Lille Tourism
Nord (59) - Northern France
Palais Rihour - B.P. 205,
59002 LILLE
Phone : 3265 dites Lille ou 08 91 56 2004
Fax : 03 59 57 94 14
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Lille is an important crossroads in the European TGV network: it lies on the Eurostar line to London and the Thalys network to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Cologne.
It has two train stations, which stand next door to each other: the Lille-Europe station (Gare Lille-Europe) and the Lille-Flandres station (Gare Lille-Flandres).
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The Lille Metro (fr. Métro de Lille) in Lille, France
was inaugurated on 25 April 1983. It is a driverless metro,
using the VAL system (véhicule automatique léger = light
automated vehicle).
Trains are only 2 meters wide and 26 m long (two linked cars),
and are rubber-tired. There are 60 stations which go as far as
the Belgian border. The metro platforms are 52 m long, long
enough for two units. One unit can carry 156 passengers
.
Inside of VAL metro car
Construction started in 1978 and the first line was
inaugurated on 25 April 1983 between the stations 4 Cantons
and République. One year later, on 2 May 1984 the entire Line
1 was opened (13.5 km long, 8.5 km underground).
The metro links the station C.H.R. B Calmette in Lille to 4
Cantons in Villeneuve d'Ascq via Gare Lille Flandres, with 18
stations altogether on the line. All stations have doors
between the platform and the train.
Line 2 opened on 3 April 1989 and it reached C.H. Dron near
the Belgian border on 27 October, 2000. The line is 32 km long
with 41 stations.
Info
The metro operates from 5:00 until midnight, with trains every
1.5 - 4 minutes (1 min. during rush hour), and every 6 - 8
minutes early mornings and evenings. On Sundays there is a
train every 4 - 6 minutes. The single fare costs 1.20 euros.
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Highways
Five autoroutes pass by Lille, the densest confluence of highways in France after Paris:
- Autoroute A27 : Lille - Tournai - Brussels / Liège - England
- Autoroute A23 : Lille - Valenciennes
- Autoroute A1 : Lille - Arras - Paris / Reims - Lyon
- Autoroute A25 : Lille - Dunkerque - Calais - England
- Autoroute A22 : Lille - Anvers - Netherlands
Air Traffic
Lille Lesquin (http://www.lille.aeroport.fr/) International Airport is 15 minutes from the city center. It is the 12th most frequented French airport in number of passengers:
- around 970,000 passengers in 2001
- almost 873,000 passengers in 2003
In terms of shipping, it ranks fourth, with almost 38,000 tonnes of freight which pass through each year.
Waterways
Lille is the 3rd largest French river port after Paris and Strasbourg. The river Deûle is connected to regional waterways with over 680 km of navigatable waters.
The Deûle connects to Northern Europe via the River Scarpe and the River Escaut (towards Belgium and the Netherlands), and internationally via the Lys (to Dunkerque and Calais).
Shipping Statistics
| Year |
1997 |
2000 |
2003 |
| Millions of tonnes |
5.56 |
6.68 |
7.30 |
| By River or Sea |
8.00% |
8.25% |
13.33% |
| By Rail |
6.28% |
4.13% |
2.89% |
| By Road |
85.72% |
87.62% |
83.78% |
Credits
: This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the
Wikipedia article
"Lille".
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