The station is the main railway interchange in Aquitaine and links Bordeaux to Paris, Sète, Toulouse Matabiau and Spain.

The station building is situated in the centre of Bordeaux at the end of the Cours de la Marne, and has a large metallic trainshed, built by Gustave Eiffel.

[1] A long metal viaduct, built by Gustave Eiffel in 1860, allowed trains to cross the river and progressively Bordeaux-Saint-Jean became the Bordeaux main station, needing larger infrastructures.

It includes a large metallic trainshed 56 m wide and covers 17,000 m2, one of the largest in Europe, conceived Daidé&Pillé and constructed by G.

The association was made in the hope that a high speed service could connect the two stations, and was announced at a ceremony headed by Claude Solard, Director General of SNCF.