Auray – Quiberon railway line

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Auray-Quiberon
A “corkscrew” on the isthmus near Penthièvre
Overview map
Route number (SNCF) :	473,000
Course book route (SNCF) :	362
Route length:	27 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Maximum slope :	15  ‰
Top speed:	60 km / h
Legend Kilometers from Paris-Austerlitz via Orléans and Nantes Savenay – Landerneau railway from Vannes 584.9 Auray ⊙ (37 m) 585.8 Savenay – Landerneau railway to Lorient 586.5 Route national 165 / Europastraße 60 591.6 Belz - Ploemel (30 m) 598.1 Plouharnel - Carnac ⊙ (22 m) La Trinité – Étel tram to Étel and La Trinité Loading ramp (1940-1944) Coastal battery Bégot (1940-1944) 601.7 Les Sables-Blancs 603.7 Penthièvre 605.0 L'Isthme ⊙ (8 m) 606.2 Kerhostin (10 m) 607.9 Saint-Pierre-Quiberon (16 m) Firing range for railway guns 612.1 Quiberon ⊙ (14 m) to Belle-Île , Houat and Hœdic

The Auray – Quiberon railway is a French standard-gauge, single-track line that branches off from the Savenay – Landerneau railway. It runs from the train station in the city of Auray to the Quiberon peninsula on the south coast of Brittany and lies entirely in the Morbihan department .

The connection was planned and built by the Chemins de fer de l'État (État), but opened and operated in 1882 by the Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans (PO). Today management is in the hands of the SNCF .

In 1972 passenger traffic was limited to summer and two trains per day.

The route was restarted in 1985 in order to reduce the chronic traffic jam on the only road between the peninsula and the mainland. It was a railcar operation and introduced a flat rate, jointly organized by the Region Bretagne and SNCF under the TER Brittany . The name of the offer refers directly to the "bottleneck" that the trains are supposed to expand: "Tire-Bouchon", "Corkscrew". This traffic only exists in the holiday months of July and August. For the rest of the year, buses from Transports Réseau interurbains du Morbihan (TIM) will take over operations.

history

overview

• July 15, 1879: Decision of principle ("déclaration d'utilité publique")
• 23/24 July 1882: opening
• June 28, 1883: Official transfer from the État to the PO
• March 6, 1972: End of regional traffic
• July 1, 1985: Introduction of the "corkscrew"
• February 1988: End of freight traffic

Planning and construction

In the Second Empire , the development of the railway network was promoted with various rules and laws. A law of July 12, 1865 named the state as responsible for the railways of national interest, while the départements were responsible for the local lines and were allowed to grant concessions.

In connection with this development of the local lines, a ministerial decision of April 26, 1877 (now in the Third Republic ) established the positive outcome of an investigation of a railway line from Auray to Quiberon. It was laid out from July 2 to August 3, 1877 in Vannes and Lorient . Public interest in the line was declared by the General Council of the Morbihan Department in 1878, when chief engineer De Froissy presented the preliminary plans. The line is strategically important as it connects the Quiberon peninsula to the PO network. At 27 km two railway stations and two more stops were provided a stop in Ploemel , a railway station in Plouharnel , who also Carnac is to use a stop in Kerhostin and a railway terminal in Quiberon, which is located so that it both the harbor Port -Haliguen (in the east of the village) and the port of Port-Maria (in the southwest). 8,000 francs were made available for further research and planning . The Ministry of Economics and War concluded the investigation on May 18, 1879. The line has two goals. Economically, it makes it possible to sell fishery products and salt. Militarily, it makes it easier to move artillery for defense to the peninsula and from there to the offshore islands, in particular the Belle-Île . In the law of July 17, 1879 called the “ Freycinet Plan ”, 181 new railway lines were established in the supplementary network, including this line as No. 67. The law with the building permit was published on July 15, 1879. The construction costs were estimated at 3,600,000 francs.

Arrival on the peninsula from driver's cab view with rock cut and embankment.

In February 1880, the État began construction. The simple profile did not contain any engineering structures . The main construction work consisted of a rock cut at the beginning of the peninsula, which is followed by a dam over a wetland, a cut at Ploemel and an embankment at the narrow point on the land bridge. In contrast to the preliminary planning, four stations were created, Belz-Ploemel , Plouharnel-Carnac , Saint-Pierre-Quiberon and Quiberon . The stop at Kerhostin was replaced by the train station in Saint-Pierre. In June 1882 the work came to an end and the État negotiated with the PO about the management. On June 22, the PO was commissioned to operate the line , which was removed from other lines of the État , for the time being. The lift opened on July 23rd and 24th. A contract was signed on June 28, 1883 and confirmed by law on November 20, 1883, which finally handed over the route to the PO .

opening

Quiberon station, street side, postcard from 1900.

