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The Haut-Bugey line ((フランス語:Ligne du Haut-Bugey)) (also nicknamed ''Lignes des Carpates'') is a railway line in France. It is 65 kilometres in length and connects Bourg-en-Bresse with Bellegarde, travelling through the Jura Mountains. With steep grades, tight curves, and a long poorly ventilated tunnel it was a challenging line to operate. For a century and a quarter after its opening in 1877, it served local interests only, suffering a slow decline. However in 2006, it had a new lease of life as its renovation was chosen as the most cost-effective way to shorten the journey time from Paris to Geneva. The line was closed in 2006 for complete reconstruction and electrification. The upgraded line was inaugurated on December 2, 2010 featuring 25 kV AC electrification, replacement of 18 level-crossings with bridges, avalanche protection and daylighting a tunnel.〔(Railway Gazette: Haut-Bugey line inaugurated )〕 Today the line enables a faster link between the French TGV network and Geneva, giving a Paris to Geneva journey time of just over three hours (a saving of nearly 20 minutes compared to the old route via Amberieu and Culoz). == History == The history of the line began in 1866. The ''Compagnie des Dombes et des Chemins de Fer du Sud Est'' (DSE), founded 1863, obtained a concession to build and operate a line linking the communes of Bourg-en-Bresse and La Cluse.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Ligne de la Compagnie des Dombes et du Sud Est )〕 This project, deemed insufficiently lucrative by the major companies was given life thanks to a law passed in 1865 allowing lines 'of local interest' to be financed by departments and municipalities. However work only began in September 1872 after delay caused by a conflict in 1870 with the フランス語:Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM) with which the DSE was becoming a serious competitor. The outcome was a requirement to share stations with existing ones on the network and to use standard gauge track to ensure interoperability. The difficult geography of the region required the line to be built in sections. The first to be opened, on March 10, 1876, was between Bourg-en-Bresse and Simandre-sur-Suran, about 22 km long. On July 6 of the same year, the line was extended 3 km to reach Bolozon. These 3 km include the two significant engineering works on the line, the Racouse tunnel (1.7 km) and the Cize-Bolozon viaduct (245m long) over the river Ain at a cost of 339,000 francs. This multi-arch viaduct is unusual in that it carries the railway line and, on a lower level, the road. Later on, three new tunnels extended the line from Bolozon to La Cluse, including the Mornay tunnel, the longest on the line at 2.6 km. The line from Bourg-en-Bresse to La Cluse was opened on 29 March 1877 by the DSE. After 1878, the Freycinet Plan called for standard gauge 'local interest lines'〔 be integrated into the national network prior to nationalisation. The stated was objective was to allow the local lines to be operated by the major companies. Mr. Mangini, the founder and director of the DSE, signed the contractual agreement to do this in 1881. This contract included the construction of the rest of the line, now classified of 'national interest', to Bellegarde. This section, completing the line, was opened on 1 April 1882. On 26 May 1883, the DSE signed the sale of the line to the PLM, with an effective date of 1 January 1884. Finally, the DSE was wound up on 23 January 1884. In 1886, the Andelot to Cluse line connected it to the Dijon to Lausanne artery. The Ice harvesting factory on the Lac de Sylans was one of the largest of its kind in the 19th century. The arrival of the railway in 1882 enabled it to drastically increase production by cutting delivery time to Paris and increasing the volume that could be transported out of the factory. Several incidents have coloured the history of the line. On 1 August 1904 the passenger building of Bellegarde station went up in flames, to be rebuilt in 1913. 1922 saw the two biggest incidents on the line, a landslide and a tunnel accident. On 11 April, a huge landslide near Neyrolles station completely cut the line. On June 3 a new alignment was opened. The most difficult operational feature of the line was its longest tunnel, the Mornay tunnel. Over 1300m of the tunnel is at 2.4% gradient; running towards Bellegarde, steam locomotives had to operate at full power, filling the tunnel with smoke. The natural ventilation was poor. In May 1922, 7 members of a train crew were asphyxiated and died. Subsequently a special ventilation plant was opened in 1924, one of only two of it kind in France. It blew air into the tunnel when trains were passing through in the Bourg to Cluse direction. In 1932 a new station was built at le Neyrolles on the new alignment. During the second world war, the line had strategic importance, as there was a lot of resistance activity in the Ain and on the Jura plateeau. Several bridges were destroyed in 1944, starting with the bridge over the Suran on July 8, followed by the Cize Bolozon viaduct on the 8th and the Reyssouze bridge on 2 September. The Cize Bolozon viaduct was only opened 5 years after the end of the war, on 14 May 1950. On 2 May 2003 another accident occurred in the Mornay tunnel when a diesel railcar caught fire 300m from the Bolozon portal. The train was halted in the tunnel, but there were no casualties. After the Cluse - Bellegarde section was closed to passenger traffic in 1990, フランス語:la Cluse station became a cul-de-sac; the only remaining service being Bourg-en-Bresse to Oyonnax and Saint-Claude all trains had to reverse. A chord line was therefore laid avoiding フランス語:la Cluse station, which was not served any more and closed. A new station, Brion-Montreal-la Cluse was created on 1 June 1996. In 2006 the Bourg-en-Bresse - Brion-Montreal-la Cluse section was closed in preparation for “the Haut-Bugey Project” The section La Cluse - Bellegarde is also known as ''フランス語:"ligne des Carpates"''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ligne du Haut-Bugey」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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