As well as Métro line 13 terminus ...
... Châtillon Montrouge has vast yards for storing SNCF trains and a good, old-fashioned loco shed.
There is also a depot and workshop for the Métro trains.
The line 6 trams leave from a fully undercover station on the west side of the railway. When streetview (should that be RueVue in France) passed by the track base (roadway?) and central guide rail were in place but work on the overhead had barely started.
The 2014 line continued westwards and, just short of Versailles ...
... turned northwards ...
... to a terminus named Robert Wagner (on Avenue Robert Wagner, Vélizy-Villacoublay).
The "live" track continued northwards until it reached a barrier.
But that has now gone, and if you follow road D53 northwards, you can see what has happened. After about a quarter of a mile of woodland, the tram track plunges into a tunnel ...
... leading to to two stations at Viroflay.
Now our readers (like fbb), seeing "Rive Gauche" and "Rive Droite", might think that these stations are on opposite banks (rive) of the river Seine. O foolish fbb! O foolish blog readers!
The names refer to two stations en route to Versailles. The two lines are traditionally known by which bank of the Seine they travel along as they leave central Paris. Try and keep up at the back. There is no river at Viroflay.
Tram 6 (coloured orange) now connects with both these suburban lines.
Both "big train" lines are part of the Paris "outer suburban" network, too complex to look at in detail. Here is Rive Droite ...
... on line "L" (dark blue) which runs from Gare St Lazare via La Défense. And here is Rive Gauche on the complex network that is RER line "C" (yellow) via the South Bank and non-RER line N (pale blue) from Gare Montparnasse.
But it is what is "down below" that impresses.
And boy, oh boy, what a tram stop at "Rive Gauche"! (click to enlarge the picture)
Ditto "Rive Droite".
It is worth spending a few minutes marvelling at this video, taken on the first day of the extension, Saturday March 28th.
The mind boggles!
But the authorities in France seem willing to spend significantly and recover the dosh from taxation. In the UK we could also afford such delights if, politically, we were to be prepared to pay more to nice Mr Cameron and chums.
There then follows an incomplete list of services that have been picked up by other operators. "Edwards Coaches" asre quoted as taking on the majotiry of the schools work and several other bits and pieces.
Thanks to correspondent Peter who forward this information issued by Pembrokeshire Council.
Webberbus, Silcox, Austin reed and BHS - who will be next. It's getting real tough out there.
But the authorities in France seem willing to spend significantly and recover the dosh from taxation. In the UK we could also afford such delights if, politically, we were to be prepared to pay more to nice Mr Cameron and chums.
----------------------------------------------------------------
There then follows an incomplete list of services that have been picked up by other operators. "Edwards Coaches" asre quoted as taking on the majotiry of the schools work and several other bits and pieces.
Webberbus, Silcox, Austin reed and BHS - who will be next. It's getting real tough out there.
----------------------------------------------------------------
On Wednesday (1st June) ...
... the Gotthard Base Tunnel was formally opened.
Eat your heart out, Crossrail, this is one mega tunnel.
Tune in tomorrow for another "tunnel" blog!
----------------------------------------------------------------
Next Swiss tunnel-and-a-half blog : Saturday 4th June
RueVue! Don't let L'Academie Francaise hear that!
ReplyDeleteAcadémie française, s'il vous plaît! N'oublier-pas les accents!
ReplyDelete