Bordeaux-St-Louis – Pointe de Grave railway line

Saint Symphorien – Lesparre
Today's northern end of the route at Pointe de Grave
southern section of the route
Route number (SNCF) :	584,000
Course book route (SNCF) :	405
Route length:	102 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	1.5 kV  =
Maximum slope :	10  ‰
Top speed:	140 km / h
Legend -3.5 Rive Gauche Harbor 0.0 Bordeaux-St-Louis 0.9 Bordeaux ravezies to the submarine harbor and Industrial building Ring route to Bordeaux St-Jean A 630 Jalle de Sable 7.8 Industrial building 8.0 Blanquefort 11m D 210 11.0 Parempuyre 12m 14.4 Ludon 9m 17.8 Macau 9m D 211 20.3 Labards 7m 24.4 Margaux 16m to Sainte Hélène D 105 27.2 Soussans 15m 31.5 Moulis-Listrac 21m 40.2 Saint-Laurent-Saint-Julien 22m D 206 Industrial building 46.5 Pauillac 4m D 2 48.4 Trompeloup 6m 51.9 Saint-Estèphe 12m 55.5 Vertheuil 12m 61.2 Saint-Germain-d'Esteuil 27m D 1215 66.3 Lesparre 5 m to Saint Symphorien 71.3 Gaillan 10m D 1215 74.6 Montalivet 8m 79.5 Vensac 4m 82.0 Saint-Vivien 11m 86.7 Talais-Grayan 4m D 1215 93.0 Soulac-sur-Mer 12m D 1215 99.8 Le Verdon-sur-Mer 6m Le Port de Grattequina 99.9 Abzw. 106.9 Môle d'Escale pier (1931–44) 101.9 Pointe de Grave 4m 102.4 End of the mole 3m

The Bordeaux-St-Louis-Pointe de Grave ( French: Ligne de Bordeaux-Saint-Louis à Pointe-de-Grave ) is a 102-kilometer, single-track, electrified line on the Médoc peninsula in southwest France . The route leads partly through the world-famous vineyards of Saint-Estèphe , Haut-Médoc and many other wine- growing areas belonging to Bordeaux . At the final station Pointe de Grave there is a ferry connection to Royan, which is opposite the Gironde estuary . The construction of this line is in the early stages of the line construction activity in France and is one of the first to be electrified.

Route description

The route runs in predominantly flat terrain that did not require any complex engineering structures. It has no tunnels, large bridges or the like and was accordingly easy to plan. Only at the level of Saussac was it necessary to cross a swamp. In Blanquefort and Pauillac , a short junction to commercial areas was created to the right of the route, and in Le Verdon-sur-Mer the connecting railway to the overseas port Môle d'Escale branched off from 1931 . From the Saint-Louis train station there were four branches to the left to other routes: In the urban area of ​​Bordeaux there was still the branch of the ring line to the Bordeaux-Saint-Jean train station and, since 1885, the Bordeaux-Lacanau-Océan line for trains over Bruges to Lacanau-Océan, behind Margaux to Sainte Hélène and behind Lesparre to the railway line to Saint Symphorien .

In Saint-Louis station, three tracks were reserved for the operation of the line to Pointe de Grave, four tracks were used for the connection via the circular railway to Saint-Jean and the line to Lacanau. In addition, there were five tracks to the east for freight traffic. Above all, agricultural products such as live cattle, wine barrels and agricultural machinery were transported. A track reached the pier at Bordeaux-Rive-gauche.

In 1931 the coal port Le Port de Grattequina near Le Verdon went into operation, which belonged to the Société anonyme Hersent - Entreprises de travaux publics et maritimes , a subsidiary of the construction company Société anonyme Hersent - Entreprises de travaux publics et maritimes . The coal came by ship from German and Polish coal mines. The rail connection is seven kilometers long and is still visible today, but only partially accessible. In the 1990s, a container terminal with two crane bridges was put into operation there.

history

Old end of the line in the north

The Compagnie du chemin de fer du Médoc , founded in 1864 after initial financial difficulties , only built this one line. The company was bought out in 1911 by the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Midi .

The railway line was built in several stages from Bordeaux-St-Louis and started operating in 1868. At the time of its construction until 1884, this was the only standard-gauge French line that had no connection with the rest of the rail network, i.e. it was an island operation . Only then did it get connected by the route in the direction of Facture – Saint Symphorien. While the 100 kilometers to Le Verdon-sur-Mer were licensed from the start, the two-kilometer-long final section to the ferry port was only added 25 years later after the importance of this ferry connection had increased. This extension led two tracks, which you can still see today, except for the breakwater that runs out to the north. Until then, a horse-drawn tram took over the transport of the passengers.

In Le Verdon, for a few years from July 1933, there was the tide-independent pier for transatlantic ships Môle d'Escale , on which passenger trains could travel and which enabled passengers to conveniently switch from ship to rail. This facility was connected with the electrification of the line and greatly promoted rail traffic. The pier was blown up by the German troops before they withdrew from the Médoc peninsula and converted into an oil tanker terminal after the war, but is no longer used today either.

The Bordeaux-Saint-Louis train station was closed in 1968 and has now been converted into a shopping center. The terminus was then moved about 900 meters further north to Boulevard Alfred Daney and renamed Bordeaux-Ravezies . Nevertheless, the line was named after the old terminus until 2008. The Ravezies stop has also been closed since August 2012 to make way for the renovation of the Bordeaux tram , which is scheduled to start operating in spring 2015. Since mid-August 2012, passenger trains have therefore been running on the ring line around Bordeaux to Bordeaux-Saint-Jean station .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Médoc notes
2. ↑ SNCF Society Journal Number 116, Dec 2004 (English with route map)
3. ↑ Lucien Chanuc, Patrice Durbain: Les Trains du Médoc , Breil-sur-Roya, Les Éditions du Cabri, 2005
4. ^ "Compagnie + du + chemin + de + fer + du + Médoc" Bulletin des lois de la République franc̜aise, Volume 23, p. 482 , Imprimerie nationale, 1864
5. ↑ archive.wikiwix.com/cache/?url= http://pagesperso-orange.fr/dodo.al/html/lignes/lig_405.htm Private homepage for route 405 (archive)
6. ↑ Voies Ferrées de Gironde: Les chemins de fer de la Gironde
7. ^ Le Forum Medoc: Môle d'escale du Verdon ( Memento of September 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), L'Histoire du Médoc, August 7, 2013
8. ^ Médoc notes
9. ^ Jean-Paul Vigneaud: Le tram-train commence à se frayer un passage , Sued Ouest, June 12, 2013

Web links

Commons : Bordeaux-St-Louis – Pointe de Grave railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files