Genève-Cornavin railway station

Genève-Cornavin
File:Gare de Cornavin, entrée principale.jpg The entrance to the station building
Location	Place de Cornavin, 1201 Geneva, Geneva Switzerland
Coordinates
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 (1858)
Rebuilt	1931 (1931)
Location
Genève-Cornavin Genève-Cornavin (Switzerland)

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.

The Swiss Federal Rail plan that the new extension will be finished by 2025.

In April 2013, an initiative is launch in order to claim the extension under the station by the "Collectif 500" a neighborhood association.

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 - Chambery - 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
Geneva Airport Terminus		SBB-CFF-FFS		Yverdon-les-Bains toward Basel SBB
Geneva Airport Terminus		SBB-CFF-FFS		Yverdon-les-Bains toward St. Gallen
Geneva Airport Terminus		SBB-CFF-FFS		Nyon toward Brig
Terminus		SBB-CFF-FFS		Lausanne toward Luzern
Terminus		SBB-CFF-FFS		Coppet toward Vevey
Terminus		SBB-CFF-FFS		Romont toward Vevey
Terminus		SBB-CFF-FFS		Geneve-Secheron toward Coppet
Vernier toward La Plaine		SBB-CFF-FFS		Terminus
Preceding station		SNCF		Following station
Bellegarde toward Paris-Lyon		TGV		Terminus
Bellegarde toward Nice-Ville		TGV		Terminus
Bellegarde toward Montpellier-St-Roch		TGV		Terminus
Lyon-Part-Dieu toward Hendaye		Intercités night trains		Terminus
Terminus		TER Rhône-Alpes 2		Bellegarde toward Valence-Ville
Bellegarde toward Lyon-Part-Dieu		TER Rhône-Alpes 3		Terminus
Cointrin toward Bellegarde		TER Rhône-Alpes 34		Terminus
Terminus		TER Rhône-Alpes 51		Bellegarde toward Chambéry

Gallery

• Geneva Cornavin 2.JPG

  Geneva Cornavin station from Platform 7

See also

• SBB-CFF-FFS

External links

• Swiss Railway — trains to and from Cornavin
• Les principaux éléments historiques en relation avec CEVA (French)