Chemin de Fer du Midi

The Compagnie des chemins de fer du Midi (abbr. CF du Midi), also known in English as the Midi or Southern Railway, was an early French railway company which operated a network of routes in the southwest of the country, chiefly in the area between its main line – which ran from Bordeaux, close to the Atlantic coast, to Sète on the Mediterranean – and the Pyrenees.

The company was established by the Pereire brothers, who thus broke the virtual monopoly held in France by James Rothschild on the slow paced railway projects taking place in the area of Paris during the 1840s and 1850s. The Rothschild branch of Paris responded by strengthening its grip on the sector with an alliance to the industrialist Talabot. The Pereires in turn founded their financial company Crédit Mobilier.

In 1934 the company was merged with the Chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans to become part of the Chemins de fer de Paris à Orléans et du Midi (PO-Midi).

In 1856, the Midi completed its rail line from Bordeaux to Toulouse. In 1857, it continued on from Toulouse through Narbonne to Sète. This put it in competition with the Canal du Midi, and on 28 May 1858 the railway took over the lease of the canal.

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