The Mure Railway, Grenoble, France



The Chemin de Fer de La Mure (the La Mure railway) is a former coal-carrying electrified railway in (and owned by) the Department of Isère near the city of Grenoble, France, which lost its regular public passenger service from 2 February 1950 (although miners' trains continued until autumn 1962). It lost most of its freight traffic - apart from anthracite coal - in 1952, and even the anthracite ceased from 18 October 1988. However, the local tourist office had been chartering seasonal tourist passenger trains from 8 September 1968 and these developed steadily over the years, the line becoming one of the finest tourist railways in Europe with spectacular views over dams and lakes, and mountain scenery. Since 1 February 1998 the concession to operate the line and its tourist trains has been held by CFTA, now Veolia. The line can be reached easily by road from Grenoble, or by trains on the SNCF line towards Gap.

On October 26, 2010, shortly before the end of the season, a landslide destroyed the Viaduc de la Clapisse and parts of a tunnel entrance. The General Council of the Department of Isère had expressed a hope to re-open part of the line from La Mure (this statement was on Veolia's website, in 2011 but has since been removed); by 2014 no such reopening had taken place and it is unclear whether and when service will be resumed.

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