Rail transport on Réunion

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Saint-Benoît – Saint-Pierre
Grande Chaloupe depot with class Z railcars and 030T steam locomotive from Schneider (October 2010)
Grande Chaloupe depot with class Z railcars
and 030T steam locomotive from Schneider (October 2010)
Route length: 124 km
Gauge : 1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Legend
   
 50 St. Benoît
   
   
 St. André
   
 St. Suzanne
   
 St. Marie
   
 Ravine du Chaudron
   
 Ravine des Patates à Durand
   
 0 St. Denis
   
 3800 m
   
 La Montagne
   
 4100 m
   
 La Grande Chaloupe Depot
tunnel
 4600 m
   
 La Possession
   
 Le Port
   
   
 St. Paul
   
 St. Leu
   
 L'Étang-Salé
   
 80 St. Pierre

The rail passenger traffic on Reunion Island was from 1882 to 1963 on two routes in meter gauge operated and in favor of individual traffic abandoned. Since 2004 there has been an initiative for the revitalization of parts of the 124 kilometers of the route.

history

Since 1858 there have been efforts to connect the most important cities in the north, north-east and south-west of the island with a railway . The lead here was Hubert Delisle (1811–1881), who had become governor of the island under Napoléon Bonaparte in 1852 and who also introduced other significant improvements to the transport infrastructure.

The aim of the planning was the economic development, especially the transport of sugar cane . After initial cost estimates of over nine million francs , the plan was initially abandoned. From the beginning, the construction along the coast was divided into two parts. From the capital St.-Denis , the 50 km route to Saint-Benoît led eastwards, the 80 km route to St. Pierre in the west and south-west of the island.

  • Saint-Denis tunnel (around 1890)

  • La Grande Chaloupe (around 1905)

  • Bridge (around 1885)

  • Former railway bridge at the exit of the "Ravine des Colimaçons"

The rugged geological shape of the island made it necessary to build over 50 bridges , dozens of culverts and four tunnels with a total length of around twelve kilometers for the 124 km long route  . At the time, it was the third longest tunnel in the world. The impetus was now the Governor of New Caledonia , Léopold Pallu de la Barrière , who was also responsible for the expansion of the port of La Réunion , and the engineer Gaston Lavalley .

The purchase of land began in February 1875, and the concession to build it was granted in June. In 1876 the detailed plans for the port connection were drawn up, in 1878 the railway company Chemin de Fer et du Port de La Réunion (CFR, in other sources CPR) was founded and the rules of procedure for them were adopted. The inauguration took place on February 11 and 12, 1882, in the presence of the island's governor, Pierre Étienne Cuinier . Due to economic difficulties and the threat to discontinue the company on January 1, 1888, the French state took over the company.

The first nine locomotives came from Schneider & Cie., Today Schneider Electric in Le Creusot , the vehicles were built on behalf of the CPR railway company . The machines are probably the last locomotives to be produced by Schneider and have been a listed building since 1984.

The first diesel locomotives were purchased before 1940 , and the steam locomotives were replaced after the war . In 1969, the specialist publisher Jane’s stated that it had ten railcars, ten sidecars and four diesel locomotives. Passenger traffic has been carried out exclusively with railcars since the 1950s. In 1971, the ZM 9 and ZM 11 diesel multiple units with the associated ZR 9 and ZR 11 trailer cars were still available. At that time they were only intended for use when the coastal road was impassable.

In 1957 the southern section from Le Port to Saint-Pierre, and in 1963 the line from Saint-Denis to Saint-Benoît was closed. The last section for freight traffic between Saint-Denis and La Possession was closed in 1976.

Planning

planned route network

The 1.6 billion euro project was abandoned in 2010 after there was a change in the regional government. A powerful bus network is now to be built.

The route would have used parts of the abandoned, but largely still existing and undeveloped route. The 38-kilometer route should initially have connected the airport in the northeast with the city center of the capital and Saint-Paul in the west of the island. 25 kilometers of this should have been a new line with a tram character. The operation should have been ensured by the regional development company SR21, which is 64% owned by the island administration. The planned 30 vehicles from Bombardier should have been 40 meters long and hold 250 passengers. The opening of the first section with 25 stops should have taken place in 2013. This section would have cost 1.6 billion euros.

