(Villefranche-de-Conflent) From snowy peaks to precipices, it serves around twenty stations, including the highest in France: winter and summer alike, the Yellow Train climbs to an altitude of almost 1600 m, playing with curves and slopes on the side of the Catalan Pyrenees.
Posted at 8:23 a.m.
Using technology modeled on the first Paris metro, it has kept its look with its metal-clad wooden carriages and its third electric rail, on a narrow track.
A feature which, for more than a century, has enabled the Yellow Train to face 6% gradients and go down them again, without risking taking off in the bends.
“We say to ourselves, provided that it does not fall! jokes Daniel Seguin, 60, a retired car mechanic, without hiding his “pleasure” of a nostalgic trip on this train that flirts with the peaks of the Pyrénées-Orientales by carrying up to 250 passengers.
Starting from the medieval citadel of Villefranche-de-Conflent, with ramparts reinforced by Vauban in the 17th century, the “Canary” – so nicknamed for its yellow wagons adorned with a red border, in the colors of Catalonia – runs along the fiery torrent of the Tet, at an altitude of 427 m.
Through the woods, it gradually climbs the mountain, passes by Bolquère station, its highest point at 1592 m, and serves the ski resort of Font-Romeu, before spinning on the sunny plateau of Cerdagne to Latour-de-Carol, at a quiet average speed of 30 km/h.
19 tunnels, 40 bridges
Inaugurated in July 1910, it “remained almost as it was”. “We are on old mechanics,” Laurent Lenfant, 49, director of the line, told AFP.
The rails are only one meter apart, instead of the 1.435 m of a classic track which would not have allowed such sharp curves on this mountain line.
Motor cars, equipped with bright red bows, are also used as snowplows when the powder whitens the route.
The route of approximately 60 km required the construction of no less than 650 engineering structures, including 19 tunnels and 40 bridges.
Two are classified as historical monuments: the Séjourné viaduct with its unusual pointed arch, which overlooks a 65 m ravine, and the Gisclard bridge, the last railway suspension bridge in service, 80 m above the void.
In the depot, along the tracks of Villefranche-de-Conflent, about twenty SNCF agents pamper and revise this “relic”.
“It’s a train steeped in history”, emphasizes Galdric Sère, 36, maintenance manager, proud of the “artisanal” side of his job and “technologies that are no longer known”.
The heavy steel wipers, which capture the current of the 3and rail, are thus manufactured on site. Under a nearby hangar, wagons are dismantled, their oak structure exposed to be treated before finding its steel shell.
1900s technology
But for some parts, you need the expertise of other railway workers, such as those who repair bridges and still know how to design rivets on the model of the assembly of the Eiffel Tower.
The next major general overhaul of the Yellow Train, scheduled for the end of 2022, will last three years and will allow the circulation of “new equipment with a design close to the old”, assures the director of the line.
“There is really a desire to develop it to continue operation beyond 2030 and double its capacity”, going from 10 to 20 daily trips in summer, the high season, he specifies.
With 100,000 journeys per year, the Yellow Train, which in the summer months runs in open wagons, has a strong tourist vocation. “I wanted to discover the beautiful landscapes,” explains Aurore Lambert, a 25-year-old Belgian student.
“It’s more pleasant than the car,” adds Martine Patrick, 69. And “it’s important for the people who live in the area,” adds this retired legal assistant.
Because if the schedules of the “Canary”, which starts after 9 a.m. in winter, are not very suitable for home-work journeys, it overcomes the inconveniences of the road. In 2020, when it was obstructed by landslides, the Yellow Train continued to serve the entire valley.