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)

Number of tracks

Single track

Track gauge

1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) standard gauge

Electrification

unelectrified

Route map

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

40.2

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 English Channel and North Sea coast of 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 50 Hz. 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.

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.

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Wikipedia