Le Train Bleu

The Calais-Mediterranée Express was a luxury French night express train which operated from 1886 to 2003. It gained international fame as the preferred train of wealthy and famous passengers between Calais and the French Riviera in the two decades before World War II. It was colloquially referred to as Le Train Bleu in French (which became its formal name after World War II) and the Blue Train in English because of its dark blue sleeping cars.

In December 1883 the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL) created its second luxury train after the Orient Express introduced in June earlier that year. Due to contracts between CIWL's competitor Pullman and the owner of the Mont Cenis Railway, the Società per le strade ferrate dell'Alta Italia, CIWL could not use the Fréjus Rail Tunnel, so CIWL was forced to use the longer route along the Mediterranean coast. The connection between Paris and Rome was introduced as Calais Nice Rome Express, but was reduced to Calais Nice Express after only one year. In 1885 several Italian railways merged and CIWL could buy the routes formerly served by Pullman, which made it possible to use the shorter Mont Cenis Railway. The train was to be named Rome Express. In order to serve the British customers the Calais-Mediterranée Express was created in 1886, but it lasted until 1890 before the Rome Express made its first journey.

The Calais-Méditerrannée Express was introduced in the 1886/1887 winter timetable. In the winter of 1889/1890 the name was changed to Méditerrannée Express, due to the creation of the Club train. At the southern end the route was extended to San Remo, but the portion north of Paris was taken over by the Club Train. After the introduction of the Rome Express on 15 November 1890, the two trains were combined between Paris and Mâcon. South of Mâcon the Rome Express continued during the night over the Mont Cenis railway and the Méditerrannée Express ran through the Rhone valley to the Côte d'Azur.

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