(The Associated Press circulated the following article on May 23.)
PARIS — A new high-speed train line will link France and Germany from 2007, cutting travel time between Paris and Frankfurt to under four hours, officials said Monday.
There will be five trains a day between Paris and Frankfurt and four between Paris and Stuttgart on the new TGV line, which France’s state-owned rail company SNCF said is expected to be used by an estimated 1.5 million passengers a year.
Currently, the fastest train connection between Paris and Frankfurt via Saarbruecken and Mannheim takes 6 hours, while passengers to Stuttgart have to go via the eastern French city of Strasbourg.
The TGV line will require a new bridge across the Rhine river near Strasbourg that will be built at a cost of 30 million euros to 50 million euros ($38 million to $62 million), said Strasbourg deputy mayor Pascal Mangin.