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 volunteering, volunteers, to form a body (or organ ...

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 France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. 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 holiday A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. The term refers to all public holidays in the United Kingdom, be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation or held ...

s. 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 t ...

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, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...

s in Pont-Audemer and shunting in Honfleur.

Rolling stock

PontauRail operates with two

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

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 Gare is the word for "station" in French and related languages, commonly meaning railway station Gare can refer to: People * Gare (surname), surname * The Gare Family, fictional characters in the novel '' Wild Geese'' by Martha Ostenso Places * G ...

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 Paris-Saint-Lazare to Honfleur via Brionne. The CF de l'Ouest company built the line from Glos ...

. 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 The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

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 Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in central France. It was the principal city of the ...

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 Franc ...

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 Communes of France, commune in the north-western part of the Departments of France, department of Eure in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy Regions of France, region in northern France. Located on the Lieuvin plate ...

* 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 is a voluntary association created in 1995 to run trains between Pont-Audemer and Honfleur in France. The group comprises approximately fifty voluntary members, of which twenty are active. An agreement, ''une convention signée'', allow ...

Transport in Normandy Tourist attractions in Calvados (department)