Montpellier St-Roch (Montpellier)

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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; Tough 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 - What is unusual about Montpellier St Roch is that this atrium isn't a bridge across the tracks, instead it's been 'turned' so that it sits above the length of the voies (platform / 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.
Also be guided by the signs and ignore the unconventional layout of the station.

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.

How you exit from Montpellier-St Roch station depends on the voie (platform / track) arrives at.

At voies A

Voies are adjacent to the main concourse on the city centre / 'Centre-Ville' side of the station, so if you'll be walking to the city centre, or accessing the tram stops in front of this main exit, your exit from the station is step-free.

If you will be changing trains, you can either;

• Go into the Centre-Ville exit lobby, take the escalator or elevator up to the main concourse, which is above the trains- and then use another escalator / elevator, down to the voie (platform) that your onward train will be leaving from,
• take the steps down to a passage way beneath the trains.

At voies B to F

When you step off a train which has arrived atvoies (platforms/tracks) B-E , 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-E, 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 those 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 main concourse 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.
If you will be changing trains and want a step-free route, you can use the escalators and lifts/elevators to go up and down from the main concourse.

*=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 - though if you use the Centre-Ville exit, all of the exits points are a short walk away.
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) and is also a route to the Centre-Ville exit

Taking a taxi from Montpellier-St Roch

There are two ranks which service Montpellier-St Roch

• one is over to the left of the Centre-Ville exit, at the end of a street named Rue Durand
• the other is on the Pont de Sete, the road which bridges the railway at the southern end of the station.

If your train arrives at voie / platform A the quickest access to a taxi is to use the Centre-Ville lobby, turn left om exiting the station and then cross the tram tracks to the taxi rank, which is on the other side of the street

If your train at voies / platforms B to F and you use the escalators or elevators to ascend up to the main concourse atrium, the taxi rank at the southern end of this atrium is just outside this Pont de Sete exit

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 Gibert.

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, so the public transport access from the city and from Montpellier St.Roch is to take a combination of a tram + shuttle bus.

Take the blue tram line / line 1 to the stop named Place de France' - from where the 'Navette Gare' shuttle buses also depart; the buses leave every 10 -15 mins.

The tram will be heading to its terminus at Odysseum, but what can be confusing is that the line maps at the trams stops and on the tram will show a dotted line between Odysseum and Montpellier Sud de France.
However, this dotted line is showing the intention of extending the tram line to Sud de France, it doesn't indicate that the journey on by shuttle bus will continue from Odysseum.

If you want to take the tram to transfer between St-Roch and the Sud De France stations, then it's prudent allow 45mins from stepping off a train at St-Roch to arriving at Sud-de-France - The transfer will take a minimum of 20-25 mins, but you need to allocate additional time between tram and bus departures.
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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