Puyoô – Dax railway line

Puyoô-Dax
Dax, house platform, 2015
Route number (SNCF) :	656,000
Course book route (SNCF) :	54
Route length:	30.3 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	1.5 kV  =
Maximum slope :	7  ‰
Dual track :	Yes
Legend Toulouse – Bayonne railway from Toulouse-Matabiau Puyoô – Mauléon railway from Mauléon 270.2 Puyoô 41m Railway line Toulouse – Bayonne to Bayonne 276.6 Habas Tunnel (288 m) 279.9 Misson-Habas 55m 288, 0 Mimbasts 18 m 289.2 Luy (57 m) Dax – Mont-de-Marsan railway from Mont-de-Marsan 296.9 Peyrouton 23 m 299, 0 Adour (166 m) border Département Landes / Pyrénées-Atlantiques Bordeaux – Irun railway from Irun 300.6 Dax 8 m Railway Bordeaux – Irun to Bordeaux Saint-Jean

The Puyoô – Dax railway is a double-track , electrified railway line in south-western France . In Puyoô it branches off from the Toulouse-Bayonne railway from to 30 km in Dax , the capital of the departments of Landes , on the Bordeaux-Irun railway to hit. The kilometrage will continue from Toulouse-Matabiau train station .

The on-the-go stations have not been served on this route since 1970 because there is hardly any local traffic. Instead, it is important to close the gap between two national routes. It connects the traffic coming from the Mediterranean on the Toulouse – Bayonne railway line along the Pyrenees with the traffic going north along the southern half of the Silver Coast on the Bordeaux – Irun railway line .

history

This line, together with the aforementioned Toulouse – Bayonne line, was declared charitable by imperial decree of October 23, 1856 and was part of the route network of the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Midi . The construction permit, issued by the Ministry of Public Works on August 1, 1857, always mentioned this route in connection with the main route from Toulouse. The cost of building the infrastructure in the amount of 26 million francs was financed by the state, and the company took over the construction and subsequent operation.

The exact route was disputed for a long time. Essentially, it was about the alternative of a more direct route, but crossing two mountains, or a longer route with no significant incline, either in the valley of the Gave de Pau or between the valleys of the Adour and its tributary Luy . Finally, the route was chosen along a ridge that bypassed Dax to the southwest, and thanks to a detour between Habas and Misson , crossed the second ridge through a short tunnel instead of the 670-meter underpass originally planned.

At the same time as the section of the Toulouse – Bayonne main line from Pau near Puyoô, the construction from Puyoô to Dax was commissioned to Compagnie du Midi on March 4, 1863. The tunnel was not yet completed on the day it opened, because 42 of the 288 meter uncovered vaults remained to be built, so that a temporary, almost 2 km long diversion had to be set up above the structure, which made it possible despite a ramp of 23 ‰ gradient. to start train operations. After the tunnel was completed, the trains from Pau to Dax, 83 kilometers away, took just under two and a half hours.

The electrification took place in 1925. The Compagnie du Midi built the catenary with 1.5 kV and the main power supply at the same time. In contrast to the route to Irun, this route is equipped with concrete supports. Since the power supply is only supplied from the two substations Dax and Puyoô with frame lines without intermediate amplification substation, the mains voltage drops regularly.

During the Second World War , one of the two tracks was dismantled by the German occupiers, but they left the overhead line hanging, which was shut down between 1949 and 1950. The growing number of pilgrims going to Lourdes made it difficult to cope with the traffic on the single-track route. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Mary in Lourdes in 1958, the line was expanded to two-track again and equipped with the uniform block manual (BM).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Dax-Puyoô, trait d'union entre la Gascogne et le Béarn , in: Rail Passion , No. 37, March 2000, pages 51-52
2. ↑ Décret impérial 4994 qui approuve la convention passée, le 1er août 1857 , Bulletin des lois de l'Empire Français, Imprimerie Impériale, Edition XI, Volume 8, No. 544, Paris 1857, pages 781-782
3. ↑ No. 4100. Décret impérial qui déclare d'utilité publique l'établissement des lignes de chemins de fer de Toulouse à Bayonne . Bulletin des lois de l'Empire Français, Imprimerie Impériale, Edition XI, Volume 8, No. 438, Paris 1856, pages 839–840
4. ^ François and Maguy Palau: Le rail en France, Volume 2 , 1858–1863, self-published 2001, without ISBN, page 184
5. ^ Serge Lerat: Les voies de communication en Aquitaine . Conseil Régional d'Aquitaine 1998, ISBN 978-2-9100-2307-2 , pages 40-41