Talk:History of rail transport in France

Untitled

'France's railways form a somewhat unusual case in that they have never sufferred private ownership.'

'Sufferred' is just a little bit POV, isn't it? Aren't you lucky I'm not a free market zealot, or I would have you banned from editing wikipedia ever again!

Hard to read

Am I the only one who finds this article very hard to read? I propose putting a clean-up tag on it. /Dunord 02:41, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

second this, there is an issue with lack of sources, or all the sources behing paywalled. 74.64.59.57 (talk) 12:45, 7 July 2017 (UTC)

too reduced on the ownership controverse

This article fixed its eyes today too much on the private-public-ownership controverse. Some of the arguments are not completely correct, e.g. regarding the distance between Lyon and Clermont-Ferrand. (If interested, look into my German translation). There is much more to tell about: Its network roll-out, the achieving of high places or crossing of the alpes, the used technique for signals and locomotives, its pricing-system, why it has been sucessful during a period, when British, German and other railroadsystems needed government beneficiaries, why it has been much quicker in erecting a highspeed network than others, the role of SNCF during worldwar II regarding the deportation of jews and concerning the French resistance. There is still room for improvement. --Rosa Lux 12:42, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

Tourist railways?

I am disappointed that there is no mention of the fact that France has many privately-run railways as tourist attractions. There seems no mention of them - and yet are some are quite sizeable: I have just returned from travelling on the Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme for example and I see that, according to my guide book the Chemins de Fer de Provence (150km Nice to Digne, is a private operator. Peter Shearan 16:14, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

Articles have been created for the CFBS and Réseau des Bains de Mer. Mjroots (talk) 08:27, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

Quelle histoire?

I can't believe that this article, titled "History of rail transport in France", does not state WHERE (or even WHEN, with any reliability - 1832 having no citation) was the FIRST French railway! Surely it's the first thing to include, ne c'est pa? But oh no... for that little snippet one has to search for Wiki article Timeline of rail transport, where one eventually finds "1837 - The first line in France opened between Le Pecq near the former royal town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Embarcadère des Bâtignoles (later to become Gare Saint-Lazare)". What - the line had no name? Come on! Railway companies always have names. Does this article mention anything about the line, to shed some light here or there? No, no mention of 1837 at all. Years, names, etc. are actually very few here. This "history" article needs some basic early FACTS toute suite! Its first section called "Beginnings" really just describes (in huge length) why it did NOT begin the (quote) "main French railway system" until 1842. The first 90% reads more like a professorial treatise on the politics and economics of planning a national system (using France as the example), or a PhD thesis prepared after having read the 7 books listed at the end. Or maybe 2/3rds cut-&-pasted from a dusty shelf. Who knows? To check any one fact in the entire article you'd have to read though all 7 books! Was "the first French railway in 1832" correct (the article's opening line), or did the first line open in 1837? I'm none the wiser. A really, really annoying article. Pete Hobbs (talk) 04:00, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:History of rail transport in France/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

This article seems rather basic to me. It contains some misleading references to French history - eg the Napoleonic wars were over well before railways were available. It is also misleading re the history of railways elsewhere, eg Belgium did not exist in 1832, so the reference needs more explanation. This is the first time I have alighted on the page, and will endeavour to write a clearer version of the introductory parts if no-one else wishes to do so. Barneyboot (talk) 18:05, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

Last edited at 18:05, 7 March 2008 (UTC). Substituted at 18:02, 29 April 2016 (UTC)