Lyon Metro Line C

Line C
A rack-railway train of line C at the station Cuire
Overview
Native name	Ligne C
System	Lyon Metro
Stations	5
Operation
Opened	1891 and 1974
Last extension	1984
Rolling stock	MCL 80
Technical
Line length	2.4 km (1.5 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Maximum incline	17%
Rack system	Von-Roll
Average inter-station distance	625 m (2,051 ft)

Line C (Ligne C) of the Lyon Metro is the modern incarnation of the Funiculaire Croix-Rousse - Croix-Paquet (Croix-Rousse - Croix-Paquet Funicular), an old cable-hauled railway operating on part of the current alignment.

In 1891, the original funicular line was opened, running between its namesake stations. After surviving the closure of the nearby funiculaire Rue Terme - Croix-Rousse in 1967, this line closed in 1972 for refurbishment and conversion to rack railway technology, reopening for service in 1974 (four years before lines A and B opened). When it was integrated with the metro as Lyon Metro Line C in 1978, the line's southern end was extended from Croix-Paquet to Hôtel-de-Ville (City Hall), also equipped with rack rail. A further extension of Line C opened on December 8, 1984, when its northern end was extended from Croix-Rousse to Cuire as an adhesion railway (no rack).

Today, the line currently serves 5 stations, and is 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi) long. It was constructed using various methods: the original route used by the former funicular line runs up a steep incline rising from a deep tunnel to an exposed trench, the newly built level segment at Croix-Rousse using cut-and-cover, and the latest section beyond Hénon running on the surface. Croix Paquet station claims to be the steepest metro station in the world, with an incline of 17%. The repurposed alignment of the original funicular from Croix-Paquet to Croix-Rousse is among the world's oldest structures currently used by metro trains, having first opened 125 years ago.