Gare du Sud

Nice's Gare du Sud station.

The back of Nice's Gare du Sud station.

Gare du Sud is a currently abandoned railway station in Nice, France. The station served as the terminus of a narrow-gauge railway from Digne-les-Bains to Nice until December 1991.

History

Station construction lasted from 1890 to June, 1892. Working for the Compagnie des Chemins de fer du Sud de la France, architect Prosper Bobin designed a monumental and imposing facade with a central high section flanked by two side pavilions. A tall metal roof covered the tracks that led to Grasse and Puget-Théniers. Lines to Digne and Annot were opened in 1911.

The passenger building was built in neoclassical style, with no compromise on elegance but at a reasonable cost. The glass roof came from the Russian and Austro-Hungarian pavilion of the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle. It was listed in 2005.

After World War II, the line to Meyrargues remained closed, leaving the Nice-Digne service. The Chemins de Fer de Provence closed the station in December 1991, and moved its terminating services to a small new station, Nice CP, situated a short distance upline.

Ownership of the station building was transferred from l'Etat Français to the city of Nice in 2000. It was planned to demolish the metal hall and glass roof, and to dismantle the façade. Following public outcry, the minister of Culture, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres opposed the plan in 2004.

Future

Although the building has been saved, its future is uncertain. Several projects have been proposed, one being the taking over of the building by various artistic associations which needed a home, another the controversial transfer of Nice's town hall to the station site.

Following the failure of the 2000 project, the town asked architect Pierre-Louis Faloci to create a new design which would preserve the entire passenger building as well as the metal hall. This project was approved by the Ministry of Culture on 12 May 2005, and anticipates the erection above the station of a vast porch roof, a "shade", to be covered with 2000 square meters of electricity producing solar panels. The project includes the construction of a media library and sports complex, as well as the rehabilitation of the School of Fine Arts, and creation of a 1300-space parking lot.

External links

• Architecture of the Gare du Sud
• Photos of the Gare du Sud on Railfaneurope.net

Coordinates: 43°42′34″N 7°15′44″E / 43.70944°N 7.26222°E / 43.70944; 7.26222