The Martigny–Châtelard Railway, abbreviated MC,

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

''Chemins de fer Martigny–Châtelard'', is a

rack railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with ...

in the canton of

Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. The transport company "Chemin de fer de Martigny–Châtelard" merged in 2001, the resulting Transports de Martigny et Régions now markets this line and the connecting

Saint-Gervais–Vallorcine railway The Saint-Gervais–Vallorcine railway (), also known as the Saint-Gervais–Vallorcine Line, is a single-track long metre gauge railway in France connecting the SNCF's Saint-Gervais-les-Bains-Le Fayet station with Vallorcine station and the ...

as ''Mont-Blanc Express''.

Contact with the other networks

* At

Martigny Martigny (; , ; ) is the capital city of the district of Martigny (district), Martigny, cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Valais, Valais, Switzerland. It lies at an elevation of , and its population is approximately 20,000 inhabitants ( ...

it connects with the Lausanne–Brig line of the

Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (, SBB; , CFF; , FFS) is the national railway company of Switzerland. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Bern. It used to be a State-owned enterprise, government institution, but since 1999 it has be ...

* At Le Châtelard (

Finhaut Finhaut is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Saint-Maurice (district), Saint-Maurice in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Valais in Switzerland. History Finhaut is first mentioned in 1293 as ''Finyaux''. Geograp ...

) it connects with the

which in turn joins the

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...

at Le Fayet station of

Saint-Gervais-les-Bains Saint-Gervais-les-Bains () is a Communes of France, commune in the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region, southeastern France. The village is best known for tourism and has been a po ...

. However the between Le Châtelard and Vallorcine is operated by the Chemin de Fer de Martigny au Châtelard.

Rolling stock

* 2 Z 800 105-seater electric multiple units, delivered in 1997 (???) by

ADTranz Adtranz was a multi-national rail transportation equipment manufacturer with facilities concentrated in Europe and the US. The company, legally known as ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation, was created in 1996 as a joint venture between ABB and Daim ...

and

Vevey Technologies Vevey (; ; ) is a town in Switzerland in the Vaud, canton of Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Leman, near Lausanne. The German name Vivis is no longer commonly used. It was the seat of the Vevey (district), district of the same name until 200 ...

, in the context of a joint purchase with the Ligne de Saint Gervais - Vallorcine. This 1000 kW stock, composed of two motorcars, could run at ; it is equipped with a rack and

pinion A pinion is a round gear—usually the smaller of two meshed gears—used in several applications, including drivetrain and rack and pinion systems. Applications Drivetrain Drivetrains usually feature a gear known as the pinion, which may v ...

system and pantographs (in addition to the third rail collector shoe), so that it could perform direct runs to Vallorcine and beyond without the need to change trains.

Merger with MO

This transport company merged 2001 with the Martigny–Orsières Railway and is now known as "Transports de Martigny et Régions".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martigny-Chatelard Railway Metre-gauge railways in Switzerland Railway lines in Switzerland Cross-border railway lines in Switzerland Mountain railways Rack railways in Switzerland Transports de Martigny et Régions

Contact with the other networks

Rolling stock

Merger with MO

See also

References