Grenoble (AFP)
Unmistakable with its bright red wagons, the little Montenvers rack railway is celebrating its 110th anniversary this year, taking hundreds of thousands of tourists from Chamonix to the foot of the Mer de Glace glacier every spring and summer.
The idea of the train came at the end of the 19th century with the success of mountain excursions from Chamonix, especially towards a beautiful point of view on the Mer de Glace, at a place called Montenvers.
At that time, it was necessary to make the journey on foot, or on the back of a mule, or in a sedan chair, which made live some 400 companions in the city.
The project is therefore mainly greeted by fears of seeing the manna disappear, but it eventually develops. Work began in 1906, and the train was inaugurated on May 29, 1909.
Initially steam, it switches to the electric in the 50s. Since then, it hoisted tourists in about twenty minutes, on the long line of 5.1 kilometers, snaking on the mountainside, in the middle of the forest, via tunnels cut into the rock and some viaducts.
A drama, however, buried his story in 1927. Apparently following a mistake by the mechanic, the locomotive derailed and tilted in the emptiness, followed by the first car. The accident killed 22 people and almost as many serious injuries.
The train is nevertheless a success, especially since since 1946 an ice grotto, resized each year, awaits the passengers at the end of a pedestrian path on arrival.
Attendance is related to the weather, but represents hundreds of thousands of people each year, one trip every 20 minutes in high season. From 2008 to 2017, it varied according to the years from 651,000 to 820,000 tourists.
This weekend, the festivities will allow to find especially the pioneering spirit of before the train, with "rise of yesteryear on foot with mules" - but back down by free train - and zip line on the glacier.
© 2019 AFP