About the rich history of Austerlitz train station, also called Gare d’Orléans
The shipyards at Austerlitz station started in 1837 and were inaugurated three years later. Since 1867, a passenger service has been reorganized to ensure a better reception for the thousands of people who become familiar with the station. At present, this train station accommodates intercity, night trains, the TER and other commuter trains. The Trenhotel to Madrid and Barcelona has also operated from here, until 2013. The Austerlitz station has been included on the list of historic monuments.
Obviously, the station is the start of the Paris-Austerlitz line in Bordeaux-Saint-Jean. A surface railway station with 21 cul-de-sac routes, assigned to mainline traffic (Paris-Toulouse via Limoges) and serving the suburbs. Plus an underground station with four transit lanes (for two central platforms) assigned to the RER line C service. In the fore-station, which stretches for several kilometers between Paris-Austerlitz and Ivry-sur-Seine, there are various construction sites. There are beams of training and storage of passenger trains. This area, already partially amputated for the establishment of the François-Mitterrand library, is concerned by a vast urban development project, Paris Rive Gauche.
The Austerlitz train station lies within the 13th arrondissement of Paris municipality. The exact address is 85 quai d'Austerlitz, 75013 Paris. It is a property of the SNCF, which is also the operator. Its official opening date is 20 September 1840, while the underground tracks have been operational since March 3rd, 1969.
Paris-Austerlitz, also known as Gare d’Austerlitz, was formerly called Gare d’Orléans. Included in the six main terminus stations of the SNCF in Paris, Austerlitz is located on the banks of Seine (left bank), near the Salpêtrière hospital in the 13th arrondissement.
Since the putting into service of the Artlantic LGV, the lines to Touraine and the great south-west, no longer leave the from Austerlitz station. Paris Austerlitz station welcomes 21.3 million passengers a year, much less than the Montparnasse station. However, it retains its major role in serving Paris from the south of the Île-de-France.
The recent renovation of this station will be carried out by 2020 and should change the situation in the coming years, to ensure an increase in traffic. Following these renovations, SNCF announced that 23 million passengers and 180,000 trains would arrive in 2020 and forecasts the doubling of the number of passengers for 2030. Indeed, the station of Paris Austerlitz has a large capacity for expansion compared to other Parisian stations. Paris Austerlitz should be developed during the next decade, notably with a view to the possible arrival of part of the TGV traffic, in particular the Paris Orléans Clermont-Ferrand Lyon LGV project. The underground portion of RER C line currently receives 27,536 passengers per day.
Contemporary creations, museums and historic monuments around Gare d’Austerlitz
Musée de l’Art Ludique (Museum of Ludic Art)
Inaugurated in 2013, this museum hosts temporary exhibitions highlighting the contemporary creations realized by the great animators of public. Pixar, the French agency for video games, is among the entities that have held an exhibition here, along with numerous creators of manga.
Natural History Museum
The Museum of Natural History is a building built in 1900. It exhibits a gallery of comparative anatomy of paleontology on various eras. This gallery will attract anthropologists, paleontologists and other fans of the series "Bones". Presenting a large collection of bones and organs, this gallery provides an understanding between the world of the disappeared and endangered vertebrates. This visit gives you access to thousands of years of evolution of the morphology of vertebrates, as well as to a variety of fossilized plants.
Registered as historic monuments since 12th of June 1986, the viaduct of Austerlitz connects the station located under the hall of the train station to the viaduct of the Quai de la Rapée. Work drawn in a curve with a dimension of 75m, it allows to reach the subway. The viaduct was built around 1910, at the time of the construction of the Parisian subway. It was less expensive to build a bridge to cross the Seine than to pass under the river.
Pont d’Austerlitz (Austerlitz Bridge)
This bridge was built during the Bonaparte era, along with the the bridge of L’île de la Cité and Pont des Arts near Louvre museum. The names of the main officers killed during the Battle of Austerlitz are registered on this bridge.
Where to sleep near Austerlitz train station?
Located opposite the RER B station, it is a few minutes away from the Evolution Gallery of the Natural History Museum. The hotel serves breakfast and vending machines for beverages are available in the lobby. Libertel offers free parking, free Wi-Fi and multilingual staff.
A three-star property recently renovated, Devillas welcomes you in a typical, comfortable setting and in an architecturally original building. Guests will have access to the leather lounge chairs, Wi-Fi and a bar reserved for its guests.
How to get from La Défense to Austerlitz train station by car
From the forecourt of La Défense, you will have to continue straight until La Place du Dôme and join the avenue Charles de Gaulle. It will be necessary to pass by Neuilly-sur-Seine. When you arrive at Porte Maillot, you will have to go straight on to Avenue de la Grande Armée, join Avenue Marceau, then Avenue du Président Wilson. The objective will be to reach Quai de La Rapée and Pont d’Austerlitz before reaching the train station.