Lamothe – Arcachon railway line
| Lamothe – Arcachon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Arcachon Railway Station 2012
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 Route network around Bordeaux
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| Route number (SNCF) : | 657,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Course book route (SNCF) : | 32 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 15.7 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Power system : | 1.5 kV = | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maximum slope : | 5 ‰ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top speed: | 100 km / h | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dual track : | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Lamothe – Arcachon railway is one of the oldest and still in operation today in Aquitaine in south-western France .
The railway line is double-track and electrified. It branches off from the Bordeaux – Irun railway line at kilometer 42.3 at the point where it turns south, having initially led from Bordeaux in a west-southwest direction. The track is level and continues to run in slight curves in a predominantly westerly direction right up to the coast of the Bassin d'Arcachon .
history
In 1835, the notary Louis Godinet from Bordeaux asked for a concession to build a railway between Bordeaux and La Teste. At that time, traveling between the two cities was still very difficult: stagecoaches that left Bordeaux at 4:00 p.m. did not arrive in the port city until the next morning and were also often attacked by looters. The draft law on the construction of the line was introduced to parliament on June 3, 1837. Fortuné de Vergez , an engineer from Paris , won the tender and endorsed the necessary capital with the Rothschild brothers' banks . In a special clause of the law of June 13, 1841, the state was granted the right to almost complete repurchase rights.
Compared to the first plans, many improvements were implemented in the route laid down in 1839. The new Bordeaux train station was built in the park of the Castle of Segur (Château de Ségur). It was initially called Bordeaux-Ségur and was still designed as a terminus , but with four platform tracks it was already the size that was sufficient for the number of people on the line to the Spanish border.
The first train of the newly founded Compagnie du chemin de fer de Bordeaux à La Teste left Bordeaux-Ségur on May 7, 1841 at 11:15 and reached La Teste by 1:00 p.m. The euphoria of the early days did not last long. The collapse in the number of travelers and the corresponding decline in sales no longer allowed the company to make payments to its employees. After several unsuccessful attempts to save the company, it was placed under administrative administration. As a result of this first French bankruptcy of a railway company, the Compagnie du Midi took over the railway operations in 1857 and extended the line to Arcachon on July 25, 1857.
After the line to the Spanish border at Irun had been led from Bordeaux to La Teste-de-Buch , the tracks were laid in a southerly direction from Lamothe. Dax was reached in 1853. From the beginning, the trains were served from Bordeaux, as is still the case today. The Lamothe separation station , part of Le Teich , has not been a stop since the 1980s. This railway line is now the only double-track and the only electrified branch line in the Gironde department and in the Landes department bordering to the south .
The 13 km long branch line to Cazaux-le-Lac with stops in La Teste-Midi, Pont du Saous, Le Courneau and Cazaux-Hameau was opened in 1876 and, after the First World War, served primarily to supply the French air force there , the Cazaux military airfield . Although passenger traffic on the branch line was stopped in 1934, the line is still operational today to supply the military airfield with fuel. If necessary, freight trains run with tankers. Since the 1950s, the line no longer belongs to the SNCF, but directly to the military.
