Transportation in France relies on one of the densest networks in the world with 146 km of road and 6.2 km of rail lines per 100 km2. It is built as a web with Paris at its center.Les grands secteurs économiques Ministère des Affaires étrangères Retrieved 4 November 219 Rail, road, air and water are all widely developed forms of transportation in France.
History The first important human improvements were the Roman roads linking major settlements and providing quick passage for marching armies.
All through the Middle Ages improvements were few and second rate. Transport became slow and awkward to use. The early modern period saw great improvements. There was a very quick production of canals connecting rivers. It also saw great changes in oceanic shipping. Rather than expensive galleys, wind powered ships that were much faster and had more room for cargo became popular for coastal trade. Transatlantic shipping with the New World turned cities such as Nantes, Bordeaux, Cherbourg-Octeville and Le Havre into major ports.
By 1800, the average distance a person walked each day was around . The bicycle in 1870 allowed for greater distances to be travelled under human power. Cars were first used in the late 19th century, but became common in the 1950s. Air travel also increased after 1950, with an 85-fold increase compared to population by 2024.
Scientific American in 1846 contained an accounting the number and characteristics of steamboats and locomotives "in France" in 1844, amounting to 238 steamboats and 291 locomotives.
Railways
There is a total of of railway in France, mostly operated by SNCF (Société nationale des chemins de fer français), the French national railway company. Like the road system, the French railways are subsidised by the state, receiving €13.2 billion in 2013. The railway system is a small portion of total travel, accounting for less than 10% of passenger travel.
From 1981 onwards, a newly constructed set of high-speed Lignes à Grande Vitesse (LGV) lines linked France's most populous areas with the capital, starting with Paris-Lyon. In 1994, the Channel Tunnel opened, connecting France and Great Britain by rail under the English Channel. The TGV has set many world speed records, the most recent on 3 April 2007, when a new version of the TGV dubbed the V150 with larger wheels than the usual TGV, and a stronger engine, broke the world speed record for conventional rail trains, reaching 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph).
Trains, unlike road traffic, drive on the left (except in Alsace-Moselle). Metro and tramway services are not thought of as trains and usually follow road traffic in driving on the right (except the Lyon Metro).
France was ranked 7th among national European rail systems in the 2017 European Railway Performance Index for intensity of use, quality of service and safety performance, a decrease from previous years.
The French non-TGV intercity service (TET) is in decline, with old infrastructure and trains. It is likely to be hit further as the French government is planning to remove the monopoly that rail currently has on long-distance journeys by letting coach operators compete. Travel to the UK through the Channel Tunnel has grown in recent years, and from May 2015 passengers have been able to travel direct to Marseille, Avignon and Lyon. Eurostar is also introducing new Class 374 trains and refurbishing the current Class 373s.
The French government are making plans to privatise the French railway network, following a similar model Great Britain used from the 1990s until the 2020s.
Rapid transit
Six cities in France currently have a rapid transit service (frequently known as a 'metro'). Full metro systems are in operation in Paris (16 lines), Lyon (4 lines) and Marseille (2 lines). Light metro (VAL-type) systems are in use in Lille (2 lines), Toulouse (2 lines) and Rennes (2 lines).
Trams
Despite the closure of most of France's first-generation tram systems in earlier years, a growing number of France's major cities have modern tram or light rail networks, including Paris, Lyon (which has the largest), Toulouse, Montpellier, Saint-Étienne, Strasbourg and Nantes. The tram has seen a revival with experiments such as ground-level power supply in Bordeaux, or trolleybuses designed to resemble trams in Nancy.
This way of travelling started disappearing in France at the end of the 1930s. Only Lille, Marseille and Saint-Étienne have never given up their tram systems. Since the 1980s, several cities have re-introduced it.
The following French towns and cities run light rail or tram systems: Angers - since 2011; Besançon - since 2014; Bordeaux - since 2003; Brest - since 2012; Caen - since 2002 as a 'trams on tyres' system, replaced 2019 by conventional trams; Clermont-Ferrand - since 2006, 'trams on tyres'; Grenoble - since 1987; Île-de-France (Paris metropolitan area) - since 1992 Lille, Roubaix and Tourcoing - non-stop since 1909; Lyon - since 2001; Le Mans - since 2007; Marseille - since 2007; Montpellier - since 2000; Mulhouse - since 2006 Nancy - since 2000, 'trams on tyres' system featuring a single guide rail while running on tyres; Nice - since 2007; Nantes - since 1985; Orléans - since 2000; Reims - since 2011; Rouen - since 1994; Saint-Étienne - non-stop since 1881; Strasbourg - since 1994 Toulouse - since 2010 (previously existed from 1906 to 1952) Valenciennes - since 2006 Dijon - since 2012 Le Havre - since 2012
Tram systems are planned or under construction in Tours, and Fort-de-France. The revival of tram networks in France has brought about a number of technical developments both in the traction systems and in the styling of the cars:
APS third rail: The Alstom APS system uses a third rail placed between the running rails, divided electrically into eight-metre segments with three metre neutral sections between. Each tram has two power collection skates, next to which are antennas that send radio signals to energise the power rail segments as the tram passes over them. At any one time no more than two consecutive segments under the tram should actually be live. Alstrom developed the system primarily to avoid intrusive power supply cables in sensitive area of the old city of Bordeaux.Allez le Tram from Railway-Technology.com. Retrieved 15 February 2009.