Quiberon station, track side, postcard, early 20th century

The magazine l'Avenir du Morbihan républicain reported on the opening ceremony on July 26, 1882. When the weather was fine, those invited got on the train at Vannes station that was to take them to Auray. Mention is made of Côme Dufraise, the prefect of Morbihan, advisors from the prefecture and engineers from the department. The station and the opening train were decorated in the colors of the republic. At the level crossings and the stations of Ploemel and Plouharnel people cheered and greeted the train and tried to jump up; but only the mayors and their companions found space. This was repeated at the station of Saint-Pierre, shortly before the arrival in Quiberon, which was accompanied by cannon shots. The Belle-Île singers performed the national anthem . The banquet also took place in the new station, which was also decorated, after the Bishop of Vannes had blessed the locomotive. Lobster was eaten and champagne was drunk, followed by speeches by the Mayor of Quiberon, Allain, the Mayor of Carnac, Dr. Gressy, des conseiller général du canton (roughly comparable to a German district administrator) and the prefect. In the audience was the Inspector General of the PO for Brittany, Berthet. During the speeches, among other things, reference was made to the attempted landing in Quiberon in 1795 , the hope for new prosperity on the peninsula was expressed and the Minister of Transport Charles de Freycinet was thanked for the approval.

Military connections

In 1916, during World War I , a military branch was built at the southern end of the Saint-Pierre-Quiberon train station. There was a training area for railway guns .

From 1940 to 1944 the Todt Organization used this railway line for work on the Atlantic Wall . At the entrance to the peninsula, a gun battery (Batterie de Bégot , also de Plouharnel ) with a siding was built. In order to meet the high demand for sand and gravel for the concrete of the fortifications, including for the submarine bunkers in Lorient , another connection was laid north of the first connection. It led to a loading ramp, which also connected to a field railway through the dunes of Plouharnel and Erdeven . This was where reloading was carried out between the railroad cars and the field railroad trucks. This area belonged to the pocket of Lorient, in which the German troops only surrendered on May 10, 1945 (see Battle of Brittany ).

passenger traffic

Kerhostin train station

Train at the Penthièvre stop around 1910

Under pressure from local politicians and the affected population, a “Kerostin” stop (still without an “h”) was provisionally created in 1891 and permanently set up the following year. At first it was only served on Sundays and public holidays. In 1927 a reception room was added to the gatekeeper's house. The stop in Penthièvre established in 1909 was also given a building in 1927.

A thin and hardly worthwhile offer

At the beginning a shuttle train was offered three times in each direction. His timetable was impractical and quickly led to complaints because, among other things, the first morning train and the last evening train in Auray would be missed. Such an offer is not sufficient to increase the number of guests.

Advertisement by PO, 1896. Among other things, Belle-Ile (accessible via Quiberon) is advertised.

At the beginning of the 1890s, the PO pulled the gatekeeper off the line because the traffic was too weak. In 1899, the Departmental Council asked the operator to offer seasonal traffic in June and to revise the timetables. The company replied that the number of passengers does not justify two additional journeys per day until July and that the timetables are limited by the needs of seafood transport. Shuttle traffic continued until 1906.

In the period that followed, there were regional trains, express trains, and spa and pleasure trains, and usage remained poor and hardly profitable. In 1934, a switch to road operation was planned. A "plan to coordinate rail and road", which had been drawn up by the "Comité technique départemental des transports du Morbihan" , was sent to the Minister of Transport on September 14, 1935. He envisaged rail operations only from mid-June to the end of September, and usage outside the tourist season was too weak. These considerations were not pursued further due to the Second World War and because of the use of the route by the occupiers. In 1949 the SNCF introduced direct connections with Paris via Nantes , in 1956 the offer consisted of three trains a day in winter, with three more trains coming during the holiday season.

Closure of passenger traffic in 1972 and attempts to reactivate it

The regional trains were discontinued on March 6, 1972. Nevertheless, the route for passenger was not fully closed, it was still to be operated only in the summer of two trains per day and direction, the one day train and one night train with coaches to and from Paris Montparnasse .

"Corkscrew" at Penthièvre

Road and rail north of the isthmus

At the beginning of the 1980s, tourism revived on the peninsula, mainly through beach holidaymakers, but also water sports and thalassotherapy. In addition, there are the users of the ship connections departing from Quiberon. The peninsula is only accessible by a two-lane road, which is chronically congested with 20,000 vehicles a day. In 1980, the Auray Regional Association took over the financing and organization of the two outward and return journeys a day to combat the traffic jam. Three or four cars on the long-distance train were used for this and ended eight years of quasi-closure of the line.

