A funicular at the G8 Summit
Evian - Neuvecelle, France
Presentation
The 2003 G8 Summit took place in
Evian-les-Bains, France, from 1 to 3 June 2003, in the Royal Hotel.
Funimag could not miss this opportunity to publish an
article about the Evian-Neuvecelle funicular which is located in the real
center of the G8 forbidden area!
Evian-les-Bains is located on the southern shore of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman
in French) in the northern part of the French Alps, in the Department of Haute-Savoie.
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| The Royal Hotel |
| The Royal Hotel, today, above Evian-les-Bains. The funicular
is on the right of the Royal Hotel, under the trees. |
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The 'Société des Eaux', owner of the newly built Royal
Hotel, built in 1907 a private and free electrical funicular railway
to bring the rich customers of the hotel to the Source Cachat, the
most famous source of Evian Mineral Water.
This funicular railway was only 357 meters long, from the Buvette Cachat and
the Royal Hotel, with only one intermediate stop at the Splendide Hotel.
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The Royal Hotel and its private funicular at the beginning of the XXth century.
Collection Funimag
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The Splendide Hotel which does not exist anymore, its is now tennis courts.
Collection Funimag
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Old poster showing Evian with the funicular and
the Splendide and Royal Hotels and the Dent d'Hoche in the background.
Collection Funimag |
In 1913, the funicular railway was extended at both
ends, downward underground below Rue Nationale toward le bottom station
near the Evian thermal baths and upward to Neuvecelle with three new
stops and a total of six stops (Evian Thermal Baths, Buvette Cachat,
Splendide Hotel, Royal Hotel, Les Mateirons, Neuvecelle).
In September 1969 it was decided to stop the funicular and it remained abandoned
along decades.
It would have been destined to be fit for the scrap heap... but fortunately Mr
Jean-Bernard Lemoine felt in love with the funicular!... Jean-Bernard Lemoine
was a member of a commission in charge to list ancient monuments. In 1985 he
succeeded to list the funicular as ancient monument! It was not enough for him
and he fighted many years to restore and reopen the funicular...
At last in 1995, with a new town council, it was decided to restore the funicular!
It took six years to identically restore the funicular railway as it was in 1969.
The funicular re-opened to the public in June 2002.
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In France 2 funiculars are Ancient Monuments (classés
Monuments Historiques):
- Evian - Neuvecelle
- Le Mont Dore - Capucin |
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It is affirmed, on some publicities, that the funicular
of Evian is still the only funicular in the world with six stops!
I am sorry to say that it is not true anymore! Since December 16th
1997, the funicular Sierre Montana Crans has eight stops!
See my web pages about the SMC
funicular in Funimag 12 . |
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