Gare de la Part-Dieu (literally "Property of God" railway station) is the primary railway station of Lyon's Central Business District in France. It belongs to the Paris-Lyon-Marseille railway. Train services are mainly operated by SNCF with frequent TGV high-speed and TER regional services as well as Eurostar and Deutsche Bahn. Lyon's second railway station, Gare de Lyon-Perrache, is located in the south of the historical centre. History Originally opened in 1859 as a freight station, the station was constructed in 1978 as part of the new Part-Dieu urban neighborhood project. As the planners intended Part-Dieu to act as a second city center for Lyon, the large train station was built in conjunction with a shopping center (the largest in France), a major government office complex, and the tallest skyscraper in the region, nicknamed Le Crayon (The Pencil) due to its shape. Before the construction of the Gare de la Part-Dieu, the neighborhood was served by the Gare des Brotteaux. It closed in 1982 and its operations were absorbed into this station. While Part-Dieu is routinely the busiest, five other stations operate in Lyon: Perrache (in the city center), Lyon-Vaise, Saint-Paul, Gorge de Loup, and Jean Macé Station. In spring 2018, major reconstruction and refurbishment works began to rebuild the entire station and its near surroundings by 2022. As of December 2018, the former entrance building has been already partly torn down. Traffic The station has significantly surpassed its initial traffic expectations, from a moderate 35,000 passengers a day in 1983 to 80,000 passengers on 500 trains a day in 2001. Because of the increased traffic, the station was renovated from 1995–2001 to increase the number of platforms and alter the exterior. In 2010, the station served roughly 51.1 million passengers, approaching 140,000 for an average weekday. Local transportation Lyon Part-Dieu has direct access to the Lyon Metro (line B) and tramways T1, T3, and T4. Part-Dieu is also connected to Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport via the dedicated Rhônexpress tram service. Rail connections Part-Dieu is a significant railway hub, connected to the French (SNCF) and international rail networks. From the many lines that run through Lyon, Part-Dieu is directly connected to Paris, Marseille, Valence, Saint-Étienne, Nice, Montpellier, Perpignan, Barcelona, Rouen, Roissy, Lille, Brussels, Geneva, Tours, mulhouse , belfort , Metz, Strasbourg, Nantes, Rennes, Grenoble, Avignon, Aix-en-Provence, Le Havre, le mans , Karlsruhe, Frankfurt, Milan, Turin, London. Part-Dieu also has connections to Paris