Introduction of the "corkscrew" 1985

In 1982, Charles Fiterman pushed through the reopening of four lines closed to passenger traffic. This initiative encouraged other regions to reopen their lines, in Brittany, Auray-Quiberon. In view of the blocked road to the peninsula, which should not be expanded, the politicians decided to set up a condensed railroad. The first such agreement in Brittany was signed between the SNCF and the Departmental Council. It was decided to use two SNCF-X-2100 railcars that run every hour. A uniform tariff made it easier to sell vending machines on the train and at other points of sale outside the stations. Two stops have been set up close to the coast: Les Sables Blancs near a campsite and L'Isthme on the isthmus of Penthièvre. Parking spaces have also been set up at three stops.

The new offer attracted a lot of public attention. The product name "Tire-bouchon" , "Corkscrew" , which alludes to the clogging in the "bottleneck" of the isthmus that it bypasses, also contributed to this. The trains ran from July 1 to August 31, 1985. The trains that only ran between Plouharnel and Quiberon were occupied by an average of 48 people, those from Auray to 60. In Auray there was a connection to Rennes and Paris. The train leaving Quiberon at 17:25 was regularly crowded with an average of 278 passengers, but in the morning the trains were empty. Due to the great demand, the offer was increased, and another railcar of the same type or an SNCF XR 6100 was used. As a result of the low price of F 5 per person per trip, the deficit was around F 600,000, of which the SNCF took over a third. While the route was operated by just one person in winter, the seasonal traffic required six employees, one of whom secured the crossings in Plouharnel.

Reinforcement after Auray 1992

TGV and “corkscrew” in Auray station

From 1992 the TGV Atlantique drove via Auray to Quimper , but all trips of the "corkscrew" were extended to Auray, where there is a connection to Paris. Modernized and larger X 4500 railcars were now used . They usually drive in three parts and, depending on the condition of the track, at 60 km / h. The day train to Paris was abandoned at the end of the 1996 season, the night train followed a few years later.

In 1999 the advertising was intensified, among other things 65,000 timetables were distributed to hotels and other tourist facilities, but also directly to drivers stuck in traffic. The offer comprised ten pairs of journeys per day in 1998 and eleven in 1999. The standard tariff was 15 F, a ten-card cost 120 F.

In 1990 60,000 passengers were counted, in 1996 63,000. For the 21st century, numbers between 95,000 and 130,000 passengers per season are given. Since 2008, the train has also been running the last two weekends in June and the first two in September. The standard tariff continues.

Freight transport

Since the opening of the line, fishery products have been sold via the line, which was also a motive for the construction of the line. Canned fish, especially sardines, were dispatched; but also salt and iodine. Wood that was felled on the peninsula was also loaded; English coal was supplied in the opposite direction for the canning factories. Freight traffic ended on February 1, 1988.

Route description

course

Plouharnel - Carnac, the only crossing station

The line leaves the Auray station together with the main Savenay – Landerneau line to the west, from which it branches off after about 600 m to the left, in a south-westerly direction. One track crosses a department road with a level crossing and the four-lane Route Nationale 165 on a bridge and reaches the highest point of the route at 41 m. The Belz-Ploemel train station is reached almost continuously in a straight line , after which it goes towards the peninsula with a gradient of up to 15 ‰. The Plouharnel-Carnac station is the only one with a siding and enables trains to meet. From 1901 to 1935 one could change here to the tram La Trinité-Étel . Behind the station there is another long slope, the line crosses a hill with an incision and reaches the peninsula on a causeway.

The route is now straight to the south, only a little above sea level. This is followed by the stops "Sables-Blancs", "Penthièvre" and "L'Isthme", where it passes the narrowest point between the Atlantic and the Bay of Quiberon on a dam . She leaves the fortress of Penthièvre on the right and comes to Kerhostin, from where the landscape is undulating. She passes the Saint-Pierre-Quiberon train station , turns south-southwest and reaches her destination in the Quiberon train station.

Stations

Belz - Ploemel train station.

Station building Plouharnel - Carnac.

At the Sable-Blancs stop

The platform on the isthmus.

Since the resumption, the line has nine stations including the terminus. In Auray there is a connection to local and long-distance trains including TGV; From Quiberon there are boat connections to Belle-Île-en-Mer , Houat and Hœdic . Plouharnel - Carnac is the only crossing station, there are six stops next to it.

