Toulouse-Matabiau station

Toulouse-Matabiau is the main railway station in Toulouse, southern France. It is in the city centre and connected to the Toulouse Metro. The station is situated on the Bordeaux–Sète railway, Toulouse–Bayonne railway, Brive–Toulouse (via Capdenac) railway and Toulouse–Auch railway. Direct trains run to most parts of France.

For the song performed by Zebda, see Matabiau (song).

Gare de Toulouse-Matabiau
Railway
The station building
Location	Boulevard de Marengo, 31000 Toulouse
Owned by	SNCF
Line(s)	Bordeaux–Sète railway, Toulouse–Bayonne railway, Brive–Toulouse railway, Toulouse–Auch railway, Metro Line A
Platforms	13 (1–11, A-B)
Tracks	12
Construction
Structure type	Ground
Parking	Yes
Bicycle facilities	Yes
History
Opened	1905
Electrified	Yes
Traffic
Passengers	9,788,574[1]
Services Preceding station   SNCF   Following station Terminus TGV Carcassonne toward eastern France Montauban toward Paris-Montparnasse Terminus Saint-Gaudens toward Bayonne Intercités Montauban toward Paris-Austerlitz Montauban toward Bordeaux-Saint-Jean Carcassonne toward Marseille-St-Charles Les Aubrais toward Paris-Austerlitz Intercités night trains Auterive toward Latour-de-Carol Montauban toward Paris-Austerlitz Castelnaudary toward Portbou Labège-Innopole toward Narbonne TER Occitanie L4 Terminus Terminus TER Occitanie M2 Montrabé toward Rodez TER Occitanie M3 Saint-Sulpice-sur-Tarn toward Aurillac TER Occitanie M9 Montrabé toward Mazamet TER Occitanie M10 Montaudran toward Carcassonne TER Occitanie M11 Toulouse-Saint-Agne toward Latour-de-Carol TER Occitanie M15 Toulouse-Saint-Agne toward Pau TER Occitanie M16 Toulouse-Saint-Agne toward Auch Lacourtensourt toward Montauban TER Occitanie M17 Terminus Castelnau-d'Estrétefonds toward Agen TER Occitanie M18 Saint-Jory toward Brive-la-Gaillarde TER Occitanie M19 Renfe Operadora Terminus AVE Carcassonne toward Barcelona Sants

History

Main entrance of Matabiau station

Trainshed and platforms

Toulouse waited until the middle of the 19th century for the railway to arrive in the city.

In 1853, Émile Pereire and his brother Jacob founded the CF du Midi. Three years later, the line from Bordeaux to Toulouse was opened, it was extended to Sète in 1857.[2]

The current passenger building was built between 1903 and 1905, replacing an older and smaller building. The station took the name of the borough, an area called Matabiau, named after the martyrdom of Saint Saturnin, mata-bios meaning kill the bull. It was designed by Marius Toudoire (who also designed Bordeaux Station) and was built with stone from the Roman city of Saintes. Like the Midi station in Bordeaux, Matabiau station bears 26 coats of arms on the front of the building of the 26 destinations that Midi served.

Some work was carried out on the building in 1938 prior to its listing.

Layout

The station is centred on two main concourses at the front of the station directly linked to each other, with ticket offices, shops and cafés. Underpasses link these concourses to the platforms. The station is connected to the underground Marengo SNCF station on Line A of the Toulouse Metro, accessible from inside and just outside the station.

Destinations

Toulouse-Matabiau is situated at the heart of a six-branch star network of lines with both regional (TER) and national (TGV and Corail) services.

Toulouse is served by the following regional lines:

• Toulouse–Albi-Rodez
• Toulouse–Montauban
• Toulouse–Saint-Sulpice
• Toulouse–Carcassonne
• Toulouse–Tarbes and Bayonne
• Toulouse–Foix
• Toulouse–Auch

Several SNCF facilities are present near the station, including the old Toulouse-Raynal goods yard now a carriage and engine maintenance yard and the large Saint-Jory marshalling yard 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) to the north.

Train services

The following services currently call at Toulouse-Matabiau:

• High-speed services (TGV) Paris–Tours–Bordeaux–Toulouse
• High-speed services (TGV) Toulouse–Montpellier–Lyon
• High-speed services (TGV) Toulouse–Carcassonne–Perpignan–Barcelona
• intercity services (Intercités) Paris–Vierzon–Limoges–Toulouse
• intercity services (Intercités) Bordeaux–Toulouse–Montpellier–Marseille
• intercity services (Intercités) Bayonne–Pau–Tarbes–Toulouse
• night services (Intercités de Nuit) Paris–Toulouse–Latour-de-Carol
• night services (Intercités de Nuit) Paris–Orléans–Portbou
• local service (TER Occitanie) Toulouse–Carcassonne–Narbonne
• local service (TER Occitanie) Toulouse–Albi–Rodez
• local service (TER Occitanie) Toulouse–Figeac–Aurillac
• local service (TER Occitanie) Brive-la-Gaillarde–Cahors–Montauban–Toulouse
• local service (TER Occitanie) Montauban–Toulouse
• local service (TER Occitanie) Agen–Montauban–Toulouse
• local service (TER Occitanie) Toulouse–Castres–Mazamet
• local service (TER Occitanie) Toulouse–Castelnaudary–Carcassonne
• local service (TER Occitanie) Toulouse–Colomiers–Auch
• local service (TER Occitanie) Toulouse–Foix–Latour-de-Carol-Enveitg
• local service (TER Occitanie) Toulouse–Saint-Gaudens–Tarbes–Pau

Gallery

• 
  The western concourse
• 
  The eastern concourse
• 
  An X72500 at Toulouse-Matabiau
• 
  A selection of SNCF locos at Toulouse-Matabiau

References

1. "Fréquentation en gares". SNCF. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
2. Direction Générale des Ponts et Chaussées et des Chemins de Fer (1869). Statistique centrale des chemins de fer. Chemins de fer français. Situation au 31 décembre 1869 (in French). Paris: Ministère des Travaux Publics. pp. 146–160.

• Timetables TER Midi-Pyrénées (in French)
• Toulouse-Latour-de-Carol timetable (in English)
• Toulouse–Rodez Timetable (in English)

External links

Media related to Gare de Toulouse-Matabiau at Wikimedia Commons

• Toulouse-Matabiau station at "Gares & Connexions", the official website of SNCF (in French)