The LGV Méditerranée (French: Ligne à Grande Vitesse; English: Mediterranean high-speed line) is a French high-speed rail line running between Saint-Marcel-lès-Valence, Drôme and Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, also featuring a connection to Nîmes, Gard (west of the line). It connects the regions of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and Occitanie to the LGV Rhône-Alpes, and from there to Lyon and the north of France. Construction costs rose to €3.8 billion; the line entered service in June 2001 following an inauguration by President Jacques Chirac. The commencement of service on this line has led to a reversal of the respective airplane and train markets: by making Marseille reachable in three hours from Paris—a distance of over —the train now handles two-thirds of all journeys on that route. LGVs Méditerranée, Rhône-Alpes and Sud-Est, when completed, also received their official nickname, the City To Coast (C2C) Highway ("Ville à la Mer"). Route The LGV Méditerranée begins in the southeast at Saint-Marcel-lès-Valence, as the extension of the LGV Rhône-Alpes. The new Gare de Valence TGV lies at the interchange with the regular Valence-Grenoble line, allowing rapid connections towards Valence, Romans-sur-Isère and Grenoble. At Crest, an emergency link is provided to the Briançon-Loriol line. The LGV then approaches the Rhône, rejoining the A7 autoroute at Montélimar. After crossing the Canal de Donzère-Mondragon, the line connects to the regular network by an emergency link situated between Pierrelatte and Lapalud. Spanning the Rhône three times (twice at Mornas, once north of Roquemaure), the LGV continues to Angles, where a triangle allows access to the southwest and southeast. The southwest branch is generally thought of as the beginning of a future LGV Languedoc-Roussillon, joining the regular Avignon-Nîmes line later at Redessan and since 2017 the LGV Nîmes-Montpellier. The southeast branch crosses the Rhône again on two parallel viaducts and serves the new Avignon-TGV station, then follows the Durance which it crosses at Orgon. At Ventabren, a viaduct extends across the A8 autoroute, the D10 and the Canal de Provence. The line then dives southward, serving the new Aix-en-Provence-TGV station, traverses the long Tunnel de Marseille and re-joins the regular network at the entry to Marseille. Stations Gare de Valence TGV at Saint-Marcel-lès-Valence; a unique two-level station (below, TGVs; above, TERs) which allows rapid connections towards Valence, Grenoble and Romans-sur-Isère Gare d'Avignon TGV south of Avignon; its proximity to the city centre has ensured its popularity. An enhancement to the station allowed it to