Wednesday 25 January 2017

Plans for Perrache Pointwork (1)

We Take a Look Around.
La gare ferroviaire de Perrache fut construite à partir de 1855 par l'architecte François-Alexis Cendrier pour le compte de la Compagnie des chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM) et fut inaugurée après dix-huit mois de travaux le 2 juin 1857.

It was a modestly grand affair, built on viaduct with access for carriages outside the main building. Over the platforms was a substantial overall roof.
Under the viaduct were tunnels for people and trams.
Rail-side was typical of the age, with a proliferation of signs and adverts plus the inevitable bookstall ...
... and a scant regard for health and safety (lower left).

It is much the same today! But very different.

There are still tunnels underneath, this one for motorists dropping off their passengers.
After something of a historic gap, Lyon's modern trams still use another of the tunnels.
These last two views are from Cours Charlemagne, the south of the station complex, because the view from the north is ...
... completely subsumed by a vast transport and shopping interchange with even more tunnels for road traffic ...
... an underground tram station ...
... and a Metro ditto.
A modern aerial view shows the whole complex of roads, rail and interchange. 
In passing, we observe a bit of Geography. Lyon stands on the confluence of the Rivers Saône and Rhône.
Crossing the Saône at the join are a motorway bridge and a rail bridge on one of the lines from Perrache which we will meet tomorrow.
Crossing the Rhône are another two bridges. The arch carries a tram line and a "normal"road bridge sits next to it.
In between is the Musée des Confluences.
Le Musée des Confluences est un musée d'histoire naturelle, d'anthropologie, des sociétés, et des civilisations, de Lyon en Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Héritier du Musée d'histoire naturelle Guimet de Lyon, il est hébergé dans un bâtiment ultra design de style déconstructiviste de l’agence d'architecture Coop Himmelbau (not a person, but a company!) de 2014, dans le quartier de La Confluence, sur la pointe sud de la Presqu'île de Lyon, au confluent du Rhône et de la Saône.

We may well discover tomorrow why fbb is spending time (virtually) at Lyon Perrache.

 Next Lyon rail blog : Thursday 26th January 

1 comment:

  1. Interesting - especially for me as I was in Lyon recently.

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