Forbach is the largest city in the former coalfield (now Valley Rosselle). It has 22,432 inhabitants and about 85,000 in the urban community (Forbach Porte de France). It is, after Metz, Thionville and Montigny-les-Metz, the 4th largest city in the department of Moselle. Highway A320 is tangent to the municipality, placing it 45 minutes from Metz, Strasbourg or 1:15 1:05 Nancy. The ICE DB (the German high speed train of Deutsche Bahn) allows Forbach be at 1:45 am only 2 hours from Paris and Frankfurt am Main.