60-centimetre (24 inches) thick wall, shot across a terrace and sailed out of the station, plummeting onto the Place de Rennes 10 metres (30 ft) below. where it stood on its nose. All of the passengers on board the train survived, five sustaining injuries: two passengers, a fireman and two crewmembers; however, one woman on the street below was killed by falling masonry. The accident was caused by a faulty Westinghouse brake and the engine drivers who were trying to make up for lost time.
The train chief incurred a 25 Francs penalty and the engine driver a 50 Francs penalty; he was also sent to prison for two months.
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 train 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 spot. An extension was built in 1990 to host the TGV Atlantique.

Popular culture

The picture of the locomotive standing on his nose can appears on the cover of the album ''Lean into It'' from the hard rock band Mr. Big.
The story of the train crash and the picture feature in the 2007 children's novel ''The Invention of Hugo Cabret'' by Brian Selznick. Much of the story is set in and around Gare Montparnasse.

Regional lines serving this station

★ SNCF Gare Montparnasse - Dreux

★ SNCF Gare Montparnasse - Mantes-la-Jolie

★ SNCF Gare Montparnasse - Montfort l'Amaury-Méré

★ SNCF Gare Montparnasse - Plaisir Grignon

★ SNCF Gare Montparnasse - Rambouillet

★ SNCF Gare Montparnasse - Sèvres Rive Gauche

★ SNCF Gare Montparnasse - Versailles-Chantiers
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. Walkway propels Paris metro into future - BBC article on the high-speed travelator

External links

★ Satellite image from Google Maps