The government of the island of Réunion had decided on the sustainable development program "Gerri 2030" (Grenelle de l'Environnement à la Réunion Réussir l'Innovation), which takes into account the strong population growth, the even higher number of new motor vehicle registrations and other factors affecting the natural balance . This in line with the largely intact ecology. This also included the transport infrastructure. Parts of the road system built a few years ago are already hopelessly overloaded again.

Museum operation

For a number of years, private individuals operated a museum with a billiard railcar on an approximately 4 km long section between the Grande Chaloupe and La Possesion stations under the name Ti Train de la Grande Chaloupe . This has also been discontinued since around 2013. In 2016, the operator association received 150,000 euros to put the route and vehicle back into operation for the National Monument Day in September 2016.

Rolling stock

Steam locomotives

Over the years, a total of 50 steam locomotives have been used:

37 0-6-0T and 0-6-2T and 13 mallets , some of which were bought second-hand in France after the Second World War .

Whyte class French class Manufacturer No. year Weight annotation
0-6-0T 030T cutter 1-8 1878-1881 15.0 t
0-6-0T 030T cutter 9 1893 15.0 t
0-6-0T 030T Weidknecht 10-12 1900 12.5 t
0-6-0T 030T Decauville 13-16 1913 16.1 t
0-6-0T 030T Decauville 17-19 1920 16.1 t
0-6-0T 030T SACM 21-25 1883 15.0 t
0-6-0T 030T Blanc-Misseron 26-27 1901 19.6 t 1941 ex Chemin de fer du Blanc-Argent
0-4-4-0T 0220T Focquet 30-31 1921 22.0 t
0-4-4-0T 0220T Couthon 33 1910 22.0 t
0-4-4-0T 0220T Thiriau 40-43 1922 22.0 t
0-4-4-0T 0220T Thiriau 44-46 1927 22.0 t
0-4-4-0T 0220T Haine-St-Pierre 47-48 1931 22.0 t
0-4-4-0T 0220T Haine-St-Pierre 49 1933 22.0 t
0-6-0T 030T Corpet Louvet 58 1909 15.0 t 1949 ex TIV = Tramways d'Ille-et-Vilaine
0-6-0T 030T Corpet Louvet 63 1903 15.0 t 1949 ex TIV
0-6-2T 031T Corpet Louvet 70-71 1908 21.0 t 1949 ex TIV
0-6-0T 030T Corpet Louvet 74 1909 15.0 t 1949 ex TIV
0-6-2T 031T Corpet Louvet 76, 80, 82-84, 87 1910-1914 21.0 t 1949 ex TIV

The number 8 locomotive is exhibited outdoors as a memorial in Saint-Denis .

Diesel locomotives

Two machines built by Brissonneau et Lotz were purchased before 1940. In 1969 there were four diesel locomotives according to "Jane's".

Diesel railcars

In 1937, the railway received a diesel-electric railcar from Brissonneau et Lotz, and around 1952 two-axle railcars and trailer cars from Floirat. The four-axle ZM 9-11 railcars acquired in 1959 and their ZR 9-11 trailer cars came from Billard . The Z 9-11 series was red below the windows, the ribbon windows and the roof were initially painted cream.

Web links

Commons : Rail transport on Réunion  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b iledelareunion.net
  2. ↑ clicanoo.re ( Memento of the original from February 1, 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.clicanoo.re
  3. ↑ reunionpassion.over-blog.com
  4. ↑ Railsgrandechaloupe
  5. ↑ a b c Werner Sölch: Cape Cairo - Railways between Egypt and South Africa , p. 204
  6. ↑ a b c Werner Sölch: Cape Cairo - Railways between Egypt and South Africa , p. 74
  7. ↑ http://www.mi-aime-a-ou.com/histoire_chemin_de_fer.php
  8. ↑ TRAM TRAIN. Le projet officiellement abandonné  ( page can no longer be accessed , 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. on la1ere.fr (French)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / reunion.la1ere.fr  
  9. ^ Website of the regional government
  10. ↑ lightrail.nl
  11. ↑ railpage.com.au
  12. ↑ gerri.fr
  13. ↑ red: Reunion Island Railway . In: IBSE telegram 311 (10/2016), p. 8.
  14. ↑ Chemin de fer et du Port de la Réunion Remains , 2012.