Railroads of the Territory of Belfort

The Belfort Gap constitutes a natural crossing point between the catchment area of the the Rhine, therefore the Alsace, the Suisse and the Germany of the south, and the basin of the the Saone and the the Rhone, i.e. the Franche-Comté, the Burgundy and the remainder of the France.

In 1842, when the construction of the domestic network of railroad was decided, raised the question of the layout of the Paris-Mulhouse line on the level of Belfort Gap. Montbeliard and Belfort was candidates but it is Belfort which was selected thanks to the support marked Staff which regarded the fortified camp from Belfort as essential in the defense of the passage between the Vosges and the Jura.

In 1870 two national companies shared the monopoly of the exploitation of the lines serving the Territory of Belfort: The Company of the railroads of the East and the very new PLM (Company of the railroad the Paris-Lyon-Mediterranean). The junction in Belfort of the two broad outlines confirms the importance of the city in its role of rail junction.

Lines of the Company of the East

In addition to the line principal Paris-Mulhouse, the Company establishes a junction for Giromagny and another for Morvillars.

The various sections are brought into service gradually:

February 15th 1858 section Belfort - Dannemarie;
April 26th 1858 section Vesoul - Belfort;
June 30th 1883 section Evette - Giromagny;
August 13rd 1877 section Belfort - Morvillars, first section of the Line Belfort-Bienne. The continuation towards the Swiss border with Delle had already been carried out by the PLM.

Lines of the PLM

The Railroad company the Paris-Lyon-Mediterranean exploits the line Dijon - Dole - Besancon - Belfort which will facilitate the communications between the south of France and Alsace. The dates of openings of the three sections of the PLM are the following ones:

June 1st 1858 section Montbeliard - Belfort;
June 29th 1868 section Montbeliard - Morvillars;
June 29th 1869 section Morvillars - Delle, section integrated later on into the Line Belfort-Bienne.

The railroad of local interest

At the end of the 19th century, the development of local industries in the centers far away from the main axes of communication (main roads, Channel of the Rhone in the Rhine, new ways of railroad) was obstructed by the state of the network of the minor roads. As the establishment of lines with broad way was too expensive, therefore nonprofitable for the service road of not very important localities, it is a tram, therefore a way of metric railroad which can be integrated into the public highways (streets, roads…) who was chosen by the leading authorities of the Territory of Belfort at the beginning of. The power supply of the motor coaches was ensured by the electric factory of the Company of the Collieries of Ronchamp and that of the Refrain located in the department of Doubs, close to Charquemont. The layout is given according to the distribution of industries and of the population, which explains why localities like Etueffont, Rougemont or Lachapelle, where small industries were then flourishing, were termini.

The decision is made by the General advice in 1906. The declaration of public utility of the project is published in OJ November 16th 1909. The studies then work start and as of 1913 the tram rolls on the ways of the CFB (Company of the Railroads of Local Interest of the Territory of Belfort, created the March 26th 1913).

The three lines are brought into service almost at the same time:

Southern Line - 16 km, put in exploitation in 1914. It serves Belfort, Danjoutin, Andelnans, Sévenans, Trétudans, Châtenois-the-Forging mills then Nommay, Old man-Charmont and Sochaux in the department of Doubs.
Line of north - introduction in 1913 and 1914 for Lachapelle. It comprises 4 sections:

Belfort - Errues by Offemont, Vétrigne, Roppe, Denney, Eguenigue, Menoncourt.
Errues - Etueffont by Anjoutey
Errues - Rougemont-the-Castle by Saint-Germain-the-Châtelet and Romagny-under-Rougemont
Errues - Lachapelle-under-Rougemont by the Barn and Angeot which was prolonged by the army until Sentheim in two months of work.

Line of south-east - the army, which however had been very reticent when designing project because of the risks of use of the lines converging towards Belfort by a possible invader, exploited thoroughly during all the conflict the line Belfort-Réchésy and Belfort-Lachapelle since it prolonged the latter until Sentheim to feed the face.

The local railroad arrived a little late in the Territory of Belfort and was détrôné quickly by the car, but its contribution to the effort of war between 1914 and 1918 then with the tightening of the distances between the Prefecture and the cantons between the two wars fully justified its construction.

The strategic military railroad

The fortified town of Belfort is defended by a belt of forts occupied in times of peace. To serve these works the military authority decided as of 1880 the construction of a strategic railroad to narrow gauge railway (0,60 m) of which a part was permanent and another provisional, easily being dismounted the Decauville ways. The coaches transported the material, the supply, the ammunition and the men between the various deposits and the works. A vapor Péchot-Bumblebee engine actuated the few coaches.

The principal forts connected to the network were the works of Roppe, Bessoncourt, Chévremont, Vézelois, Meroux, the Wood of Oye, Salbert, the Bars and the two forts of the Poles and also the fort of Mount-Of Vaud of Héricourt.

The TGV

The line at high speed the Rhine-Rhone will be brought into service in 2011. The station of Meroux will serve the Belfort-Montbeliard-Héricourt agglomeration. Work began in 2006 for the line and will begin in 2007 for the station. An important viaduct will make it possible the line to cross the valley of Tasty in Andelnans.

See too

History of the railroads French

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