Montpellier St-Roch (Montpellier)

The station concourse is a great example of contemporary station architecture, but Montpellier-St Roch can be a frustrating station to use; particularly when arriving by train.

Though the station buildings are a delight and the modern light-filled concourse leads the way to the voies (tracks/platforms) B- F from the main entrance; though if you arrive by car this atrium also gives access to voie A.
At Montpellier-St Roch the the voies (tracks/platforms) are distinguished by the letters A - F, and not by numbers.

When on the voies (platforms/tracks) take care not to mix these up with the letters which mark the zones (repéres).

The voies (tracks/platforms) are are at street level, so voie A is at the same level as the main 'Centre-Ville' entrances/exits from the station.
So it is directly adjacent to the main entrance hall on the city side.

Though this main entrance can't be accessed by car, so if you take a taxi to St.Roch, you'll be using an alternative route into the station and entering at one end of the concourse that spans the station, above the trains.

The access between the main street level 'Centre Ville' entrance hall and voies (tracks/platforms) B-F, is by using the main concourse/atrium, which is located above the railway tracks.
So when accessing the station by its main city side entrance on Place Auguste Gilbert, you'll need to initially ascend in the station using the escalators or elevator.
These lead up to glass-walled passage way, if you take the escalator go ahead and then turn to left in order to enter the main atrium which is where voies (tracks/platforms) B-F can be accessed from.

Having gone up a level, you'll then need to descend to take a train from voies (platforms/tracks) B - F.
But this less complicated as it sounds as there are escalators and lifts to help manage these changes of level.

Though hope for good weather if you’ll be taking a TGV from Montpellier, for quite a large percentage of their long length the voies (tracks/platforms) have no shelter at all.
In particular Repéres (zones) Y and Z are some distance from any protection from the elements.

When you step off a train, there are two sets of escalators and lifts/elevators towards the middle of each voie (platform/track) - you may have to walk passed multiple staircases to reach them,

From voies (platforms/tracks) B-F, if you want to use the step-free access to the main 'Centre-Ville' exit; which is also the route to follow to the tram stops, you'll need to initially ascend up to the main concourse, using the escalators and elevators on the voie (platform/track)
Then having gone up a level, you'll then descend to street level, if you want to use the Centre-Ville exit*; the atrium above the station functions as a bridge between the trains and the town
Though more escalators and elevators are available to take you down to street level.

*St Roch is a station with multiple exits, perfect if you know where you are going, but potentially confusing if you don't, so pay careful attention to the signs.
All of the above sounds complicated, but in most respects, exiting from the trains at Montepellier St Roch is little different to other large stations at which bridges have to be used

What makes Montpellier-St Roch awkward to use is that most of its voies (platforms/tracks) are exceptionally narrow.
This leaves tight spaces between the platform edges and the stairs/escalators.
Exiting from a busy TGV, or changing trains, can therefore be an obstacle course of avoiding other people’s luggage and a scramble for the escalators.

If you don't have luggage, or are happy to use stairs, there is a passage under the trains, which links all the voies (platform/tracks).
This passage can give the quickest access to other trains - you don't have to follow the crowds up to the upper level in the station.

Montpellier St-Roch station is conveniently located for easy access to the city centre - the heart of the city is within a 10 - 15 min walk.

When stepping off a train head for the exits marked 'Centre-Ville' - if your train arrives at voie (platform/track) A you can remain at street level.
If your train arrives at voies B-F you'll first have to ascend to the upper level.

From the main concourse look for the signs pointing to the 'Centre-Ville exit, there are banks of escalators and lifts/elevators back down to street level; you'll be exiting on to the Place Auguste Gilbert.
All of Montpellier's tram routes stop outside the main exit on Place Auguste Gilbert.

The easiest to find taxi rank at the station is at one end of the long atrium, which spans the length of the station above all of the voies (platforms/tracks)
The exit by the taxi ranks is at the opposite end of this atrium to the main exits; follow the signs and head for the Saint-Jean exit.

A new high speed train line has opened to the south of Montpellier, so some trains to/from the city now call at a new station named 'Montpellier Sud De France'.

Montpellier Sud De France is on the edge of the city and is a 10 -15 min walk from the 'Odysseum' tram stop - the final stop on the blue tram line, line 1.
A free shuttle bus has been provided between the 'Odysseum' tram stop and the Sud De France station; at Odsysseum, the buses leave from the 'Place de France' bus stop

If you want to take the tram to transfer between St-Roch and the Sud De France stations then allow 40 mins from stepping off a train at St-Roch to arriving at Sud-de-France.
The Blue Line (line 1) tram stop for Odysseum is located just across the Place Auguste-Gilbert, on the street named Rue de Maguelone.

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