Trains to and from Strasbourg Airport (SXB)

Strasbourg Airport is a public establishment located just ten kilometres from the city centre of Strasbourg, and in the Alsace region of France. Over a million passengers travel through the airport every year, and it is a popular arrival point for thousands of tourists. The airport has the official IATA code of SXB, and the airline companies of Air France, Royal Air Maroc, Brussels Airlines and Iberia offer a large variety of destinations. For arriving passengers ground transport is available. There is train station at the airport for connections to the main railway station in the city, and buses take passengers to the Baggersee tram station. The trains are one of the quickest ways to reach the city centre of Strasbourg.

The airport consists of a terminal covering a total surface area of 21,000 square metres, and it has all the facilities that can be expected at an airport of this size. There is a business centre, a variety of shops and restaurants, free WiFi connections, tour operators and ATMs. Outside the terminal’s arrival area buses leave for the Baggersee tram station, and nearby to the facilities is the Entzheim Train Station, or the Strasbourg Airport Train Station. The train station is just a five minute walk from the terminal, and is now linked to the airport by a covered pedestrian walkway. Trains arrive at this station at regular intervals, and are a convenient way to reach the city centre of Strasbourg.

Airport Trains

Entzheim Train Station is served by a commuter train which arrives approximately every fifteen minutes, i.e. about four times an hour. The train travels to the Strasbourg main station, or the Gare de Strasbourg, in just nine minutes. The airport trains run on weekdays from 05:20 to 21:55, on Saturdays from 05:30 to 22:30 and on Sundays from 08:15 to 21:55. During off-peak hours their frequencies may be less. Passengers can purchase a multi-model ticket that is valid on the TER Aeroport and the Strasbourg Tram to any point in the Urban Community of Strasbourg, or the CUS. The train tickets will cost just 3.80 Euro.

The Strasbourg Train Station

The Gare de Strasbourg is one of the largest and most important train stations in France, and is located at 20 Place de la Gare, nearby the city centre of Strasbourg. The station is on the Paris-Strasbourg line, the Strasbourg-Basel line and the Appenweier-Strasbourg railway. It is also the eastern terminus of the Paris-Strasbourg line, and from where trains to a great variety of destinations are available.

Strasbourg Train Station was opened in 1846, and was then rebuilt in 1883. In recent years further improvements have been made to the station, including a new glass cocoon frontage. Another important development for the station is the connection to TGV train services, which came about in 2007. Passengers can now travel to Paris in just two hours and twenty minutes, opposed to the previous four hours of travel time. The journey time between Strasbourg and many other European cities have been greatly reduced as well. The new train service is known as the TGV Est Européen. Although this high speed line is wonderful for train travellers, it has had a negative effect on the number of passengers which make use of Strasbourg Airport. A new LGV Rhin Rhône line opens in late 2011 as well, which is expected to further reduce traffic at the airport. In the early 2000’s the airport had almost or over two million passengers per year, but now traffic is recorded at only just over a million per annum.

The Strasbourg Train Station has various facilities, including places to eat such as the Brasserie Maître Kanter, restrooms, lost and found offices and public telephones. There is also a tourist office outside of the station. The station has good connections to the city’s bus and tram lines as well.

At least nine trains a day are available to Strasbourg from Paris, and about thirteen trains a day travel between Strasbourg and Nancy, which is just over an hour’s journey. The TGV train services connect Strasbourg to Mulhouse in just under an hour, to Basel in Switzerland in an hour and ten minutes, to Stuttgart, Germany, in an hour and twenty minutes, to Munich in three hours and forty minutes, to Lille in three hours, to Rennes in five hours and fifteen minutes, to Bordeaux in just less than seven hours and to Nantes in just over five hours. Other main line services travel to Lyon, Luxembourg, Avignon and Nice, and the TER Alsace regional train services provide a connection to Colmar, Mulhouse, Haguenau, Metz, Nancy, Saint-Dié-des-Vosges and Offenburg.

Further details and schedules regarding the Strasbourg trains can be found at http://www.ter.sncf.com/alsace. The main website of the French railway services is found at http://www.sncf.com.