Gare Montparnasse

Montparnasse exterior

Location

Place Raoul-Dautry, 75015
Montparnasse, Paris
France

Coordinates

48°50′24″N 2°19′07″E / 48.84000°N 2.31861°ECoordinates: 48°50′24″N 2°19′07″E / 48.84000°N 2.31861°E

Elevation

63 m (207 ft)

Owned by

RFF / SNCF

Operated by

SNCF

Line(s)

Paris–Brest railway

Other information

Fare zone

1 (Public transport fares in the Île-de-France)

History

Opened

10 September 1840

Traffic

Passengers (2002)

50 million

Services

Preceding station	SNCF	Following station
Terminus	TGV	Massy TGV toward western and southwestern France
Terminus	Intercités	Dreux toward Granville
Terminus	TER Basse-Normandie 2	Dreux toward Granville
Terminus	TER Haute-Normandie	Versailles-Chantiers toward L'Aigle
Versailles-Chantiers toward Le Mans	TER Pays de la Loire 23	Terminus
Terminus	Transilien	Vanves-Malakoff toward Dreux, Mantes-la-Jolie or Rambouillet

Gare Montparnasse (French pronunciation: [ɡaʁ mɔ̃paʁnas]) is one of the six large Paris railway termini, in the 14th arrondissement and 15th arrondissement of Paris. It was opened in 1840, rebuilt in 1852, and then rebuilt completely further south in 1969. A steam train crashed through the station in 1895; there is a well-known photograph of the event, and full scale reproductions outside a museum chain in South America.

It is used by intercity TGV trains to the west and south-west of France including Tours, Bordeaux, Rennes and Nantes, and by suburban and regional services on the Transilien Paris – Montparnasse routes. There is also a metro station.

The station opened in 1840 as Gare de l'Ouest, 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, 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 site. An extension was built in 1990 to host the TGV Atlantique.

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Wikipedia