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Old line: View towards the now obsolete 1956 railway station, one day after the new alignment went into operation. Some wires of the catenary were already teared down. A couple of weeks later, this area was transformed into a large bus parking lot.   Nov.28, 1999 (C) Kristian Hasenjager

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Old line: Continuing my way on the old line towards east. The overhead line has no tension. Behind the buildings, somewhere in the mountain, the new station. New buildings will cover the old line soon, that's the only(!) reason why they built the 250 million Euro new tunnel.   Nov.28, 1999 (C) Kristian Hasenjager

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SNCF (French Railways) Culmont Chalindrey,  13.5.2003 Photo: Darko Pahic Szabo - more photos on http://www.vlaki.com

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France.view from the train Cuneo-Nice. Photo by Emanuele Rava, 17-9-2008 e-mail emanrava@yahoo.it

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This is the former fly-over where trains would change over between left and right-hand tracks, on the Belfort-Mulhouse railway line, East of the former border. As it was restricted to 100kph-62mph, this fly-over became increasingly incompatible with post-war speed standards. No wonder that it was eventually flattened in 1968 under the Dôle-Mulhouse electrification project. Since then, the track change-over has been located at the West End of Mulhouse Station (flat crossing). Illfurth. 16th October 2004. P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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SNCF - France From a distance it is difficult to see, but these two lines have different gauges! One track (left) is Spanish broad gauge and used by the trains from Barcelona to Latour-de-Carol. The other - standard gauge - track continues from Latour-de-Carol to Puigcerda in Spain but is no longer used. Latour-de-Carol, 08/07/2002 Digital photo by Marco van Uden

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SNCF - France 3 gauges in 1 picture! On the right Spanish broad gauge with a train to Barcelona, in the middle standard gauge, and on the left narrow gauge for the "Petit Train Jaune". Latour-de-Carol, 08/07/2002 Digital photo by Marco van Uden

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Former Lunel-Arles line, seen looking towards Arles... Lunel. 18th April 2004. P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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Former Lunel-Arles line, seen looking towards the station of Lunel... One can spot the catenary masts on the Nimes-Montpelliers railway line in the background. Lunel. 18th April 2004. P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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Belfort-Mulhouse railway line, seen just further East of Montreux-Vieux (ex-Altmünsterol), close to Retzwiller. At this stage, one has just gone through Continental Divide (North Sea-Mediterranean)... 16th October 2004. P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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Border point between Feignies (France) and Quévy (Belgium), on the Paris-Brussels conventional line. Pic looking North, towards Belgium. La Longueville [Quévy-Frontière]. 1st October 2006. P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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Border point between Feignies (France) and Quévy (Belgium), on the Paris-Brussels conventional line. The border actually coincides with the change in sleeper-kinds (concrete in France, wooden in Belgium), slightly ahead of the "96" sign (for L96 Quévy-Brussels). Pic looking North, towards Brussels. Quévy-La Longueville [Quévy-Frontière]. 1st October 2006. P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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Close up of TGV catenary mast taken from a road bridge near St Ythaire (about 20 km north of Cluny, departement 71). July 2005 Photo by Bill Harrison (bill.harrison@dsl.pipex.com)

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Junction of Tarascon-Nord, seen from the rear of TER 76413 (Avignon Centre-Portbou), shortly after diverging from the Paris-Marseilles mainline, while heading towards Montpelliers. At this stage, speed is restricted to 100km/h-62mph when running towards Montpelliers. Conversely, tracks to/from Marseilles are cleared for 160km/h-100mph, while TGVs bound for Arles/Miramas even start speeding up to 200km/h-125mph from there. Tarascon (Nord). 18th February 2005. P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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Junction of Tarascon-Nord, seen from the rear of TER 76413 (Avignon Centre-Portbou), while flying over the Paris-Marseilles mainline, heading towards Montpelliers. At this stage, speed is restricted to 90km/h-56mph. Tarascon (Nord). 18th February 2005. P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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Junction of Tarascon-Ouest, seen from the rear of TER 76413 (Avignon Centre-Portbou), shortly after calling at the station of Tarascon, and very close to the point where tracks from Marseilles merge with those from Lyons and Paris. At this stage, speed remains restricted to 90km/h-56mph on the Lyons-Montpelliers branch, while the Marseilles-Montpelliers tracks are not cleared for any faster than 70km/h-43mph. Tarascon (Ouest). 18th February 2005. P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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Junction of Tarascon-Ouest, seen from the rear of TER 76413 (Avignon Centre-Portbou), shortly beyond the point where tracks from Marseilles merge with those from Lyons and Paris, while running above the Rhône. Tarascon (Ouest). 18th February 2005. P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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SNCF July 2008 The track at Le Langon, north of La Rochelle on the line Nantes-Bordeaux. The landscape has changed. Today, the telephone poles are no longer visible. Photo Patrick Meunier www.pixyrail.com

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Si quelqu'un peut m'éclairer sur cette borne ... Elle est à quelques centimètre de l'actuelle Paris-Orléans à hauteur du point kilométrique 39. Photo: Julien BISCH ( julienbisch@voila.fr )

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This is the Bettembourg-Zouftgen portion (Luxemburg-Thionville line), seen from the rear car of EC97 "Iris" (Brussels-Chur). At this stage the car had already crossed the border and was running in France. One can see Luxemburg signals, yet located in French territory, which announce the changeover. The border itself is located at the opposite end of this curve. This segment features a long 12%o (1 in 80) gradient. Zouftgen. 17th October 2004. P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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View on Saint-Quentin-Fallavier Junction on the LGV Rhône-Alpes, as seen from TGV 9826 (Brussel Zuid - Nice Ville). In front is the through track from Marseille to Paris, on top is the track from the Lyon-Grenoble classic line to the high speed line (direction Lyon -> HSL). Saint-Quentin-Fallavier , 14/07/2007. Photo by : Denis Verheyden (msts_2@hotmail.com)

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View on Saint-Quentin-Fallavier Junction on the LGV Rhône-Alpes, as seen from TGV 9826 (Brussel Zuid - Nice Ville). The leftmost tracks are the tracks from the high-speed line to the Lyon-Grenoble classic line (direction HSL -> Lyon), and the through track from Marseille to Paris respectively. The track in front, diving under the running tracks, is the track from the Lyon-Grenoble classic line to the high-speed line (direction Grenoble -> HSL). The track next to the running track is the track from the Lyon-Grenoble line to the high-speed line (direction Lyon -> HSL). Saint-Quentin-Fallavier , 14/07/2007. Photo by : Denis Verheyden (msts_2@hotmail.com)

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SNCF - Bitche - Niederbronn-les-Bains Die Strecke zwischen Bitche und Niederbronn-les-Baines (Frankreich) ist landschaftlich reizvoll, leider aber außer Betrieb. (10. August 2003) Photo: Bernd Kittendorf (info@bernd-kittendorf.de) Homepage: www.bernd-kittendorf.de

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SNCF - Bitche - Niederbronn-les-Bains Bahnübergang an der nicht mehr genutzten Strecke zwischen Bitche und Niederbronn-les-Baines (Frankreich). (10. August 2003) Photo: Bernd Kittendorf (info@bernd-kittendorf.de) Homepage: www.bernd-kittendorf.de