Tramway du Mont-Blanc

0.00	Saint-Gervais-Le-Fayet	581 m
	Connection to SNCF lines to Vallorcine
	and to La Roche-sur-Foron
0.36	Bon-Nant
0.43	Saint-Gervais-les-Bains
1.46	Berchat Bridge ( D 902 )
1.70	Saint-Gervais-Ville	792 m
4.83	Motivon	1368 m
5.16	Les Seillières
6.00	Mont-Forchet
6.26	Tete-du-Chene
6.90	Les Tuffes
7.85	Col-de-Voza	1638 m
8.77	Bellevue
9.20	Bellevue-Téléphérique	1756 m
10.88	Mont-Lachat	2073 m
12.28	Rognes aval (70 m)
12.37	Rognes amont (34 m)
12.51	Nid d'Aigle (Glacier-de-Bionnassay)	2372 m

The Tramway du Mont-Blanc (TMB) is a mountain railway ( rack railway ) in the Haute-Savoie department in France .

route

The railway runs over a length of 12.4 kilometers from Le Fayet (580 meters), the end point of the La Roche-sur-Foron – Saint-Gervais and Saint-Gervais – Vallorcine railway lines , via the health resort of Saint-Gervais-les-Bains (900 m) on the Nid d'Aigle ( eagle's nest ) at 2386 meters above sea level on Mont Blanc . It is the highest railway line in France, and Nid d'Aigle station is the highest station.

The exit station in the Le Fayet district of Saint-Gervais is located directly at the Saint-Gervais-les-Bains-Le Fayet train station of the Société nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF), where the narrow-gauge SNCF line Saint-Gervais – Vallorcine begins . The railway's stationary systems are also located here at an altitude of 580 meters. The route briefly follows the road and then winds its way up to the Saint-Gervais-Ville train station, which has a siding. Then the second rack section, 2.5 kilometers in length, begins. In total, the route has five intermediate stations with crossings, several stops and six sections with racks. In the upper section, the train goes through two short tunnels before reaching the terminus Nid d'Aigle. Because it is more than a hundred years old, it is located on a slope at km 12.248 at an altitude of 2372 meters as a stump track (without switches).

Apart from the two non-walled tunnels, the route has hardly any engineering structures. In Le Fayet, the road bridge over the Bon Nant river could also be used. The former drawbridge on the road to Prarion, by means of which it crossed the first rack section until 1955, is remarkable. It was raised for the trains to pass through.

history

The Mont-Lachat station around 1913

The route in 1920

Steam operation on the line in 1920

Nid d'Aigle terminus with the “Anne” train in the old paint scheme

The first ideas to open up Mont Blanc by rail go back to 1835, but realistic plans did not emerge until the 1890s. Le Fayet, a hamlet below Saint-Gervais in the Arve Valley, was reached in 1898 by the La Roche-sur-Foron – Saint-Gervais railway operated by the Compagnie des chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM) . The Société du tramway de Saint-Gervais then proposed the construction of a 2.4-kilometer rack railway to the higher-lying center of Saint-Gervais. From the years 1902–1903 the plan originates to extend such a railway over the Col de Voza and the Aiguille du Goûter (3800 m) on the Mont Blanc. From Le Fayet to Saint-Gervais it was supposed to run on public roads, hence the name “Tramway”. The building concession was granted on August 3, 1904, and the Compagnie du tramway du Mont-Blanc (TMB) operating company was founded a year later .

The first section to Col de Voza at 1653 meters was opened on July 28, 1908, the continuation to Mont-Lachat in June 1911 and on to Nid d'Aigle on August 1, 1913. Today's terminus, 500 meters from glacier glacier de Bionnassay away, originally represented only a temporary, the first world war , however, prevented the rapid ongoing construction of the track. From 1915 to 1917 it was largely still.

The operation of the railway to the Col de Voza was initially in deficit. In 1909, an average of 103 passengers per day were carried, which did not even cover half of the costs. As a "white knight" , an entrepreneur from Marseille took over the costs of the upcoming extension to the Aiguille du Goûter in 1910 in exchange for a share in the company and the profit of a planned branch.

The acquisition of three additional locomotives and the extension to Mont-Lachat temporarily improved results, but the operating company's situation remained tense. In the spring of 1912, further construction stopped shortly before the Glacier de Bionnassay. The following terrain turned out to be difficult and would have required numerous, expensive tunnels to be built, which also precluded further steam operation. A rapid electrification failed due to a lack of capital, which is why it was decided to open the railway to the glacier first. Since a horizontal surface could not be reached, the station on Nid d'Aigle was opened on a slope with a temporary platform. The advance payments already made for the further construction were no longer used.

The 1914 summer season got off to a promising start, with French President Raymond Poincaré expected to visit on August 14th . With the mobilization on August 2, 1914, however, the tourist season ended and the presidential visit was canceled.

