The Cévennes Line

In the autumn of 1878 Robert Louis Stevenson walked up the valley of the Allier with a donkey and found a railway running beside the river: "the only bit of railway in Gevaudan", he wrote, with surveys afoot for more. "A year or two hence and this may be another world." The branch up to Mende was not opened until 1902. The railway he walked beside still carries trains from Clermont-Ferrand over the mountains to Nîmes.

It was built to carry coal. Paulin Talabot's company opened the first stretch, from the mines of Alès down to Nîmes, in 1840, and the line was pushed north through the mountains until it met the railway from Clermont-Ferrand in May 1870. The Cévenol, a name first given to the through train in 1955, takes about five hours over some 300 kilometres: up the Allier from Clermont, along a ledge above its gorges for 67 kilometres, over the watershed at La Bastide at about 1,020 metres, and down through the chestnut valleys of the Cévennes to Alès and Nîmes. On the way it crosses three of Charles Dombre's great curved stone viaducts.

Three trains a day run the whole way in each direction. They are regional trains, second class only, with no reservation needed.

The train leaves Clermont-Ferrand south up the Allier, past Issoire and the Romanesque town of Brioude, and at Saint-Georges-d'Aurac leaves the line to Le Puy behind. From Langeac the valley closes in. For the next 67 kilometres, to Langogne, the track runs on a ledge cut into the side of the gorges of the Allier, through tunnels and over viaducts, with the river below and in places nothing but the railway in sight; Monistrol-d'Allier, Alleyras and Chapeauroux are small stations deep in the gorge.

Over the top

At Langogne the valley opens out, and the line follows the Allier up to La Bastide - Saint-Laurent-les-Bains, at about 1,020 metres the highest point of the journey, where the branch to Mende leaves. Here the train crosses the line between the waters that flow to the Atlantic and those that flow to the Mediterranean, and begins the long descent of the Cévennes: over the Altier viaduct, whose lower arches have stood in the Villefort lake since 1965, to Villefort and Génolhac, then round the horseshoe of the Chamborigaud viaduct and down through the old coal country of La Grand-Combe to Alès. The last 46 kilometres, to Nîmes, are double track across the plain of the Gardon.

The train

The Cévenol was a train of Corail coaches, through from Paris to Marseille, from 1979 to 2007; since 1 January 2018 it has been a regional train. The Région Occitanie's daily train each way is usually a Régiolis unit with the line's stations written along its sides, and TER Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes runs the other two. All three are second class only.

Until Thursday 5 November 2026 there is no through train: coaches replace it between Langeac and Génolhac, and the journey takes about six and a half hours. From 6 November three trains a day run the whole way in each direction. No reservation is needed, and all are second class.

Clermont-Ferrand to Nîmes

Nîmes to Clermont-Ferrand

These are the times from 13 December 2026. Between 6 November and 12 December they differ by a few minutes. The weekday morning train does not run on public holidays. All trains also call at Clermont-La Pardieu, Issoire, Brassac-les-Mines, Arvant, Monistrol-d'Allier, Alleyras, Chapeauroux, La Grand-Combe and Saint-Geniès-de-Malgoirès; most also call at Saint-Georges-d'Aurac, Luc and Chamborigaud.

Times as of October 2026, from SNCF's timetable as carried by ÖBB's journey planner, checked day by day from 18 October 2026 to 15 January 2027. Check your date on SNCF Connect (opens in a new tab).

Tickets are sold by SNCF, on SNCF Connect (opens in a new tab), from the machines at the stations and at staffed ticket offices, for the whole line or any part of it. These are regional TER trains: there is no reservation and no seat number, so board and sit where there is room. Every seat is second class.

TER tickets bought on SNCF Connect can be refunded up to the day before travel, and bicycles travel free within the space available. Checked October 2026.

Interrail and Eurail passes are valid, with no reservation and no supplement. Interrail's table of railway companies lists SNCF's regional TER trains, liO in Occitanie among them, in both the Global Pass and the One Country Pass for France, with no reservation except on certain trains in Normandy and the Grand Est. With a pass, simply board.

A pass pays if this is one day of a longer trip through France. For the Cévenol alone, compare a travel day of the pass with the fare SNCF quotes for your date.

Checked October 2026 against Interrail's table of railway companies (opens in a new tab).

With three trains a day each way, a stop on the way costs a few hours, not a day. Brioude, Langogne, Villefort and Alès all have stations on the line, and Monistrol-d'Allier is a halt in the gorges.

The journey fits in a morning or an afternoon. Langogne, at the top of the gorges and close to Stevenson's route, is the place to break it.

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