PontAuRail is a

voluntary association A voluntary group or union (also sometimes called a voluntary organization, common-interest association, association, or society) is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement, usually as volunteers, to form a body (or organization) to ac ...

created in 1995 to run trains between

Pont-Audemer Pont-Audemer () is a commune in the Eure department in the Normandy region in northern France.Honfleur Honfleur () is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie. The people that inhabit Honf ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. The group comprises approximately fifty voluntary members, of which twenty are active. An agreement, ''une convention signée'', allows PontAuRail to use the line between

on request on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank holidays. The trip along the

Risle The Risle (; less common: ''Rille'') is a long river in Normandy, left tributary of the Seine. The river begins in the Orne department west of L'Aigle, crosses the western part of the department of Eure flowing from south to north and out into ...

valley lasts fifty-five minutes, including manoeuvers; closing of the semi-automatic

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term a ...

s in Pont-Audemer and shunting in Honfleur.

Rolling stock

PontauRail operates with two French

Diesel multiple units A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

, X2426 and X4555. * Railcar X2426 was officially decommissioned on 27 September 1987 in Limoges. Saved from scrapping, it became the property of the Train Touristique du Cotentin until 1995 when it was purchased by the Risle Seine SIVOM to create pleasure railway service between

. It remained parked in Gare de Carentan for a long time and then was vandalised in

Gare de Pont-Audemer Gare de Pont-Audemer is a former railway station in the market town of Pont-Audemer, Eure in Upper Normandy. The station is on the railway line from Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris-Saint-Lazare to Honfleur station, Honfleur via Brionne station, Brionne. ...

. It was then restored carefully and repainted in its original livery. The X2426 is now the property of PontAuRail following the dismantling of the SIVOM. * DMU X4555 was entrusted to PontAuRail by the SNCF in 2004. The X4555 was built in 1965 and allocated to Lyon Vaise on 10 November 1965. It was then moved to

Nevers Nevers ( , ; la, Noviodunum, later ''Nevirnum'' and ''Nebirnum'') is the prefecture of the Nièvre department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in central France. It was the principal city of the former province of Nivernais. It is sou ...

on 23 May 1971 then to

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

on 9 June 1971 and finally to Longueau on 30 September 1982. It was then decommissioned in September 2003. It ran services in 2005 in replacement of the X2426, which is less powerful than the X4555.

Stations

Pont-Audemer Pont-Audemer () is a commune in the Eure department in the Normandy region in northern France.Toutainville Toutainville () is a commune in the Eure department in Normandy in northern France. Population See also *Communes of the Eure department The following is a list of the 585 communes of the Eure department of France. The communes cooperat ...

* Saint-Maclou *

Beuzeville Beuzeville () is a commune in the north-western part of the department of Eure in the Normandy region in northern France. Located on the Lieuvin plateau, it is adjacent to the communes of Pont-l'Évêque, Honfleur and Deauville. Beuzeville i ...

* Quetteville * La Rivière Saint-Sauveur *

Honfleur Honfleur () is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie. The people that inhabit Honf ...

External links

PontAuRail
{{Heritage railways in France Pontaurail Pontaurail Transport in Normandy Tourist attractions in Calvados (department)