Like so many of Europe’s cities, Lyon has big hills, and like many others turned, at one point or another, to funicular railways to climb the steepest hills. Unlike most, three of them are still living parts of Lyon’s daily transit system.
Two, which climb different parts of the Fourviere hill, are still cable-hauled systems, with the uphill car balanced against the weight of the downhill; the third has been extended as a Metro line, with a rack-railway system for the steepest part which was originally on a cable.
Lyonnaise have long called them the ‘ficelles,’ or strings that tied the city together. Railfan that I am, I spent part of a day riding all three.
The two that are still cable-hauled share a station at the bottom of the hill with Line D of the Metro; the station was built when the Metro opened in 1991, replacing the original separate funicular stations; the two cable cars were given the labels F1 and F2.
The longer of the two, F2, goes from the Saint-Jean/Vieux Lyon lower station to Saint-Just at the top of the hill, with a station in between at Minimes, where there’s a Roman theater and museum. At the top, it reaches a neighborhood with a view over the city.
After a ride to the top, I made my way back down, and waited at the station for the shorter and older-looking F1. It’s an illusion that it’s older; they were both upgraded in the 1980s and again in 2018. Note the angle of the station and benches…
The cars on the ficelles can be crowded, and it’s far from all tourists; it’s simply the easiest way between city neighborhoods without a steep climb.
At the top of the F1 Fourviere funicular, the machinery that makes the system work is right out in view. The cable, which is attached at each end to one of the cars, turns over this giant wheel. It also adds power as needed to the gravity forces of the two cars.
After an hour spent exploring the Fourviere Basilica—so many cities have hilltop basilicas, it seems— I took a position at the front of the car, nose, or at least camera, pressed to the glass.
Here’s a video of the trip down…
Things looked a bit different back in the 19th century, when the funiculars first opened, the first in 1862. That line, which is now a road tunnel, was Europe’s first electric-powered underground railway.
The Saint-Just line was often called the Funicular of the Dead, because one of its uses was to transport coffins from funerals in the lower city to cemeteries on the hill.
The other survivor of the original funiculars, the one that led to the Croix Rousse district, is quite different from its brethren. It was extended several stations past Croix Rousse, and at the other end was extended to Lyon’s city hall. Its cars resemble standard Metro cars, and it’s Metro C, rather than having an F.
But take a closer look at the track, just above, and in detail below. That’s history underfoot; the toothed rail matches cogs under the train—essentially extra wheels—that enable it to make it, not too quickly, up the steep hill as far as Croix Rousse, where the rack rail ends.
