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Paris Austerlitz (Paris)
Paris-Austerlitz was once the primary station in Paris for trains heading to the south-west of France, but it wasn’t connected to the high speed lines, so this loss of its former prestige had meant the station had become a tad neglected.
However, a welcome modernisation program is underway.
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Working towards a transformed Gare D'Austerlitz
Because the trains to Bordeaux (and beyond) were moved to Montparnasse station, the gare d'Austerlitz had begun to resemble something akin to a living museum to past glories of train travel, particularly when seen from its line 5 Metro station.
Hence a welcome ongoing renovation and expansion project, which will ultimately go beyond restoring the station's former glory.
The current refurbishment work at Paris-Austerlitz may be due to a plan for some of the TGV trains, which currently use the Gare De Lyon and the Gare Montparnasse, to be ultimately switched to using Austerlitz instead.
A future expansion of the number of train services using the station make sense, as a completed element of the station's redevelopment is the addition of voies (platforms/tracks) 1 - 7.
The long abandoned large departure hall is also currently being transformed, so that in time Paris-Austerlitz will ultimately mirror the retail and catering facilities that have been added to the Gare Du Nord and Gare Montparnasse in recent years.
Using the station
Paris-Austerlitz is a classic terminus train station, meaning that that voies (platforms/tracks) are on the same level as the concourse, which is at street level - so there is step free access between the station concourse and the taxi ranks and adjacent bus stops.
Though as the construction work in the rest of the station is ongoing, taking a train from Austerlitz is currently compromised.
When SMTJ visited in May 2025, the ticket hall was being used as the station's main waiting area.
Though that may be because the station's redevelopment includes two new completed waiting areas, which are open to all, but both of which are out of sight on either side of the station - one of them is by the entrance to voies 1 to 2 and the other is by the entrance to voie 21.
The access to the new voies 1 to 7 is currently a long way round, as work is seemingly yet to be completed on the area which links them to the main station building.
So it's a good idea to allow at least 7 minutes when making a connection from the metro or RER trains.
Onward connections
Something which has already been improved is the access between the main station and the concourse which leads to and from the RER trains, as these two areas of the station are now linked by escalators and lifts / elevators.
The RER line C trains give good connections to/from the 'left bank' area of the city - as they take a route along the south bank of the River Seine.
Metro Lines 5 and 10 also have separate stops at Austerlitz - line 5 above ground and line 10 below ground.
Steps currently provide the only access between both Metro stations and the main station concourse/ticket hall.
Journeys
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Journeys from Paris Austerlitz
Jump to directionsParis to Angers by train
Paris to Antibes by train
Paris to Cannes by train
Paris to Dijon by train
Paris to Limoges by train
Paris to Nantes by train
Paris to Nice by train
Paris to Orléans by train
Paris to Rennes by train
Paris to Toulouse by train
Paris to Tours by train
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