Paris–Briançon Night Train

Four of this railway's tunnels lie at the bottom of a lake.

The line from Veynes to Briançon was finished in 1884 along the floor of the Durance valley. In the 1950s the valley below Embrun was dammed at Serre-Ponçon, and before the water rose the railway was moved up the hillside onto a new route of fourteen and a half kilometres, with five new tunnels, opened in 1960. The old track, four of its thirteen tunnels and the village of Ubaye went under the reservoir. When the water is low, the arches of a viaduct built for a branch that was never finished still come up out of it.

The night train from Paris runs above all of this. It leaves Austerlitz at about nine in the evening as an ordinary Intercités de nuit, with couchettes and reclining seats; at Valence two diesel locomotives take over for the last stretch, a single unelectrified track that climbs past Gap, along the shore of the lake, by Embrun and the fortress of Mont-Dauphin, and up the gorges of the Durance. It reaches Briançon, the highest city in France, at about half past eight the next morning. In 2016, when most of France's night trains were being withdrawn, the State chose to keep this one.

The train leaves from Paris-Austerlitz, the station of France's night trains. Southbound it takes on passengers only in Paris: few or no stops break the night between midnight and half past five, and the first call is Veynes-Dévoluy, just after six in the morning.

Into the mountains

The mountain line proper begins at Veynes. Past the junction the train drops into Gap, the main town of the Hautes-Alpes, and runs on to Chorges. Here it leaves its original route, which now lies under the Lake of Serre-Ponçon, and follows the diversion of 1960 along the hillside above the water, through three tunnels, before rejoining the old line and reaching Embrun on its rock above the Durance. On a summer morning this is the first long view of the day.

Up the Durance

Above Embrun the valley narrows between dark shale and opens again at Montdauphin-Guillestre, under Vauban's fortress on its plateau. The line turns north towards the Pelvoux massif, calls at L'Argentière-les-Écrins, the stop for the Vallouise valley, and climbs on gradients of 25 per thousand through the gorges of the Durance, a run of tunnels and viaducts, to Briançon at 1,203 metres. The track ends there.

The trains

The coaches are SNCF's Corail stock, refurbished for the night services: second-class seats, six-berth second-class couchettes and four-berth first-class couchettes. As far as Valence the train runs on electrified main lines; the mountain line has no wires, so at Valence a pair of BB 75000 diesels takes it the rest of the way, as a pair of BB 67400s did in the 1980s.

Northbound, the train leaves Briançon just before eight in the evening and picks up along the line, then down the Drôme at Die and Crest, reaching Paris before eight the next morning.

Until 12 December 2026, most nights run as a coach, not a train. Track work near Livron-sur-Drôme and the renewal of points around Valence close the route at night this autumn, and on those nights SNCF runs replacement coaches from Paris-Austerlitz to Briançon, at about the train's times. From Sunday 13 December 2026 the train runs every night in both directions, except the nights of 24 and 31 December. One train each way, reservation compulsory.

Paris to Briançon — train 5789

Southbound the train picks up only in Paris and sets down only in the mountains. This winter it does not call at Crest, Die or Chorges.

Briançon to Paris — train 5790

Northbound it picks up along the line and sets down only in Paris. On a few nights the arrival is 07:55.

Times as of October 2026, from SNCF's timetable as carried by ÖBB's journey planner, checked night by night from 13 December 2026 to 6 January 2027, and SNCF's works calendar for the line (opens in a new tab). Book and check your date on SNCF Connect (opens in a new tab).

Tickets are sold by SNCF, on SNCF Connect (opens in a new tab), at stations and by phone, and every place is reserved: a reclining seat in second class, a berth in a six-berth second-class couchette, or one in a four-berth first-class couchette, where you can ask for an upper or a lower bunk. Fares move with the date and demand, and sales usually open about four months ahead; booking early is the way to the lower prices. A whole compartment can be booked privately, from €150 in second class and €180 in first.

SNCF's Cartes Avantages, at €49, take up to 30% off night-train fares. Prices as of October 2026.

Interrail and Eurail passes are valid, with a reservation. Interrail's table of railway companies lists the Intercités de Nuit among SNCF's trains covered by both the Global Pass and the One Country Pass for France, with reservations compulsory. The reservation costs extra:

The couchette price varies with the season. Pass holders get a limited number of places on each train, so reserve as soon as booking opens, up to 90 days ahead, through Interrail's reservation service (€2 per person per train) or SNCF's phone line.

A pass pays if the night train is one leg of a longer trip. For this journey alone, compare the reservation fee plus 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) and its Intercités de Nuit page (opens in a new tab).

The train sets down at six stations in the mountains, and every one is a way in: two of Vauban's fortresses, a cathedral town, a lake, and the valleys of the Écrins and Serre Chevalier. Vallouise lies up a side valley from L'Argentière-les-Écrins station.

The train is the first night's bed. Briançon, at the end of the line, has the widest choice for the nights that follow, in the lower town near the station and the lifts.

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