The situation improved after the First World War. An agreement with PLM, which in future largely financed the operation, transition tickets PLM-TMB, a tariff increase and, from 1921, winter operation to Saint-Gervais ensured more passengers and positive results. The Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix in 1924 brought regular winter operations to the newly built hotel complex on Col de Voza. The increasing spread of winter sports brought more tourists to the route: in 1934 they brought 35% of the annual income.

At the end of the 1920s, ten pairs of trains ran from Le Fayet in the summer season, including six only to Saint-Gervais, and another only to Col de Voza. In 1931 the trains ending in Saint-Gervais were discontinued and replaced by buses: it was more lucrative to use the few existing rail vehicles exclusively for tourist trips up the mountain. The drive to Col de Voza took 90 minutes, to Nid d'Aigle 2:20 hours.

technology

Rack and pinion system Strub

Driving is on Vignole rails , the gauge is 1000 millimeters (meter gauge). The racks of the Strub system are laid on 85% of the route, the remaining part is operated by adhesion. The maximum incline in the rack area is 250 ‰ (1: 4), the smallest curve radius is 80 meters. In the adhesion area, the maximum gradient is 50 ‰ (1:20), the smallest curve radius on the route is 60 meters, at Le Fayet train station it is 54 meters. The average slope is 150 ‰ (1: 6.667).

The line is single-track and electrified with 11 kilovolt 50 Hertz alternating current. In endangered areas, the catenary and masts will be dismantled over the winter. There is no signaling: operation was previously controlled by telephone, today it is done by radio.

vehicles

Locomotive no. 3 “Mademoiselle d'Angeville” in the Parc thermal in Le Fayet

"Jeanne" railcar with control car on the descent

The electrification of the line, which was planned from the beginning due to the tunnel planned - especially on the other side of the Nid d'Aigle - was not implemented until 1957. From the opening until then, steam locomotives handled the traffic. The Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik (SLM) had supplied two locomotives for the construction work. After receiving six passenger cars, they were also used in service to the Col de Voza from 1908 . In 1910 and 1911 three more locomotives were added. In 1927 TMB with the number 6 took over a locomotive supplied by SLM in 1903 from the Swiss Martigny-Châtelard-Bahn , which had served as a prototype for locomotives 1-5.

The almost identical two-axle locomotives developed an output of 180 hp. In adhesion operation , they drove at a maximum speed of 15 km / h, on sections with a rack at 7 km / h. The machines 1–5, like the current railcars, had names: Jacques Balmat , Horace-Bénédict de Saussure , Mademoiselle d'Angeville, Pierre Janssen and Jeanne d'Arc .

The passenger cars pushed uphill were also numbered from one to six. These were presentation cars with a cabin on the mountain side in which a train attendant could operate the locomotive whistle and a bell. The single-class bogie cars were made of wood and offered space for 55 passengers.

After the line was electrified, three locomotives were scrapped. The other three machines still exist: No. 2 is on display in the Musée paysan in Viuz-en-Sallaz , No. 3 is in the Parc thermal in Le Fayet. Locomotive No. 4 was badly damaged in a fire, but is to be restored.

The electric railcars delivered in 1957 were built by Decauville in France with the participation of the Swiss company SLM and the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon (MFO) . They are 15.40 meters long, have an output of 472 kilowatts and travel at 22 km / h in adhesion mode. In rack and pinion mode, 12.8 km / h on the descent and 20 or 15 km / h on the ascent, depending on the gradient. As a rule, they travel with a presentation car that is on the uphill side and has a cabin for a train attendant. The driver leads the train in both directions from the driver's cab on the valley side.

There are three railcars, named Marie, Jeanne and Anne after the daughters of the director at the time. Since the mid-1990s, they and the associated control cars have been painted in blue, red and green.

In 2001 a diesel locomotive (No. 31) built in 1957 for the Chemin de fer du Montenvers was purchased along with a passenger car. It is only used in front of work trains and when clearing snow.

A snow blower and a snow plow are available for clearing snow. A two-axle and a four-axle flat wagon are available for transport.

business

Le Fayet: on the left the TMB building, on the right that of the SNCF

The railway is operated by the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc , a company in the Chamonix region that operates several mountain railways and cable cars , including the cog railway on the Montenvers and the cable car to the Aiguille du Midi .

The section from the intermediate station Bellevue at an altitude of 1794 meters to the Nid d'Aigle is only used regularly in summer; in winter the remaining section cannot be used due to the snow masses and the danger of avalanches.

meaning

Today's mountain station is the starting point for the easiest route to Mont Blanc via the Refuge du Goûter .

Picture gallery

Train "Jeanne" (renamed as "Marie") in Le Fayet
"Jeanne" railcar
Train "Marie" of TMB
Two control cars (“Anne” on the left, “Jeanne” on the right) in the old paint scheme at Bellevue station
Train "Marie" in the winter terminus Bellevue
Train “Marie” in old paintwork