Paris–Brest railway
Railway viaduct in Morlaix
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	RFF
Locale	France ( Île-de-France, Centre-Val de Loire, Normandy, Pays de la Loire, Brittany)
Termini	Gare Montparnasse, Paris Brest station
Service
System	SNCF
Operator(s)	SNCF
History
Opened	1840-1865
Technical
Line length	622 km (386 mi)
Number of tracks	Double track [1]
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	Paris–Le Mans 1.5 kV DC, Le Mans–Brest 25 kV 50 Hz [2]
Route map Legend 0.0 Former Gare Montparnasse (57m) 0.5 Paris-Montparnasse (57m) 1.2 LGV Atlantique to Le Mans and Bordeaux 3.7 Vanves–Malakoff (71m) 5.1 Clamart (77m) 7.6 Meudon 8.5 Bellevue 9.6 Sèvres-Rive-Gauche 12.5 Chaville-Rive-Gauche RER C from Invalides 13.9 Viroflay-Rive-Gauche (111m) from Chaville-Rive-Droite RER C to Versailles-Rive-Gauche Grande Ceinture from Massy–Palaiseau 16.6 Versailles-Chantiers (132m) Grande Ceinture to Sartrouville 21.4 Saint-Cyr (159m) to Granville 24.0 Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (163m) 27.1 Trappes (168m) 32.2 La Verrière (170m) 34.3 Coignières 37.7 Les Essarts-le-Roi 41.8 Le Perray 47.8 Rambouillet 52.7 Gazeran 60.3 Épernon 68.1 Maintenon 72.8 Saint-Piat 77.3 Jouy 81.5 La Villette-Saint-Prest from Gallardon 87.1 Chartres (142m) to Dreux to Orléans to Mondoubleau 94.2 Amilly-Ouerray 98.6 Saint-Aubin – Saint-Luperce 105.9 Courville-sur-Eure 113.4 Pontgouin from Senonches 123.6 La Loupe 134.3 Bretoncelles 140.9 Condé-sur-Huisne 148.1 Nogent-le-Rotrou 159.0 Le Theil – La Rouge 169.0 La Ferté-Bernard 178.1 Sceaux – Boëssé from Bonnétable 186.7 Connerré – Beillé LGV Atlantique from Paris-Montparnasse to Rennes – Nantes LGV BPL 193.9 Montfort-le-Gesnois 197.2 Saint-Mars-la-Brière 199.6 Champagné Line to Tours 211.0 Le Mans (51m) Line to Angers 214.9 to Mézidon LGV BPL Paris – Rennes Racc. de La Milesse-Freight 231.2 Domfront-en-Champagne 234.7 Conlie 241.3 Crissé 246.5 Sillé-le-Guillaume 252.4 Rouessé-Vassé 260.0 Voutré 269.4 Évron 275.5 Neau 281.4 Montsûrs from Flers 294.6 Louverné LGV BPL Rennes – Paris 300.1 Laval (70m) LGV BPL Paris – Rennes 300.8 River Mayenne 310.0 Le Genest 317.1 Port-Brillet 321.5 Saint-Pierre-la-Cour 335.9 Vitré (90m) to La Selle-en-Luitré 345.8 Les Lacs 352.6 Châteaubourg 357.3 Servon 362.2 Noyal – Acigné 367.9 Cesson-Sévigné from Paris LGV BPL from Châteaubriant 373.3 Rennes (31m) Line to Redon Line to Saint-Malo 385.1 L'Hermitage – Mordelles 391.4 Breteil 395.5 Montfort-sur-Meu 405.5 Montauban-de-Bretagne 410.6 La Brohinière to Mauron 415.4 Quédillac 419.5 Caulnes 427.8 Broons 438.1 Plénée-Jugon 447.0 Plestan Line from Dinan and Lison 454.3 Lamballe (56m) 465.0 Yffiniac from Le Légué 474.6 Saint-Brieuc (99m) to Loudéac 481.2 La Méaugon 485.0 Plouvara – Plerneuf 491.9 Châtelaudren – Plouagat 504.7 Guingamp (99m) Réseau Breton to Carhaix Réseau Breton to Paimpol 519.8 Belle-Isle – Bégard 530.9 Plouaret-Trégor (123m) Line to Lannion 539.1 Plounérin 553.4 Plouigneau 562.8 Morlaix (61m) to Roscoff 571.8 Pleyber-Christ 577.4 Saint-Thégonnec 581.7 Guimiliau 589.1 Landivisiau 599.0 La Roche-Maurice Line from Quimper 603.6 Landerneau (21m) 608.4 La Forest 615.0 Kerhuon 622.4 Brest (43m)

The railway from Paris to Brest is a 622-kilometre long railway line in France that connects Paris and the western port city Brest, via Le Mans and Rennes. It is used for passenger (express, regional and suburban) and freight traffic.

The railway was opened in several stages between 1840 and 1865. ^[3]

The railway leaves Paris-Montparnasse in southwestern direction for the first 3 km, and turns west at Malakoff, skirting the southern quarters of the city of Versailles. It turns southwest again until Maintenon, where it starts following the river Eure upstream, passing Chartres. At La Loupe, it leaves the Eure valley in southwestern direction until it enters the Huisne valley at Condé-sur-Huisne. It follows the Huisne downstream to Le Mans, where it turns northwest. At Sillé-le-Guillaume it turns west, crossing the river Mayenne in Laval.

After Vitré, it follows the river Vilaine downstream to Rennes. It continues roughly northwest to Lamballe, where it turns west. Just before Saint-Brieuc (at Yffiniac), it nearly touches the English Channel coast. It continues west through Guingamp and Morlaix until it reaches its terminus Brest, at a bay of the Atlantic Ocean.

TGV high speed trains with destination Le Mans and further west use the LGV Atlantique between Paris and Connerré (20 km east of Le Mans) instead of the "classic" line.

• Gare Montparnasse (Paris)
• Versailles-Chantiers station
• Chartres station
• Le Mans station
• Laval station
• Vitré station
• Rennes station
• Lamballe station
• Saint-Brieuc station
• Guingamp station
• Plouaret-Trégor station
• Morlaix station
• Landerneau station
• Brest station

The railway Paris–Brest was first built and exploited by the Chemins de Fer de l'Ouest. ^[4] The oldest section of the line is the part between Paris and Viroflay, built in 1840 as part of the railway between Paris and the city of Versailles. The part between Viroflay and Chartres was opened in 1849, Chartres– La Loupe in 1852, La Loupe– Le Mans in 1854, Le Mans– Laval in 1855, Laval– Rennes in 1857, followed by Rennes– Guingamp in 1863 and Guingamp– Brest in 1865. ^[3]

The line is on a double track in its entirety. ^[1] The gauge is the 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge. The overhead current is 1.5 kV DC between Paris and Le Mans, and 25 kV 50 Hz between Le Mans and Brest. ^[2] The train protection system Contrôle de vitesse par balises (KVB) is operational on the Paris - Saint-Brieuc section. ^[5] The signaling is either block automatique lumineux [ fr] (BAL) or block automatique à permissivité restreinte [ fr] (BAPR) on the whole line.