Draft:Line from La Madeleine to Comines-France

The La Madeleine to Comines-France line is a non-electrified, single-track French railway line. Until its closure in December 2019, it served the stations of La Madeleine (Nord), Marquette-lez-Lille, Wambrechies, Quesnoy-sur-Deûle, Deûlémont, Sainte-Marguerite and Comines, its terminus. The line formerly continued to Comines (Belgium), on the SNCB network.

It constitutes line No. 296,000 of the national railway network.

History
This line, intended to shorten the distance between Tournai and Ypres and to serve a populated area, was provisionally granted to the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord in 1868.

The "Lille to Comines" line was definitively granted by a convention signed on May 22, 1869, between the Minister of Public Works and Messrs. Anatole de Melun, Count Charles Werner de Mérode, Louis Dupont, Florimond de Coussemaker, Isidore-David Portau, and Benjamin Labarbe. This convention was approved on the same date by an imperial decree. .

However, due to financial difficulties, as early as December 17, 1875, the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord-Est signed an agreement with the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord for the operation of all the lines it held concessions for, until the expiration of the concession. This agreement was approved by a decree on May 20, 1876. .

The line is opened for service on June 15, 1876.

It is attached to the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord network under the terms of an agreement signed between the Minister of Public Works and the company on June 5, 1883. This agreement is approved by a law on the following November 20. However, the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord did not become the full concessionaire until a treaty was signed with the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord-Est on March 30, 1889, and approved by a law on February 7, 1890.

Passenger traffic to Belgium is suspended in 1955, and the section towards the Belgian border closes in 1963, along with line 68 leading to the Belgian station of Comines.

Goods traffic beyond Comines-France station continued, however, in the form of the branch line to the Comines thermal power plant, which closed in 1985. The right-of-way between the station and the banks of the Lys was reused for the road network.

The abutments of the border bridge have been left in place. The one located in Belgium was destroyed in 2017, shortly before the widening of the Lys River to facilitate navigation.

Infrastructure
In the 2000s, the line was a single-track line operated under a special regime; in fact, there could only be one train moving at a time, as defined by instructions. Crossing was no longer possible.

Speed limit
As of December 2017, the speed limit on the line is 40 km/h (25 mph) for all types of trains due to a lack of track maintenance.

Exploitation
Since the 1960s, the cross-border section has been closed and dismantled.

The service offered on the 2018 annual schedule is of poor quality, as there are only three round trips per day, and at unattractive times; indeed, there are no departures from Lille after 5:50 pm. A rapid improvement seems unlikely, if only for technical reasons, as the absence of passing loop (except on the Lille-La Madeleine section, since it is part of the Lille-Calais double track) severely limits the capacity of the line linking Comines.

On the other hand, the rolling stock used was often old (BB 67400 locomotives + RIO carriages) and not very comfortable. As a result, ridership on the line was then very low, especially since the route is also served by the Liane 90 bus line. In 2012, the rolling stock was replaced: the service is now operated by high-capacity autorails (AGC), which has made the journey more comfortable.

Discussions about the future of this line (whose speed limit was 60 km/h (38mph) in 2016 ) involve a possible transfer to the Métropole Européenne de Lille, with the aim of carrying out viability works (estimated to cost between 30 and 50 million euros, with financial participation from the region) and thus avoiding its closure, then planned for around 2019. For safety reasons related to its condition, the speed limit of the line in commercial service is lowered to 40 km/h (25 mph) in December 2017.

The line has been closed since December 15, 2019 (the last trains however ran a few days earlier, due to a strike). Its reopening, not yet dated, could be in the form of a tram line (but the problem arises of its continuation into the Lille conurbation, notably due to the standard gauge of the track which is not compatible with the meter gauge of the current urban network) or a Bus rapid transit (by replacing the railway line with a dedicated bus lane); in any case, it would be operated by an SNCF competitor [2].

Article connexe

 * List of railway lines in France