French TGV and Spain AVE high-speed trains will begin operating between Paris (Gare de Lyon) and Barcelona (Sants) on December 15, without train changes on the Spanish side of the border.
The new routes will connect Paris, Lyon, Toulouse and Marseille to Barcelona and Madrid.
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The trip will take six hours and 25 minutes. The high-speed networks were connected late last year, but a 20-minute train switch was required while the two systems were made compatible.
Here is a list of the trips in each direction:
- Barcelona-Paris.
· 2 trains daily (starting in March, there will be 4 trains daily)
· Duration: 6 hours and 25 minutes.
· One way fares starting at 59 euros.
· Stops in Girona, Figueres, Perpignan, Narbonne, Montpellier, Nimes and Valence.
- Madrid-Marseille
· 1 train daily.
· Duration: 7 hours.
· One way fares starting at 89 euros.
· Stops in Barcelona, Girona, Figueres, Perpignan, Béziers, Montpellier, Nimes, Avignon and Aix-en Provence.
- Barcelona-Toulouse, 3 hours, from 39 euros
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The Paris-Barcelona running time will be reduced to 5 hours 45 minutes in 2017, when a 37-mile bypass is scheduled to open between Nîmes and Montpellier.
The final high-speed link, between Montpellier and Perpignan, is not expected to open before 2020.
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