Train Categories in Europe - France (SNCF)

France (SNCF)

The SNCF use a different system of trains categories, based on politics wishes and commercial trademarks. Categories do not necessarily match with distance.

TGV

National or international services by high speed trains with supplementary fare, totally or partially on high speed lines. Similar to the ICE.

Intercité de Nuit

Night service

Intercités

National services, ever on main lines and/or secondary lines without supplementary fare. Similar to the InterRegio or the Intercity (Paris - Caen - Cherbourg and Paris - Rouen - Le Havre). Have been used to be called Train Inter Regional, but is obsolete.

TER (Train Express Régional)

These trains are subsidized by regions and do not designate a precise category, a TER route can be anything from 10 miles to more than 250 miles long. Some TER routes are longer than TGV ones.

Regional or national services, on main lines or secondary lines without supplementary fare. Used to be similar to the S-Bahn (many stops from a major city on a short distance, urban or suburban service), the Regional or RegioExpress, but can be also similar to the InterRegio-Express or Intercity (Interloire Nantes - Orléans) and the InterRegio (Orléans - Lyon, Toulouse - Clermont-Ferrand).

Some special regional trains called TERGV (TER and TGV). The TERGV consists in TGV trains subsidized for regional service, though with a supplementary fare compared to the same trip using standard TER service. These trains use the high speed lines (LGV) to quickly link cities such as Dunkirk, Calais, and Boulogne-sur-Mer to Lille in an hour. Similar services in Europe include Southeastern's Highspeed service.

There are also TER200, iC TER and Interloire

thello

These trains are not operated by the SNCF but by thello, a newly created society owned by Veolia Transdev and the FS, between France and Italy, after breaking an alliance between the SNCF and the FS.

CityNightLine/ Transeuropean express(fr)/Riviera express(fr)

These trains are not operated by the SNCF but by the DB (CNL) and the RZD (the other ones). Initially the CNL was circulating with the