TGV Marks 25 Years

It has woken sleepy provincial towns, shrunk the map of France and even promises to matchmake lonely passengers. France's high-speed train, the TGV, is 25 today amid a scramble for cheap fares and a bout of soul-searching about the glory of French technology and the new generation of travellers dubbed La France TGV.

This weekend trainspotters and fans will gather near the Eiffel tower for a vast birthday party after 50,000 celebration €5 train tickets yesterday sold out in an hour. Frank Bernard, the director-general of TGV (Train á Grande Vitesse) said it was all part of his desire to build a "community and create a certain TGV way of life". Around 1.2 billion people have travelled on the trains that travel at 186mph across the country, cutting journey time from Paris to the Mediterranean to around three hours. There are trials of 220mph trains, routes are being extended east to Holland, Germany, Spain and Italy, and a faster London-Paris service is planned.

The TGV "way of life" also includes a service launched recently where those buying tickets online can pay extra to match their profile and interests to other passengers who they can chat up on the journey. Marketed as a classier option than the online dating favoured by France's growing singles market, Mr Bernard says: "It's a kind of laboratory, a test for the future, to make train travel more sociable."

But amid the backslapping, some have suggested the celebrations illustrate France's social divide.

The sociologist Jean Viard said the TGV had changed the relationship between Paris and its regions. "Since the launch of the TGV the population has grown everywhere but big towns and the fast train has had the positive effect of people from the city moving out into the provinces. The Languedoc region, for example, currently sees 1,000 new inhabitants a month.

"But when people talk about La France TGV - these are the top half of society, the educated and better off. People in the poor Paris suburbs aren't using the TGV, nor are those in rural places like the Massif Central. You don't see immigrants on the TGV, it's mostly white - it's just like beaches in France, you only see a certain slice of France represented.

"The poorer parts of French society aren't mobile, and the future of the TGV is to become more democratic, lower prices and redress the balance as society deals with its ghettos.

"It is no coincidence that cars were burnt during the suburban riots: these are ghettos where people don't move or travel, they stay put."

But most of those who will gather around TGV carriages are agreed on one thing: the train is aesthetic. Chantal Montellier, an artist and novelist, created the first TGV-inspired literature last year when she published TGV: Railway Conversations, a collection of stories inspired by what she overheard on board.