European Railroad Discussion > Gare de Collioure

Well, apart from a few comments, not much from me during the past few weeks. A simple explanation: we have moved! I have to say the process was not at all bad but I did insist on installing a new kitchen at the same time, which meant a lot more work. But today we finally did our own thing for a change and ended up in a very sleepy Collioure, a summertime tourist trap. Famous for its impressionist school of painters (I think Manet was the lead artist) because of the light, this photo shows that the light is not always perfect! Well, the sun was already setting behind the mountains.

Collioure station is regularly served by SNCF local trains running from Cerbere at the Spanish border to Narbonne via Perpignan (though some trains will go as far as Provence). No trains within 30 minutes of our short visit so the station photo will have to do. Typical SNCF architecture, nicely maintained with the booking office staffed, a warm waiting room (it was 8ºC today, warmest day in two weeks) and most impressive, and underpass access to the opposite platform that was spotlessly clean.

The local timetable offers an hourly service. TGV connections can be made at Perpignan and Narbonne. This line will continue to provide local service when the TGVs will run directly into Barcelone through the Perthus Tunnel, scheduled for mid-2013.

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Collioure was also the former residence of the late Patrick O'Brian.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/13/12 14:57 by Waybiller.

I'm just envious - what a wonderful place to live! We stayed a few days in Collioure a few years back. It's a really charming little seaside town and have always said we would like to go back sometime. I hope you really enjoy it there.

Well, spflow, I have to admit we have not moved to Collioure! Leucate La Franqui is our nearest station and I will be trying it out on Monday morning on the way to business meetings in Paris. Collioure would not be my choice of a town to live in, but it is definitely a great place to visit. We have swum in the harbor under the church tower - even saw a brave young lady swimming there on the day of our visit! Restaurant prices are probably 25% more than in neighboring towns and villages but at this time of year there were only three open for business.

What a great place to live in by Mediterranean south! Hope to see many train pictures with the southern light in the future...

Today's journey to Paris was good. Leucate La Franqui to Narbonne on a regional express pulled by a Class 7200 Nez Cassé. The six cars are painted in Languedoc red and beautifully upholstered inside. This train runs daily from Cerbere to Avignon, I need to photograph it when the sun rises earlier!. At Narbonne I had to wait only a few minutes for the following Perpignan-Paris TGV to enter the station and then on to Paris. An on time arrival. All in all 5 hours station to station. Driving would take twice as long without stopping. Although flying is an option, it would be more tiring.

Excellent! TGV = Flying on the ground

Btw. did you notice any of the new TGV-2N2 units? Those should be in traffic now. Of course coloring and shape being almost like any double decked modern TGV unit painted SNCF blue and silver it probably is very hard to spot from the crowd and considering how dense the traffic is it might take years to find one, would for me at least, except that most of time we get lucky spotting the more rare units.

Nope, not yet. Unit was in the 700 series which means it is relatively new.

Ok, the "normal" TGV-Daisy is the 700 series train. The Alstom has just delivered all of those, though there is a mystery here too: the low cost TGV:s running from Paris south - Montpellier are supposingly having refurbished TGV-Duplex coaching with TGV-Daisy power cars. (The word Dasye coming from Double deck asynchronous). For the operator using asynchronous technology translates to lower maintenance cost. But, this also leaves somewhere 3 sets of unmatching TGV sets with Dasye trailers and Duplex power cars... I'm not even trying to ask on this forum if someone has seen these combined somehow. Possible scenarios for reuse in the fleet of 600 trains are quite many.


If I remember right many of the TGV-2N2 are in 47xx unit numbers due to their international character. The easiest spotting feature seems to be the air intake grilles (again) and double pantographs, and the hump just in front of these. The trailers have a different roofline too, but I doubt it is easy to see from the normal human perspective watching the train passing by.