Gray – Fraisans railway line

Gray – Fraisans
Former train station Vadans (Haute-Saône)
Route number (SNCF) :	853,000
Route length:	43.1 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Maximum slope :	25  ‰
Dual track :	formerly yes
Legend Vaivre – Gray railway line by Vaivre Railway line Culmont-Chalindrey-Gray from Culmont-Ch. 351.9 0.0 Gray ⊙ 193 m Railway Saint-Julien – Gray to Troyes Gray – Saint-Jean-de-Losne railway line to St-Jean-de-L. 0.7 End of the route 1.1 Saône (destroyed, 135 m) ⊙ 7.2 Champvans-lès-Gray ⊙ 200 m 12.7 Vadans ⊙ 209 m 15.2 Valay ⊙ 224 m 21.2 Montagney ⊙ 248 m Montagney – Miserey railway line to Miserey ⊙ 24.6 Ognon (60 m); Border of the Haute-Saône / Jura ⊙ department 24.9 Ognon ⊙ LGV Rhin-Rhône 28.0 Ougney ⊙ 217 m 32.7 Gendrey ⊙ 254 m La Chaux tunnel (145 m) 37.5 Abzw. Labarre ⊙ ~ 37.8 Railway line Dole – Belfort to Belfort 38.3 La Barre ⊙ 237 m Railway line Dole – Belfort to Dole-Ville ~ 38.6 D 673 (formerly N 73 ) ⊙ 39.9 Rans ⊙ 216 m 40.2 Ranchot tunnel (107 m) ⊙ ~ 42.6 Rhine-Rhône Canal (destroyed; ~ 40 m) ⊙ 43.1 Fraisans ⊙ 216 m

The Gray – Fraisans railway was a single-track railway line in eastern France. In north-south direction, it connected the Gray railway junction in the north with the Dole – Belfort main line . Today it is completely dismantled and no longer visible for long stretches. It is crossed on two thirds by the LGV Rhin-Rhône . While the largest section from Gray to La Barre was also approved for passenger traffic, the 5.5 km branch route was exclusively for goods traffic.

history

The history of this railway begins with the contract of July 13, 1855 between the mining company "Mines d'Ougney au chemin de fer de Dijon à Besançon et au canal du Rhône au Rhin" and the Ministry of Public Works. The concessionaire was the Forges de Franche-Comté company , which ceded it to the Compagnie des chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM). Because the interest of PLM was stronger. Five years later, this brought about a new contract with the ministry, which provided for connecting Gray via Miserey-Salines with Besançon and building a branch line to Ougney from Montagney , which reached to Fraisans on the Rhine-Rhône Canal . At this early railway pioneering time, railway lines were mostly considered to close gaps in missing canals.

As usual, the route was opened in several stages. It was built from the south. The first, 10.3 km long section La Barre – Ougney went into operation on October 1, 1859, followed on January 23 by the southern extension of La Barre – Rans and on April 15, 1864 Rans – Fraisans. The gap closure to Gray from Ougney went into operation on January 1, 1866.

The closure took place in two stages: first the southern section Montagney – La Barre went out of service on July 1, 1932, followed by Gray – Montagney due to the war on May 20, 1940. The Saône Bridge was destroyed in June 1940 and never rebuilt. This was a sensitive intervention in the infrastructure, which in the long term accelerated the complete closure. Freight traffic was still served from Besançon to Champvans-lès-Gray. At the same time, the Montagney – Ougney section was also lost, and from July 15, 1952 the remainder to La Barre was also lost. On May 31, 1959, the branch line to Fraisans canal port was closed and when the Montagney – Miserey line was closed on April 1, 1957, Montagney was cut off from all traffic. The final deed took place in 1964.

Web links

Commons : Gray – Fraisans railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

• José Banaudo: Trains Oubliés , Volume 2: Le PLM Editions du Cabri 1981, Collection “Trains Oubliés”, without ISBN.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Décret impérial No. 3214 , in: Bulletin des lois de la République française. Paris, July 1855
2. ^ Journal Officiel de la République Française , February 22, 1964, page 1828.

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap