2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. TGV Sud-Est 01 Carmillon 30 ans: Clem from Paris, France· CC BY-SA 2.0
- 2. TGV Train à Grande Vitesse: joost j. bakker from ijmuiden, the netherlands· CC BY 2.0
what is it?
The SNCF TGV Sud-Est is a retired French high speed TGV train built by Alstom and Francorail-MTE and operated by SNCF, the French national railway company. A total of 111 trainsets were built between 1978 and 1988 for the first TGV service in France between Paris and Lyon which opened in 1981. The trainsets were semi-permanently coupled, consisting of two power cars and eight articulated passenger carriages, ten in the case of the tri-voltage sets.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 45 years ago, in 1981.
- Top speed is 2.3× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 8 minutes.
- 6.8 MW is about 80 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 64 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 200 m long: about 44 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 40 years (1981–2021).
high-speed train: Built for 200–350 km/h on dedicated lines, like the TGV, ICE or Shinkansen.
spec sheet
- built
- 1981
- in service from
- 1981
- retired
- 2021
- status
- retired
- number built
- 111
- kind
- high-speed train
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇫🇷 France
- builders
- Alstom, Francorail
- operators
- Société nationale des chemins de fer français
- top speed
- 300 km/h
- power
- 6.8 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- electric system
- Overhead line:, 3, 3, 15 kV 16.7 Hz Tri-voltage only – for Swiss
- formation
- 2 power cars, 8 passenger cars
- length
- 200 m
- weight
- 385 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q288991, Wikipedia: SNCF TGV Sud-Est (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.