Genève-Cornavin railway station

Genève-Cornavin
Genève-Cornavin
	The entrance to the station building
General information
Location	Place de Cornavin, 1201 Geneva, Geneva; Switzerland
Coordinates	46°12′37″N 6°08′33″E / 46.21028°N 6.14250°E
Elevation	385 m (1,263 ft)
Owned by	SBB-CFF-FFS
Operated by	SBB-CFF-FFS; SNCF;
Line(s)	Olten – Genève-Aéroport; Genève-Cornavin – Lyon (F);
Platforms	8
Connections	Transports Publics Genevois tram lines 13, 14, 15, 16 and 18; Transports Publics Genevois bus lines 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 19, 27, 29, F, V, Z;
Construction
Architect	Julien Flegenheimer
History
Opened	1858
Rebuilt	1931

Genève-Cornavin (also known as Gare de Cornavin and signed simply as Genève) is Geneva's main railway station, located in the centre of the city. The immediate area surrounding it is known as Cornavin; both names can be used interchangeably to refer to each other.

The station has over 230 train arrivals and departures every day, 4 ticket counters and 6 ticket machines. The number of ticket counters and ticket machines has changed after the renovations in 2011, as well as a customs office for international trains to France and beyond. There are only 8 platforms which makes it relatively small compared, for example, to Zurich's 26 platforms.

Platforms 7 and 8 have French and Swiss border controls. Long distance and regional express trains leave for France without making any stops in Switzerland. Another reason to separate these tracks are the different electrical standards of the relevant railway system on either side: The French system uses 25 kV at 50 Hz AC whereas Swiss system uses 15 kV AC at 16.7 Hz.

The station connects to one Swiss main line, known as the Jura foot railway line (Olten - Genève-Aéroport), which links the city with the rest of Switzerland to the east. Many long distance trains from this line continue to and terminate at Geneva Airport railway station, 6 minutes ride away. There is also significant traffic to France, westwards along the Lyon-Geneva line, which for the first few km runs as a single track line alongside the double track line to the airport. Traffic to France includes long distance TGVs to Paris and Southern France, regional trains to Lyon via Bellegarde. Cornavin is also the hub of a growing RER network, with two routes in service, Bellegarde/La Plaine to Cornavin and Coppet to Lancy - Pont-Rouge. The CEVA plans to connect the spur leading to Lancy - Pont-Rouge to the Eaux-Vives station and thus create a line from Cornavin to Annemasse.

Facilities

Amongst the facilities of the station are a police station, cash machines, cafés, bars, food stands, a bakery, a supermarket (Aperto), newsagents, a media shop (CityDisc), a cybercafe, kiosks, underground car park, an underground shopping arcade, toilets and showers, and luggage lockers.

Nearby area features

Located directly outside the station are bus and tram stops for Transports Publics Genevois services to all over Geneva city, its canton and nearby French locales, a taxi rank, banks, cash machines, post offices, hotels, cinemas, jewellers, book shops, money exchange services, restaurants, bars, and fast food restaurants.

In popular culture

The station entrance and a platform was seen in The Adventures of Tintin comic The Calculus Affair.

Planned extension of the railway station

The Swiss Federal Railways announced they would extend the railway station by constructing two new railway tracks. The need of the extension comes from the increase of traffic in the incoming years. The initial project had a total cost of 800 million Swiss francs and the destruction of nearby 350 accommodations next to the station. A second project supported by residents of the neighborhood plan to build the two new tracks under the station with a total cost around 1.7 billion Swiss francs.^[1]

The Swiss Federal Rail plan that the new extension will be finished by 2025.^[2]

In April 2013, an initiative was launched to claim the extension under the station by the "Collectif 500" a neighborhood association.^[3]

Train services

The station is served by the following services:

High speed services (TGV) Paris - Bellegarde - Geneva
High speed services (TGV) Nice - Marseille - Lyon - Bellegarde - Geneva
Intercity services ICN Geneva - Neuchâtel - Biel/Bienne - Basel
Intercity services ICN Geneva - Neuchâtel - Biel/Bienne - Olten - Zurich - St Gallen
Regional services IR Geneva - Lausanne - Montreux - Martigny - Visp - Brig
Regional services IR Geneva - Lausanne - Fribourg - Bern - Lucerne
Regional services (TER Rhône-Alpes) Lyon - Ambérieu - Bellegarde - Geneva
Regional services (TER Rhône-Alpes) Valence - Grenoble - Chambéry - Bellegarde - Geneva
Local services (TER Rhône-Alpes) Bellegarde - La Plaine - Geneva
Local services RE Geneva - Nyon - Renens - Lausanne - Vevey
Local services RE Geneva - Nyon - Renens - Lausanne - Romont
Local services R Geneva - Versoix - Coppet
Local services R La Plaine - Geneva

Preceding station	SBB-CFF-FFS	Following station
Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations toward Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations	Template:SBB-CFF-FFS lines	Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations toward Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations
Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations toward Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations	Template:SBB-CFF-FFS lines	Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations toward Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations
Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations toward Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations	Template:SBB-CFF-FFS lines	Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations toward Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations
Terminus	Template:SBB-CFF-FFS lines	Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations toward Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations
Terminus	Template:SBB-CFF-FFS lines	Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations toward Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations
Terminus	Template:SBB-CFF-FFS lines	Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations toward Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations
Terminus	Template:SBB-CFF-FFS lines	Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations toward Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations
Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations toward Template:SBB-CFF-FFS stations	Template:SBB-CFF-FFS lines	Terminus
Preceding station	SNCF	Following station
Template:TGV stations toward Template:TGV stations	Template:TGV lines	Terminus
Template:TGV stations toward Template:TGV stations	Template:TGV lines	Terminus
Template:TGV stations toward Template:TGV stations	Template:TGV lines	Terminus
Terminus	Template:TER Rhône-Alpes lines	Template:TER Rhône-Alpes stations toward Template:TER Rhône-Alpes stations
Template:TER Rhône-Alpes stations toward Template:TER Rhône-Alpes stations	Template:TER Rhône-Alpes lines	Terminus
Template:TER Rhône-Alpes stations toward Template:TER Rhône-Alpes stations	Template:TER Rhône-Alpes lines	Terminus
Terminus	Template:TER Rhône-Alpes lines	Template:TER Rhône-Alpes stations toward Template:TER Rhône-Alpes stations

Gallery

Geneva Cornavin station from Platform 7

References

External links

Swiss Railway — trains to and from Cornavin
Les principaux éléments historiques en relation avec CEVA Template:Fr icon

[1] ttp://www.tdg.ch/geneve/actu-genevoise/extension-cornavin-geneve-veut-chiffres/story/29517730?track

[2] ttp://www.tdg.ch/geneve/actu-genevoise/expertise-trancher-deux-variantes-extension-cornavin/story/26655924?track

[3] ttp://www.tdg.ch/geneve/actu-genevoise/initiative-lancee-agrandir-cornavin-souterrain/story/21814118?track

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e SNCF/Swiss Federal Railways Lyon–Geneva railway
France (SNCF)	Lyon-Perrache Lyon-Jean Macé Lyon-Part-Dieu Crépieux-la-Pape Miribel Saint-Maurice-de-Beynost Beynost La Boisse Montluel La Valbonne Meximieux—Pérouges Ambérieu Saint-Rambert-en-Bugey Tenay-Hauteville Virieu-le-Grand - Belley Culoz Seyssel-Corbonod Bellegarde Pougny—Chancy
Switzerland (SBB)	La Plaine Russin Satigny Zimeysa Meyrin Vernier Genève-Cornavin