[2] The opening of the LGV Atlantique high speed line from Paris to Tours in 1989 has decreased the importance of this section of the line for passenger traffic; the opening of the LGV Sud Europe Atlantique in 2017 has seen all long distance passenger trains migrating to that line and leaving space for more regional and local trains, as well as freight trains.

It passes through Blois and Amboise, and crosses the Loire at Montlouis-sur-Loire, an eastern suburb of Tours.

The railway turns south again, crosses the rivers Cher and Indre, and follows the right Vienne bank upstream beyond Maillé.

At Châtellerault it crosses the Vienne and continues upstream along the river Clain, through the city Poitiers.

It reaches the right Garonne bank at Bassens, and crosses the river at Cenon, entering its terminus Bordeaux-Saint-Jean station after a total length of 584 km.

At the occasion of the 1900 Exposition Universelle the Gare d'Orsay was opened as the new terminus, with a more central location.