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For the Paris Métro stop at the Gare de l'Est SNCF train station, see Gare de l'Est (Paris Métro).

The Gare de l'Est (English: East Station) is one of the six large termini of the SNCF network at Paris. It is located in the Xe arrondissement, not far from the Gare du Nord, facing the boulevard du Strasbourg, part of the north-south axis of Paris created by Baron Haussmann. It is one of the largest and the oldest railway stations in Paris.

About 34 million passengers pass through the Gare de l'Est per year, making it the fifth-busiest station in Paris. Since the creation of the RER E, it has become less congested, but it may become busier once again with the start of LGV Est service in 2007. Currently, the station (as well as the stations of other cities that its trains serve) is undergoing renovation work in order to accommodate the new LGV line.

At the top of the west façade of the Gare de l'Est is a statue by the sculptor Philippe-Joseph-Henri Lemaire, representing the city of Strasbourg, while the east end of the station is crowned by a statue personifying Verdun, a work of the sculptor Varenne. These two cities are important destinations on the rail network serviced by trains departing from the Gare de l'Est.

Previous		Line		Next
Terminus		TGV LGV Est (from 2007)		Champagne Ardenne TGV
Terminus		TER Alsace Paris-Nancy-Strasbourg		Nancy
Terminus		TER Alsace Paris-Mulhouse-Bâle		Troyes
Terminus		TER Champagne Ardenne Paris-Cangnan		Chateau Thierry
Terminus		TER Champagne Ardenne Paris-Chaumont-Bâle		Nogent sur Seine
Terminus		TER Champagne Ardenne Paris-St Dizier		Chateau Thierry
Terminus		Transilien Paris – Est		Noisy le Sec
Calais Ville		Venice Simplon Orient Express London-Paris-Rome		Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof
Terminus		Venice Simplon Orient Express Paris-Istanbul		Keleti Pályaudvar
Vienna Westbahnhof		Venice Simplon Orient Express Venice-Budapest-London		Calais Ville
Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof		Venice Simplon Orient Express Venice-Prague-London		Calais Ville

Contents 1 History 2 Transport 3 Important destinations served by trains from the Gare de l'Est 4 See also

The Gare de l'Est was opened in 1849 by the Compagnie du Chemin de Fer de Paris à Strasbourg (in English: The Paris-Strasbourg Railway Company), under the name "Strasbourg platform." This platform corresponds today with the hall of the mainline trains, and was designed originally by the architect François Duquesney. It was renamed the "Gare de l'Est" in 1854, after the first expansion of service by the Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Strasbourg to a new line to Mulhouse, for which it had obtained a concession.

Further important renovations to the station followed in 1885 and 1900. Then, in 1931, it was doubled in size, with the new part of the station built perfectly symmetrically to the old part. This transformation entailed, not surprisingly, a profound modification in the surrounding neighborhood.

On 4 October 1883, the Gare de l'Est was the site of the first departure of the Orient Express for Istanbul.

This station, the head of a strategic railway network extending towards the eastern part of France, was also one of the sites of the large mobilizations of French troops, most notably in 1914, at the beginning of the World War I. In the mainline train hall, a monumental painting by Alfred Herter, dating from 1926, illustrates the departure of these soldiers for the Western front.

SNCF plans to start service on LGV Est Europeen from Gare de l'Est on 10 June 2007, with TGV and ICE service to northeastern France, southern Germany and Switzerland. Trains are initially planned to run at 320km/h (198mph), with the potential to run at 350km/h (217mph), cutting travel times by 2 hours.

• SNCF:
  • International service to Luxembourg, Germany and Central Europe via the Orient Express.
  • Mainline trains servicing the eastern regions of France of Champagne-Ardenne, Lorraine, Alsace.
  • TER service to Champagne-Ardenne.
• Métro:
  • Lines 4 (Porte de Clignancourt--Porte d'Orléans) and 5 (Place d'Italie--Bobigny-Pablo Picasso): service to the Gare du Nord.
  • Line 7 (La Courneuve-8 Mai 1945--Mairie d'Ivry/Villejuif-Louis Aragon)

Augsburg Bar-le-Duc Basel Belfort Châlons-en-Champagne Chateau-Thierry Chaumont Colmar Commercy Culmont-Chalindrey Darmstadt Épernay

Épinal Frankfurt Gérardmer Karlsruhe Kehl Linz Lunéville Luxembourg Mannheim Meaux Metz Mulhouse

Munich Nancy Neufchateau Pont-à-Mousson Reims Remiremont Saarbrücken Sarrebourg Saint-Dié-des-Vosges Saint-Dizier Salzburg Saverne

Sélestat Strasbourg Stuttgart Thionville Toul Troyes Ulm Verdun Vesoul Vienna Vitry-le-François Wissembourg

• List of stations of the Paris RER
• List of stations of the Paris Métro
• Gare d'Austerlitz
• Gare de Lyon
• Gare Montparnasse
• Gare du Nord
• Gare Saint-Lazare

Coordinates: 48°52′37″N, 2°21′33″E