Panoramique des Dômes
The Panoramique des Dômes is a 5.2 km long rack railway that allows access to the top of the Puy de Dôme, in France, since mid-2012.
The railway is owned by the Conseil général du Puy-de-Dôme.
The train has a capacity of persons an hour.History
There was a railway with a non-rack central rail on the Puy de Dôme from 1907 to 1925. Construction of the railway started in 1906. It connected Lamartine in Clermont-Ferrand to an artificial platform near the mountain top at metres. The railway was km long and operated between 1907 and 1926 at a loss.
The Conseil général du Puy-de-Dôme voted for construction of the new railway in 2008. Construction work was started by SNC-Lavalin in March 2010. SNC-Lavalin operated the railway under a 35-year agreement with the public service.
Traffic was stopped in October 2012 after an accident involving an empty railcar. The operator was replaced by SFTA, a subsidiary of Transdev specialising in mountain railways, and the line was reopened on 2 May 2013.Rolling Stock
The Swiss firm Stadler received an order for 4 articulated motor cars in November 2009 of the type GTW 2/6.