The terminal stations have a reception building in operation; In the Plouharnel-Carnac building , a tourist information office is open during the season, and an SNCF employee ensures that trains can be crossed; the building in Saint-Pierre-Quiberon is used by a bicycle rental shop and that of Belz-Ploemel by a hairdressing salon. With the exception of Auray, the four buildings mark the stations that existed from the beginning. Penthièvre and Kerhostin each had a gatekeeper house, to which reception buildings were added in 1927. They were sold to private.

Les Sables-Blancs and L'Isthme , both introduced in 1985 along with the “corkscrew”, have no building. They only have one platform, one bank and one sign with the station name and the timetable.

Engineering structures and level crossings

Railroad crossing on the isthmus.

Until the early 1990s, the line had no bridges or tunnels. When the N 165 was rebuilt, a bridge was built over this new expressway. The route has 31 level crossings , 23 of which are secured with traffic lights and half barriers.

equipment

The railway line is single-track and not electrified. It is operated using the voie unique à signalisation simplifiée (VUSS) operating procedure. The trains are reported by telephone, supported by computers. Trains can avoid each other at the terminus stations and in Plouharnel-Carnac , where there is a 177 m long meeting track. This operating procedure is permitted for a maximum of fourteen journeys per day, and only as long as there is no freight traffic. This is why the route needs a special permit that contains some requirements. The railcars are allowed to travel the entire route at 60 km / h. Depending on whether they have to wait for the return train in Plouharnel-Carnac , the journey takes 43 to 51 minutes.

business

A “corkscrew” made from two SNCF X 2100 and two SNCF XR 6100 on the Bay of Plouharnel.

The route is now only used by regional TER Bretagne trains, on weekends from mid-June to mid-September and daily in July and August. All trains are railcars and do not go beyond the line, with the exception of a pair of trains from Rennes to Quiberon on Sundays, which serve to connect to the depot there. Usually there are two type SNCF X 2100 railcars and two SNCF XR 6100 sidecars .

Train crossing in Plouharnel - Carnac . The signals (“carree”) are removed by hand and set up again after a telephone call. The train on the right pulls in.

The operating procedure voie unique à signalisation simplifiée (VUSS) only allows seven journeys per day and direction. In order to meet the demand, an exemption allows ten round trips per day during the holiday weeks. Trains meet seven times a day in Plouharnel-Carnac. The first and last train have no encounter, they also serve to distribute and collect the personnel and material. Another train is on its own at noon, provided that there are no other movements on the line 30 minutes before and after the journey. In order to avoid errors, the exemption also makes it mandatory to use the same timetable for the whole week and to keep the same cycle times at the train crossings.

Outside the holidays, there are six trips a day in July and August and four times a day on the weekends at the end of June and beginning of September. Then there is always only one train on the line.

During the operating season, the “corkscrew” employs twenty-five people, including six inspectors with temporary contracts.

In addition to rail transport, a bus runs there and back Monday to Friday mornings in summer to enable employees to arrive before the first train. The bus is a partner of TER Bretagne and can be used under the same conditions as the railcars. Out of season, local buses run by the Reseau interurbain du Morbihan (TIM) . TER and TIM have been coordinating their offers since 2001.

literature

• “Inauguration de la ligne d'Auray à Quiberon”, journal l'Avenir du Morbihan republicain , July 26, 1882 (Paris, Archives nationales, carton F / 1bI / 331).
• Jean-Pierre Nennig, 12 Auray - Quiberon , in Le chemin de fer de Bretagne Sud , JPN, Guérande, 2008 ISBN 2-9519898-5-7 , pp. 169–176.

Web links

Commons : Ligne d'Auray à Quiberon  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Site ter-sncf.com: Carte du réseau TER Bretagne
• Le Tire - Bouchon sur locmariaquer.info

