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 1,200 persons an hour.

History
There was a railway with a non-rack central rail on the Puy de Dôme (using the Hanscotte system) from 1907 to 1925. Construction of the railway started in 1906. It connected Lamartine in Clermont-Ferrand (elevation 390 m) to an artificial platform near the mountain top at 1414 m. The railway was 14.7 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.


 * Weight : 45 t.
 * Train length : 36.5 m
 * Capacity: 200 (112 seating and 88 standing)

In April 2023, it was announced that Stadler, along with local company ACC M, are to undertake the mid-life refurbishment of the four motor cars. One trainset will be refurbished at a time, with the first to be taken out of services after the summer of 2023 and completed before the summer of 2024.