About this journey

Nice-Ville station, opened in 1864 and completed in 1867 for the PLM railway, was designed by architect Louis-Jules Bouchot in Louis XIII style, with Arles stone sculptures and a forged steel rooftop that the building has kept through successive remodelling. The station once served as terminus for some of the most celebrated trains in Europe — among them the Côte d'Azur Pullman Express, the Blue Train, and the Mistral. Today it is the departure point for unhurried regional services running east along the Ligne de Marseille-Saint-Charles à Vintimille (frontière), since the high-speed network extends no further than Marseille Saint-Charles and all trains beyond run at conventional speed.

The line is electrified at 25 kV 50 Hz AC, yet Ventimiglia station itself operates at 1.5 kV DC, while the Italian network beyond runs at 3 kV DC — three incompatible systems meeting at a single border crossing. Multi-system traction is therefore a practical necessity on this corridor. Ventimiglia station, first opened at the end of 1871 and renamed an international station in 1882, handles the handover between French and Italian operations from a point roughly 9 kilometres inside Italy. Its current passenger building, designed by architect Roberto Narducci in Italian rationalist style — one of 40 stations he designed — receives the SNCF Regio 2N at the end of a crossing that moves from Riviera glamour to the quiet mechanics of a frontier railway.