Amiens–Rouen railway

Amiens–Rouen railway
Overview
System	SNCF
Status	Operational
Locale	France (Picardy, Upper Normandy)
Termini	Gare d'Amiens Gare de Rouen-Rive-Droite
Operation
Opened	1867
Owner	RFF
Operator(s)	SNCF
Technical
Line length	114 km (71 mi)
No. of tracks	Double track
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	25 kV 50 Hz
Route map Legend Line from Longueau (Paris–Lille) 130.6 Amiens 132.6 2.0 Saint-Roch Line to Boulogne 19.2 Namps-Quevauvillers 25.8 Famechon 30.3 Poix-de-Picardie 37.4 Sainte-Segrée 44.1 Fouilloy Line from Le Tréport 50.8 Abancourt Line to Beauvais 56.0 Formerie Line from Dieppe 71.4 Serqueux Line to Gisors 80.4 Sommery 89.2 Montérolier-Buchy freight line to Motteville 96.0 Longuerue-Vieux-Manoir 100.3 Morgny 109.7 Saint-Martin-du-Vivier 115.8 137.1 Line to Paris 139.5 Rouen-Rive-Droite Line to Le Havre

The railway from Amiens to Rouen is a French 114-kilometre long railway line, that connects Amiens to Rouen. It was opened in 1867. The line was electrified on 27 August 1984 at 25 kW 50 Hz, and was equipped with the restrained permissivity automatic blocking system, which since the 1990s has offered increasingly unsatisfactory operating conditions with respect to the increasing mixed passenger and goods traffic on the line.

Route

The Amiens–Rouen railway begins near the Gare de Saint-Roch (Somme) in Amiens, where it branches off the railway from Amiens to Boulogne. It runs in generally southwestern direction, passing through Poix-de-Picardie, Abancourt and Serqueux until it reaches its terminus in Rouen.

A branch line from Gare de Montérolier-Buchy to Saint-Saëns has been closed and removed.

Main stations

The main stations on the Amiens–Rouen railway are:

• Gare d'Amiens
• Gare d'Abancourt
• Gare de Serqueux
• Gare de Rouen-Rive-Droite

Use

One of the peculiarities of this line is the role of freight traffic, which is far more important than passenger traffic. In 1992–93, this line saw transport of 8,000 tonnes of goods daily, 60% of it in the Amiens - Rouen direction. The importance of the freight traffic is explained by the industrial importance of the two regions linked by the line and in particular by the ports of Rouen and Le Havre at the Rouen end. On the other hand, passenger demand is not strong but tends to be focussed by the express TER Rouen - Amiens - Arras - Douai - Lille axis.

The Amiens–Rouen railway is used by TER Picardie and TER Haute-Normandie regional passenger services on the whole line.

External links

• TER Picardie railway map