Modern styling: The Eurotram, used in Strasbourg has a modern design that makes it look almost as much like a train as a tram, and has large windows along its entire length.Porto:Metro from NYCsubway.org. Retrieved 15 February 2009.
Modular design: The Citadis tram, flagship of the French manufacturer Alstom, enjoys an innovative design combining lighter bogies with a modular concept for carriages providing more choices in the types of windows and the number of cars and doors.Georges Dobias: Urban Transport in France from Japan Railway & Transport Review, 16 June 1998 . Retrieved 15 February 2009. The recent Citadis-Dualis, intended to run at up to 100 km/h, is suitable for stop spacings ranging from 500 m to 5 km. Dualis is a strictly modular partial low-floor car, with all doors in the low-floor sections.Dualis extends the reach of the Citadis family from Railway Gazette, 2 June 2007. Retrieved 15 February 2009. Prominent bi-articulated "tram-like" Van Hool vehicles (Mettis) are used in Metz since 2013. They work as classic trams but without needing rails and catenaries, and can transport up to 155 passengers while being ecological thanks to a diesel-electric hybrid engine. In the starting up, batteries feed the engine of the bus, which can then roll 150 meters before the diesel engine takes over.
Roads
There are ~ of roads in France. The French motorway network or autoroute system consists largely of toll roads, except around large cities, in Brittany, in parts of Normandy, in the Ardennes and in Alsace. It is a network totalling of motorways operated by private companies such as Sanef (Société des autoroutes du Nord et de l'Est de la France). It has the 8th largest highway network in the world, trailing only the United States, China, India, Russia, Japan, Canada, Spain and Germany.Roadways by country (incl. expressways and highways). CIA - The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency.
France currently counts 30,500 km of major trunk roads or routes nationales and state-owned motorways. By way of comparison, the routes départementales cover a total distance of 365,000 km. The main trunk road network reflects the centralising tradition of France: the majority of them leave the gates of Paris. Indeed, trunk roads begin on the parvis of Notre-Dame of Paris at Kilometre Zero. To ensure an effective road network, new roads not serving Paris were created.
In 2022, France safety rate is near but not better than the OECD median, with rates of 49.8 per million population (or 4.98 / 100 000) and 5.2 per billion vehicle kilometers traveled (0.52 / 100 million VKT).
France is believed to be the most car-dependent country in Europe. In 2005, 937 billion vehicle kilometres were travelled in France (85% by car). While the traveled distance did not change, from 2012 to 2022, it is counted as 730 billion vehicle kilometers. Car makes 80% of the 1000 billion vehicle kilometers traveled each year. Traveled distance is reduced in 2020, but is counted in 2019 as 615 billion vehicle kilometer traveled including 448 car with a French registration plate according to the Union routière de France.Union routière de France, octobre 2021, Faits et chiffres, 2021, statistique des mobilités, ISSN 1625-5798
In order to overcome this dependence, in France and many more countries the long-distance coaches' market has been liberalised. Since 2015, with the law Macron, the market has exploded: the increasing demand lead to a higher supply of bus services and coach companies.
In France, Black Saturday refers to the day of the year when road traffic is most dense due to the many departures on holiday. (Traffic problems are exacerbated by France's extreme centralisation, with Paris being the hub of the entire national highway network). This Saturday is usually at the end of July, though in 2007 both the last Saturday of July and the first Saturday of August are designated as Black Saturdays. The Autoroute du Soleil, the highway to the south of France and Spain, is usually particularly busy. In 2004 there was more than in accumulated traffic congestion. The black colour is the qualification with which the French government web site Bison Futé designates a day with extrêmement dense (extremely busy) traffic.Calendrier Bison Futé (French) The French newspapers call this day samedi noir after Bison Futé's designation.Bison futé prévoit un "samedi noir", premiers bouchons, Le Monde, 28 July 2006 (French) Usually, the French call these days les jours de grands départs (days of great departures). In Dutch, this French phenomenon was known as zwarte zaterdag long before the French adopted the term samedi noir, both meaning (literally) Black Saturday.
The term Black Saturday may also refer to Saturday July 31, 1982, when the worst road accident in French history happened. Around 1:45 AM, a coach collided into passenger cars near Beaune in dense holiday traffic during rainfall. The collision and subsequent fire killed 53 people, among which 46 were children. After this crash, a regulation was enforced to prohibit the transportation of groups of children during this part of the year.Il y a vingt ans, l'accident de Beaune (French, meaning: Twenty years ago today, the Beaune accident)
Electric roads