Compagnie du Mont-Blanc - Tramway du Mont-Blanc

584 - 1 794 METRES

Tramway du Mont-Blanc

Introduction - The Tram - Winter - Summer - Eating out - Timetables

The oldest train in the valley !

With the Mont-Blanc Tram (Tramway du Mont-Blanc, TMB), you discover an exquisite piece of technical heritage, resulting from the great bold and innovatory challenges of the beginning of the twentieth century.

Map

The Mont-Blanc Tram’s route : landmarks
Le Fayet (580 m)
Saint-Gervais (792 m),
Montivon (1400 m),
col de Voza (1 653 m), Bellevue (1 800 m),
Mont Lachat (2047 m).
It is from there that the high-mountain trail, made in the rock at the foot of Les Rognes, begins. It ends at the Nid d'Aigle (2372 m).

The key dates of a tram line unlike any other...
1904 : start of works.
1907 : : inauguration of the first section as far as the Col de Voza.
1911 : second section as far as Bellevue.
1912 : the line reaches the Nid d'Aigle.
1914 : the line reaches the Bionassay glacier.
1923 : opening of the line in winter, as far as Bellevue.
1956 : the steam motor carriages are replaced by electric motor carriages.

Three motor carriages and three names : Anne, Marie and Jeanne...
Girls’ names given by the owner of the tram line in 1956, Mr. Noury, when the motor carriages went electric.
They are the names of his three daughters…

History and engineering

At the beginning of the century, the engineer Issartier wanted everyone to be able to get to the Roof of Europe, at the summit of Mont-Blanc at 4810 m without any difficulty. A great engineering challenge and a somewhat mad dream.
© Esope-E.Moy

Between 1895 and 1904, several projects were born : tunnels, lifts or continuous ramp. In 1902, Henri Duportal, a highways engineer, responsible for the Cluses-Le Fayet PLM line, put forward the idea of a tram line to connect Le Fayet/Saint Gervais and the Aiguille du Goûter, the first stage to the summit of Mont-Blanc.
This project was accepted unanimously, both on account of its cost which was lower than that of the other projects, and on account of the 18-kilometre route which was in the open and which followed the natural slopes of the south side of Mont-Blanc.
The rack-train solution was therefore adopted to reach the Aiguille du Goûter.

The route of the line has not been modified since it was created.

Discovering the mountain easily

The little rack-train departs from the village of Le Fayet for a surprising journey of over an hour which goes through several panoramas.
Towards Saint-Gervais, the traveller discovers villages, with chalets and traditional farms. After a stop of several minutes, the train goes up the Le Prarion mountain and goes round it through a forest of broad-leaved trees and then of fir trees. At the Col de Voza (1600 metres) the countryside opens out onto the Arve valley to the north, and Les Contamines to the south. The Aravis range is unveiled when the Aiguilles Rouges massif begins to appear. The Mont-Blanc Tram winds through the pastures as far as Bellevue, offering the dizzying spectacle of the Aiguilles de Chamonix and the Dômes de Miage, while the formidable chaos of stone and ice of Mont-Blanc stands out distinctively. The surroundings then become mineral until you arrive at the Nid d'Aigle, at the foot of the Bionnassay glacier, where the spectacle of the high mountains spreads out before the amazed traveller’s eyes.