A Look Around At Gare de Toulouse-Matabiau (Railway Station), France

Toulouse-Matabiau is the main railway station in Toulouse, southern France. It is located in the city centre and connected to the Toulouse Metro. The station is situated on the Bordeaux–Sète railway, Toulouse–Bayonne railway, Brive-Toulouse (via Capdenac) railway and Toulouse-Auch railway. Direct trains run to most parts of France. Toulouse waited until the middle of the 19th century for the railway to arrive in the city. In 1853, Émile Pereire and his brother Jacob founded the CF du Midi. Three years later, the line from Bordeaux to Toulouse was opened, it was extended to Sète in 1857. The current passenger building was built between 1903 and 1905, replacing an older and smaller building. The station took the name of the borough it was situated in, an area called Matabiau, named after the martyrdom of Saint Saturnin, mata-bios meaning kill the bull. It was designed by Marius Toudoire (who also designed Bordeaux Station) and was built with stone from the Roman city of Saintes. Like the Midi station in Bordeaux, Matabiau station bears 26 coats of arms on the front of the building of the 26 destinations that Midi served. Some work was carried out on the building in 1938 prior to it being listed. The station is centred on two main concourses at the front of the station directly linked to each other, with ticket offices, shops and cafés. Underpasses link these concourses to the platforms. The station is connected to the underground Marengo SNCF station on Line A of the Toulouse Metro, accessible from inside and just outside the station.