The train was named after the Lille born governor of Senegal, General Louis Faidherbe.
[1] One year before the creating of the TEE-network the French railway SNCF introduced three Trains d'affaires to link Paris with the industrial area in the North near the Belgian border.
This trains were scheduled with a morning, midday and evening service in both directions.
In 1959 these were replaced by locomotive hauled trains consisting of Corail coaches.
The morning service pair was named Faidherbe, departing 7:01 from Lille and 7:30 from Paris.