Gare d'Austerlitz (English: Austerlitz station), officially Paris Austerlitz, is one of the seven large Paris railway terminal stations. The station is located on the left bank of the Seine in the southeastern part of the city, in the 13th arrondissement. It is the start of the Paris–Bordeaux railway; the line to Toulouse is connected to this line. In 1997, the Ministry of Culture designated the Gare d'Austerlitz a historical monument; it became the fifth large railway station in Paris to receive such a label, as currently only Montparnasse has not been attributed it.
Since the opening of the LGV Atlantiqueending at Gare MontparnasseAusterlitz has lost most of its long-distance southwestern services. It is used by some 30 million passengers annually, about half the number passing through Montparnasse. The Elipsos night trains operated jointly by Renfe and SNCF operated from here to Madrid and Barcelona from 2001 to 2013. With the start of a direct TGV from Paris to Barcelona, on 15 December 2013, these services were discontinued.
History
1840 station
thumb|left|Gare d'Orléans in 1843.
The Gare d'Austerlitz was the main station in Paris for the Paris-Orléans (PO) company and was originally called the Gare d'Orléans station. The station is near the Quai d'Austerlitz, and the bridge that gives it its name. These were named after the Czech town once known as Austerlitz (today Slavkov u Brna). Napoleon I defeated the Third Coalition there on 2 December 1805 at the Battle of Austerlitz.
Built from 1838, the first platform was built slightly back from the current location of the station by the architect Félix-Emmanuel Callet and began service on 20 September 1840, on the occasion of the opening of the Paris-Corbeil line, which was extended to Orléans in May 1843. Part of the rue Poliveau was cut by this construction, and another part, located near the Seine, took the name of rue Jouffroy.
The first expansion took place in 1846.
1867 station
thumb|left|Gare d'Austerlitz in 1883.
Once demolished, the station was rebuilt between 1862 and 1869, It included a large iron train shed, wide and long (the second largest in France after Bordeaux), designed by Ferdinand Mathieu and carried out by the construction workshops of Schneider & Co at Le Creusot and Chalon-sur-Saône.
On 28 February 1997, parts of the Gare d'Austerlitz were classified as monuments historiques, especially its facades and glass roof.