Voie ferrée d'intérêt local

In France, a voie ferrée d'intérêt local (VFIL; "Railway of Local Interest") is a secondary railway constructed by a local administrative division, serving sparsely populated rural areas. These areas were beyond the economic reach of the networks of the intérêt général, which were concessions of the grandes compagnies ("Big Companies") who ran their lines for profit.

The Prefect of the Bas-Rhin department, Monsieur Migneret, invented the VFIL concept. The first VFILs saw the light of day in Bas-Rhin in 1859, when the Act of 21 May 1836 came into force, defining the prefecture's powers over highways. This economical mode of transport piqued the interest of other departments, and became the object of an inquiry that led to a law being enacted on 12 July 1865. This act authorised departments and communes to implement VFILs, either themselves or through concessions, with the State's assistance and control. Local bodies had a great deal of autonomy over both technical and financial planning. But the system was open to abuse: the law, in providing State subsidies of start-up capital, encouraged speculation; in many cases, schemes started with this capital were later abandoned because of technical difficulties.

The State had to restore good order to an anarchic situation and, in 1878, Charles de Freycinet, the new Minister of Public Works, gave France a vision of a comprehensive system of railways. He introduced rail transport, if not to every chef-lieu, at least to the regions still unconnected by train. De Freycinet then commissioned a two-part plan, known as the Plan Freycinet:

To breathe new life into VFILs, it was necessary to enact a new law clarifying the situation. This act became law on 11 June 1880 and fixed problems with State subsidies, guaranteeing, under certain conditions, to regulate the connections with the Big Companies.

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