Coudekerque-Branche–Fontinettes railway

Coudekerque-Branche–Fontinettes railway
Overview
System	SNCF
Status	Operational
Locale	France Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Termini	Les Fontinettes, Calais Coudekerque-Branche, Dunkirk
Operation
Opened	1876
Owner	RFF
Operator(s)	SNCF
Technical
Line length	41.159 km (25.575 mi)
No. of tracks	Single track
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) Standard gauge
Electrification	unelectrified
Route map Legend 304.8 Dunkirk Freight to De Panne 304.4 1.4 Coudekerque-Branche Line to LGV Nord and Hazebrouck Petite-Synthe Freight Grande-Synthe Marshalling Yard 6.6 Grande-Synthe 8.1 Courghain Freight to Dunkerque Maritime Loon-Plage Craywick-Coppenaxfort 17.6 Bourbourg to Watten-Éperlecques 23.6 Gravelines Movable bridge over the Aa Pont-d'Oye Offekerque Marck 40.2 Beau-Marais Saint-Pierre 43.7 104.1 Line from Lille 104.9 293.0 Les Fontinettes 294.6 Calais-Ville Line to Boulogne

The Coudekerque-Branche–Fontinettes railway runs along the coast in France from a junction near Gare de Coudekerque-Branche in Dunkirk to a junction near Gare des Fontinettes in Calais. It is 41.159 kilometres (25.575 miles) long and unelectrified single track for much of its length, except for the first 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) from Dunkirk which is double track electrified with 25kV 50Hz. Line speeds are from 80 km/h (50 mph) to 120 km/h (75 mph).

There is a movable bridge over the Aa at Gravelines to allow navigation of the river.

As of August 2011^[update], an irregular service of 3 to 5 trains run each day.^[1]

History

The line was built by Compagnie du Nord-Est and opened 10 August 1876. Operations were transferred on 5 June 1883 to Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord.

The whole length of the line was doubled in 1915, to be resingled along much of its length in 1960. The first ten kilometres of the line from Coudekerque was electrified in 1962 and the marshalling yard (triage de Grande-Synthe) at Grande-Sythe built between 1962 and 1965.

There are plans to electrify the line by 2014.^[2]

Notes

1. ^ Dunkerque-Calais timetable (French)
2. ^ Les TER plus nombreux et plus rapides vers Calais, et davantage de TER-GV entre Dunkerque et Lille - La Voix du Nord - 11.04.2011 - Bruno Verheyde (French)

References

• Revue : La Vie du rail n°1539. (French)
• Livre : Gérard Blier : Nouvelle géographie ferroviaire de la France ; Éditions La Vie du Rail ; mai 1993 (French)
• Livre : Henri Lartilleux : Géographie universelle des transports ; Tome 1 ; Géographie des chemins de fer français ; Librairie Chaix ; Janvier 1955. (French)