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} “N ° 8165 - Loi qui déclare d'utilité publique l'établissement d'un chemin de fer d'Auray à Quiberon: 15 June 1879”, Bulletin des lois de la République Française, Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, série XII , vol. 19, no 456, 1879, p. 2 - 3 [1]
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Jean-Pierre Nennig, s. Literature, p. 169
3. ^ "N ° 14217 - Loi qui approuve la convention passée, le 28 June 1883, entre le ministre des Travaux publics, et la Compagnie des chemins de fer de Paris à Orléans: November 20, 1883", Bulletin des lois de la République Française, Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, série XII, vol. 28, no 834, 1884, p. 352 - 359 [2]
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} “La gare SNCF a 130 ans aujourd'hui”, Ouest-France, July 22, 2012 [3]
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Jean-Pierre Nennig, s. Literature, p. 171
6. ↑ Clive Lamming, Françoise Blanchoin, Daniel Brun, Pierre Cerisier, Alain Gernigon, Larousse des trains et des chemins de fer , Paris 2005, ISBN 2-03-505493-1 (first edition) and ISBN 978-2-03-584314- 2 (2nd edition, 2008)
7. ↑ ^{a b} Conseil général du Morbihan, Rapports du Préfet et délibérations du Conseil général - Conseil général du Morbihan, août 1879, Ligne d'Auray à Quiberon (à l'étude) p. 20.
8. ↑ Rapports du Préfet et délibérations du Conseil général - Conseil général du Morbihan, août 1879, Ligne d'Auray à Quiberon, p. 21
9. ^ "N ° 8168 - Loi qui classe 181 lignes dans le réseau des chemins de fer d'intérêt general  : 17 juillet 1879", Bulletin des lois de la République Française, Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, series XII, vol. 19, no 456, 1879, pp. 6-12
10. ↑ Jean-Pierre Nennig, p. 169
11. ^ Inauguration de la ligne d'Auray à Quiberon , Avenir du Morbihan, June 26, 1882: Paris Archives Nationales, carton: F / 1bI / 331. [4]
12. ↑ Jacques Mordal, Les poches de l'Atlantique, Presses de la Cité, 1965 p. 90. [5]
13. ^ Jean Favennec, Connaissance et gestion durable des dunes de la côte atlantique : “Manuel récapitulant les enseignements du projet européen Life-Environnement de Réhabilitation et gestion durable de quatre dunes françaises”, Les dossiers forestiers, Paris, Office national des forêts, no 11 , octobre 2011, p. 79 [6]
14. ↑ ^{a b} Jean-Pierre Nennig, p. 174
15. ^ Conseil général du Morbihan, Reports du Préfet et délibérations du Conseil général , août 1883, Dépêche de M. le Ministre des Travaux publics , p. 42. [7]
16. ↑ Conseil général du Morbihan, Reports du Préfet et délibérations du Conseil général , 25 avril 1892, "Barrières et clôtures, ligne d'Auray à Quiberon", p. 65. [8]
17. ↑ Conseil général du Morbihan, Rapports du Préfet et délibérations du Conseil général, October 1899, p. 36 [9]
18. ↑ Pierrick Pourchasse, Annales de Bretagne et des pays de l'Ouest, t. 104 (no 2), 1997, "Les transports routiers dans le Morbihan entre les deux guerres: La coordination du rail et de la route", p. 102-103. [10]
19. ^ Revue géographique de l'Ouest et des Pays de l'Atlantique Nord , Norois, vol. 20, 1973, p. 352 [11]
20. ↑ ^{a b c} Quiberon, une bonne cuvée pour le Tire-Bouchon , Rail Passion, no 32, October 1999, p. 16
21. ^ Joanne Vajda Profession de foi. Pour l'honneur de la politique - Charles Fiterman - ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
22. ↑ Pierre-Henri Émangard, Bernard Collardey et Pierre Zembri, Des omnibus aux TER (1949-2002), Paris, La Vie du Rail, 2002, 466 p., ISBN 2-902808-83-6 . ; p. 207 et 213-215.
23. ↑ ^{a b c} Quiberon, une bonne cuvée pour le Tire-Bouchon , Rail Passion, no 32, October 1999, p. 17th
24. ↑ Rail Passion 6/2015, s. 13 f
25. ^ Ouest France v. August 8, 2009 [12]
26. ^ Alfred Picard, Les chemins de fer français - étude historique sur la constitution et le régime du réseau , 1884, p. 632 [13]
27. ↑ Hélène Tattevin et Pascal Lecomte, Penthièvre au fil des âges 1909–2009 , p. 24, AREP, 2009: "Les trains de bois quittent la presqu'île et reviennent chargés de charbon anglais, pour faire fonctionner les conserveries" [14]  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
28. ↑ RFF, Au passage à niveau protégeons nos vies , 2014, p. 24.
29. ↑ Overview map ( Memento of the original dated May 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. the RFF 
30. ↑ Jean-Pierre Nennig, op. Cit. , P. 172.
31. ↑ ^{a b c} Réseau ferré de France, Normes de tracé horaire sur les lignes régionales Archived copy ( Memento of the original of 14 July 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
32. ↑ Réseau ferré de France, Capacité d'infrastructure des lignes à voie unique , archive link ( Memento of the original from July 15, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
33. ↑ locmariaquer.info, July 2013 [15]
34. ↑ PDF “Projet de budget primitif 2013” , p. 33.