The Toulouse railway network is a railway network in Toulouse metropolitan area in France. Created in 1856, with the opening of the Matabiau station, it has six lines, or eight branches, arranged more or less in a star shape.. It is operated and managed by SNCF and serves 27 stations, including 12 inside the city of Toulouse.
The Toulouse railway network is roughly star-shaped. The structuring axis is the Bordeaux–Sète line, which crosses the agglomeration in a north-west - south-east orientation, following on a part of the route the Canal du Midi. Near the city center is the most important station of the city, Toulouse-Matabiau. Starting from the latter and going back to Bordeaux, we first reach the station of Toulouse-Raynal, vast former marshalling yard and current SNCF technicentre located not far from the passenger station. Then, a triangular junction allows to join the Brive-la-Gaillarde – Toulouse line, major axis of communication of the north-east of Midi-Pyrenees since it is from this that all tertiary lines stand out sector, and which serves major cities such as Albi, Rodez, Castres or Mazamet. Continuing always following the valley of the Garonne, it is possible to reach several stations of the north of the city and the nearby agglomeration, as well as to the large railway station of Saint-Jory, where will be the connection from the LGV Bordeaux–Toulouse. Then, further north is the Montauban-Ville-Bourbon station from where the Orléans–Montauban line, which is the old fast route that took the TEE Capitole and allows to reach the capital without passing through Bordeaux. South of Toulouse-Matabiau, the various railway tracks of the city form an arc. First of all, for a few kilometers, all the tracks go down to the south, parallel to the Canal du Midi. Then, they separate shortly after the twin tunnels of Guilhemery, half continuing south-east and, after crossing the small Montaudran station and several stations of the agglomeration, continue towards Sète, Marseille or Spain via Perpignan; the other half goes southwest. After crossing the Saint-Agne station, and its transfer with the line B of the metro, the line Toulouse - Bayonne crosses the Garonne and the Ramier Island, from which separate decommissioned tracks which allowed the origin to serve factories of the SNPE and those of AZF today destroyed following the disaster of the same name. Then a second bifurcation takes place:
This line is a kind of RER that joins the city of Colomiers to the west of Toulouse. It was opened just after the line A. This line is just a section of the TER train line between Toulouse and Auch, going from the station Arènes to Colomiers. The TER line was adapted between these two stations, to follow the Metro ratebase. Frequencies were increased to 15 min in 2005 after doubling of the railway infrastructure. It is the only railway of the network partially operated byTisséo, so it also figures in their plans and is accessible with their trip tickets.
Line D
Like line C, the line D is a railway operated by SNCF running to the town of Muret, south of Toulouse with adapted frequencies. It is part of Toulouse–Bayonne railway.
Line F
Line F is a railway operated by SNCF running to the town of Escalquens, south-east of Toulouse. It is the only line with no dedicated trains. It is part of Bordeaux–Sète railway.
It is planned to finish the doubling of line C between kilometric points PK 10,940 and 12,800. This would involve a redevelopment of Lardenne station, and a removal of level crossings of Lardenne and Saint-Martin-du-Touch stations
