The Auray–Quiberon line is a single-track,

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

French rail line that serves the

Quiberon Quiberon (; , ) is a commune in the French department of Morbihan, administrative region of Brittany, western France. It is on the southern part of the Quiberon peninsula, the northern part being the commune of Saint-Pierre-Quiberon. It is ...

peninsula. It branches off at from the Savenay–Landerneau line, a radial line south of

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

. A draft plan was presented on 15 July 1879, and the

Chemins de fer de l'État The Administration des chemins de fer de l'État (, "State Railway Administration"), often referred to in France as the Réseau de l'État (, "State Network"), was an early state-owned French railway company. History The company was establishe ...

(State Railways Administration) began construction. Operations commenced on 14 July 1882, and the line was transferred to the

Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans The ''Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans'' (, PO) was an early French railway company. It merged with the '' Chemins de fer du Midi'' to form the '' Chemins de fer de Paris à Orléans et du Midi'' (PO-Midi) in 1934. In 1938 the PO ...

(PO) the following year. In 1972, passenger service—which had already been discontinued during the winter—was reduced to two daily trains during the summer. To cope with the chronic congestion of the only road to reach the Quiberon peninsula from the mainland, the line was relaunched in 1985 with the introduction of single fare shuttles, jointly sponsored by the Brittany region and the SNCF as part of the TER Bretagne service. The name of this shuttle service is directly related to traffic jams that trains can avoid: "Corkscrew". This operation provides a more consistent service to the peninsula during the two months of the summer season. The rest of the year, a road bus service "TIM", organized by the department of Morbihan, links the stations of Auray and Quiberon.

Chronology

* July 15, 1879: Declaration of public utility of a preliminary draft * July 24, 1882: Commissioning of the line from Auray to Quiberon * June 28, 1883: Transfer by the State to the Paris to Orléans Railway Company * March 6, 1972: Closure of the line to serve omnibus passengers * July 1, 1985: Commissioning of the “Tire-Bouchon” in July and AugustJean-Pierre Nennig, ''op. cit.'' , p. 171.

References

Railway lines in Brittany {{France-rail-transport-stub