Gare de Lyon Saint-Exupéry

Aéroport Lyon-Saint-Exupéry TGV
Location Colombier-Saugnieu, Rhône, Rhône-Alpes
 France
Coordinates 45°43′16″N 5°4′34″E / 45.72111°N 5.07611°ECoordinates: 45°43′16″N 5°4′34″E / 45.72111°N 5.07611°E
Line(s) TGV Rhône-Alpes
Tracks 4
History
Opened 1994

Gare de Saint-Exupéry TGV (formerly Gare de Satolas) is a railway station near Lyon, France, directly attached to Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport. The station was an addition to the airport built to serve TGV trains on the LGV Rhône-Alpes, part of the main line running from Paris to Marseille. It is situated about 20 km east of Lyon city centre.

Saint-Exupéry station was designed by Santiago Calatrava, cost 750 million Francs and opened on 3 July 1994, at the same as the high-speed line to Saint-Marcel-lès-Valence. The building is mostly a combination of concrete and steel.

The station has six tracks laid in a cutting. The two central tracks are isolated to permit trains to traverse the station at full speed (300 km/h). Both sets of two tracks have platforms 500 m long. To the west, a small piece of land has been put aside for future expansion. Above the tracks, a 300 m long passenger concourse gives easy access to the platforms and is equipped with several travelators.

The railway station is linked to Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport by a footbridge equipped with a travelator. This airport is historically the first to be served by a high speed station. Unfortunately, this proximity to the airport has not helped the station and it sees little use as passengers mainly use Lyon-Perrache and Lyon Part-Dieu.

Lack of interconnection with Lyon's urban transport network is frequently cited for the station's low usage. The arrival of the Rhônexpress express tram (opened August 2010) is unlikely to change this as Lyon residents will still find it easier (and cheaper) to use the stations within the city. The main "advantage" of the station is for travellers, arriving by plane, who are travelling onwards to the east.

Train services

The station is served by the following services:

Preceding station   SNCF   Following station
Terminus
TGV
Terminus
TGV
toward Annecy
TGV
toward Milan
TGV
toward Avignon
toward Paris-Lyon
TGV
toward Miramas
Terminus
TGV
TGV

Gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gare de Lyon-Saint Exupéry.