No commuter trains, no regional trains (even so, technically it's a TER line), and ESPECIALLY NOT LGV , today I suggest well-known and magnificent route : Le Train Jaune/Ligne de Cerdagne. Yellow Train in English So magnificent that it is on the list of world heritage sites by UNESCO in 2002. It's a 62.5 km/38.5 mi route using the third rail under 850 V DC and metric gauges (1,000m), which is quite particular. The maximum speed is 60 km/h but limited to 30 km/h on steep terrain. So you won't be going very fast. It's a very popular tourist route because of its wonderful scenery. Rollings stocks : - Z 100, this century-old train, now 118 years old, soon to be 119. No one was even born yet, and it was already here and today it's still in service; that's kind of what makes the line what it is. Now you understand why it's called le Train Jaune I think. + With its open top trailer and the trailer with an front open platform https://youtube.com/shorts/cH49297-54E?si=38LHTKLJ_lWuTqC1 The following formation can be seen: Z 100 + open-top trailer + front-open platform trailer + Z 100 - Z 150, a train which is for passenger services, whereas the Z 100 is for tourist services - Z 200, a snowplow train might be a useful tool to use for snowy services and scenarios The train travels at a very high altitude , the maximum being 1592 m at Bolquère Eyne station, the highest SNCF station. Here's a helpful little graph to illustrate my point : At the bottom is the distance of route in km, and on the left and right are the altitudes of of the two terminals; the graph is relative to the altitude. The trains go up and down without a rack despite a steep slope between Bolquère Eyne and Villefranche. Between Latour and Bolquère you remain at high altitudes between 1144 m and 1592 m. There are many bridges and tunnels on this route, moreover, the Bridge of Cassagne is the last railway suspension bridge in France in service. From Latour to Bolquère you cross some forests and small town. The route is very green, you drive peacefully through nature and the mountains in the background,it's a bit like a French version of WSR (even though the nature of the two lines is different) but with a third rail, and after Bolquère towards Villefranche, you're through wooded mountains, which is simply magnificent with tunnels and bridges, This reminds me of my previous suggestion regarding the Tende line. Two magnificent scenarys in one route. You know what? If you have 2 hours of free time, just enjoy... Unfortunately, it doesn't go as far as Villefranche and ends the video at Olette , but it's the only video I could find. Moreover, this route has three special cases, firstly: the Latour de Carol Enveitg has three different track gauges: metric for Train Jaune , standard for other french trains and large for Renfe trains because the station is located not far from the French-Spanish border. Secondly, the route uses the telephone block signaling system , which is quite rare in France. And thirdly , there are optional stops and mandatory stops, logical for mandatory stops, you might say. List of optional stops : Serdinya Joncet Nyers Thuès-les-Bains Thuès-Caranca Sauto Planes Estavar Err Sainte-Léocadie Osséja Ur-les-Escaldes Enveitg-Village-Bena-Fanès To stop there, you must ask the conductor or, if you are in one of these stations, signal with your hands to the driver. It could be good, but it's hard to implement, so I have several ideas: First idea : Creating a system that gives you random optional stops during your journey with a small notification during your journey, you'll need to maintain the "not planned" aspect. The most complicated, but surely the best one. So if you run Service A with optional stop C, if you restart this service it won't necessarily have the optional stop C Second idea : Adding optional stops that are already in the service, no random stop system. So if you run Service A with Optional Stop C and then run that service again later, it will be the same. The problem is that this will have to be managed with all the services, which is complicated, or we'll have to ask SNCF for a timetable listing the stops for the different services. Third Idea : Making all services stop at each station, optional or not. Last Idea : Combine the second idea and the third idea. And to have some services that stop everywhere and others that don't and just make some optional stops. Service : Moreover, because the speed is low with many stops, the journey time is also long. An end-to-end route takes 3 hours BUT I have a very simple idea, already used on some routes in TSW: divide the journey into different parts (part 1, part 2 etc...). That way you can choose your route without having to do the whole trip, which is especially useful for me if I have to drive that. I chose this cut: Latour de Carol Enveitg - Font Romeu Odeillo Via : 1h20-1h30 Font Romeu Odeillo Via - Fontdeprouse St Thomas les Bains : 50 min - 1h Fontdeprouse St Thomas les Bains - Villefranche Vernet les Bains : 40 - 50 min Second problem, it's not just the slow speed that makes the journey long, but also the time spent at the station, which can be up to 5 minutes at certain stations. That's why I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to reduce the time spen when it takes too long at the station ; it's less realistic, admittedly, but it could decrease journey time. After if you don't mind, we can keep things realistic and wait. Personally, I've always enjoyed long wait times. It's not the kind of route I like (too slow), and I wouldn't want to see it as the second French route, third if you want, but not second. It's not because I dislike high-speed rail lines that I want, as a second option, the complete opposite. BUT that doesn't mean I find the route horrible (I'm referring to le Train Jaune; I find LGV horrible), on the contrary and well, everyone, unlike me, I'm sure that this route, with its beauty and its hundred-long train, will find its audience and it has its place among the TSW DLCs. And even though I don't like this kind of route, perhaps my patriotic side will prevail after so much waiting for a French route that isn't a LGV. But I told you that I hate high-speed trains? "Yeah, more than three times"? I see hmm...
My others suggestions : RER D South : Villeneuve Saint Georges - Melun via Corbeil Essonnes/Malesherbes RER B Nantes - Les Sables d'Olonne Tram Train de l'ouest lyonnais Ligne De Tende (Nice - Tende) Saint Lazare - La Verrière/Versailles Rive Droite Lyon Metropolitan 2020 Ligne De Hirondelles (Andelot - Saint Claude) If a French line ever comes out, day one!...Well, it depends on the price.
