[This is an EXCERPT: read the whole article here. -Ed.]

For almost 50 years, no train has stopped at the station of Bazancourt. A village in the Champagne region of France with just under 2,000 inhabitants, it was cut off from the railway network after the second world war and lay forgotten.

As France roared into a new era of high-speed train travel - or train à grande vitesse (TGV) as it is known in France - that linked up big cities, the provinces were left out in the cold.

As of 1 September, twelve trains from the regional network will stop at its modernised platforms every day and the locals are claiming victory in what they have called the "battle of Bazancourt".

From Provence to the outskirts of Paris, disused lines are being reactivated, small town stations reopened and new networks built.

At the same time, in a summer of soaring petrol prices and plummeting spending power, many French people are starting to make changes to the way they move around. Fuel consumption is down. For the first time in 30 years, car use is down as well.

Photo credit: David Baron