The SNCF TGV Réseau (TGV-R) is a TGV train built by Alstom between 1992 and 1996 for SNCF, the French national railway for use on high-speed TGV services. The Réseau trainsets are based on the earlier TGV Atlantique. The first Réseau sets entered service in 1993.
TGV-R set approaching Paris Gare du Nord
Thalys (Now Eurostar) PBA alongside PBKA at Paris Gare du Nord
Triple-voltage TGV-R set 4510 at Marseille St-Charles station
1st class interior of a refurbished TGV-Réseau set
The TGV is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated mainly by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 1974 and presented the project to President Georges Pompidou who approved it. Originally designed as turbotrains to be powered by gas turbines, TGV prototypes evolved into electric trains with the 1973 oil crisis. In 1976 the SNCF ordered 87 high-speed trains from Alstom. Following the inaugural service between Paris and Lyon in 1981 on the LGV Sud-Est, the network, centered on Paris, has expanded to connect major cities across France and in neighbouring countries on a combination of high-speed and conventional lines. The TGV network in France carries about 110 million passengers a year.
TGV Sud-Est (left), the first equipment used on the service; and TGV 2N2 (right), the newest equipment used on the service, at Gare de Lyon station, 2019
Service to Geneva, Switzerland, 1982
A TGV Duplex in Héricourt, Haute-Saône on the LGV Rhin-Rhône
TGV service (partly on classic lines) to Bourg-Saint-Maurice in the French Alps is popular in the winter season.
