The Montmartre Funicular () is an inclined transport system serving the

Montmartre Montmartre ( , , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement of Paris, 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Rive Droite, Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for its a ...

neighbourhood of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, in the 18th arrondissement. Operated by the RATP, the Paris transport authority, the system opened in 1900; it was entirely rebuilt in 1935 and again in 1991. The system is a

funicular A funicular ( ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep grade (slope), slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to ...

in name only. Its formal title, the Montmartre Funicular, is a vestige of its earlier configuration, where its cars operated in a counterbalanced, interconnected pair, always moving in opposite directions in concert, thus meeting the definition of a

. The system now uses two independently operating cars that can each ascend or descend on demand, qualifying as a double

inclined elevator An inclined elevator or inclined lift is a form of cable railway that hauls rail cars up a steep gradient. Introduction An inclined elevator consists of one or two inclined tracks on a slope with a single car on each carrying payload. In ...

, retaining the term ''funicular'' in its title as a historical reference. The system carries passengers between the base of Montmartre and its summit, accessing the nearby Sacré-Cœur basilica and paralleling the adjacent staircases of Rue Foyatier. The cars climbs in under a minute and a half and carry two million passengers a year.

Current design

Constructed by the Schindler Group, the system with electrical traction entered service on 1 June 1991. It has two cabins with sixty places each which travel on two separate, parallel tracks using the international

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 ...

of . It has a capacity of passengers per hour in each direction. A trip in either direction, which covers a vertical distance of over a track distance of , takes less than 90 seconds and climbs or descends a gradient as high as 35.2% (a little steeper than 1:3). The technology of the Montmartre line differs from a funicular in that it uses independently operating cars more related to standard up-down

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

s, each equipped with its own

counterweight A counterweight is a weight (object), weight that, by applying an opposite force, provides balance and stability of a machine, mechanical system. The purpose of a counterweight is to make lifting the load faster and more efficient, which saves e ...

. Again, a funicular's cars are by definition arranged in counterbalanced, interconnected pairs, moving in concert. The Montmartre system now allows each car to function independently, with its own hoist and cables. Advantages of this arrangement include the ability of one car to remain in service during maintenance of the other. Also, both cabins can ascend simultaneously (usually, more passengers use the system to ascend than to descend), where cars of a funicular always travel in opposite directions. The see-through stations were designed by architect François Deslaugiers and the cabins were designed by Roger Tallon, who also designed the carriages of the TGV Atlantique. The cabin roofs are partly glazed, allowing a view during transit. Funiculaire de montmartre

The system operates daily from 6 am until 12.45 am, transporting people a day, or around 2 million annually. The lower station (''Gare Basse'') is located between the and the , and the upper one (''Gare Haute'') on the .

History

The Paris city government voted to construct the Montmartre transport system in 1891. Initially, operation was subcontracted to Decauville through a concession that ended in 1931. Thereafter, the Société des transports en commun de la région parisienne (STCRP) took control, and this was nationalized together with the (CMP) to form the (RATP), which continues to operate the funicular today. The original system in contrast to the current system was, in fact, a funicular with twin counterbalanced and interconnected cars. In the case of the Montmartre design, a system of onboard water bladders of could be filled or emptied to move the cars and to compensate for passenger load. In 1935, the system was converted to electricity. The system was completely rebuilt by the RATP in 1990–1991, as dual independently operating inclined elevators. The system was shut down after a minor accident during tests by the RATP in December 2006. It reopened in July 2007.

Chronology

* 5 June 1891: Decision to create a funicular at Montmartre * 12 or 13 July 1900: Inauguration of the first water-driven funicular * 1 November 1931: Closure of the water-driven funicular * 2 February 1935: Opening of the electric funicular * 1 October 1990: Closure of the funicular for the second renovation * 5 October 1991: Opening of the modern inclined elevator, retaining the name ''funicular'' * 7 December 2006: Accident during a brake load test, without passengers

Origins

Construction of the Montmartre transport system was authorized by the Paris municipal council in 1891. It was built to serve the Sacré-Cœur Basilica at the summit of the

outlier In statistics, an outlier is a data point that differs significantly from other observations. An outlier may be due to a variability in the measurement, an indication of novel data, or it may be the result of experimental error; the latter are ...

of Montmartre and was inaugurated on 5 June 1891. Original plans specified electrical traction and six stations between two termini. As built, the system used only two terminal stations and water-filled bladders as

s for motion. The funicular entered service on 12 or 13 July (sources vary), and its operation was ceded to the Decauville company with a contract lasting until 1931. However, lacking the necessary authorisation from the Paris

Prefecture of Police In France, a Prefecture of Police (), headed by the Prefect of Police (), is an agency of the Government of France under the administration of the Ministry of the Interior. Part of the National Police, it provides a police force for an area lim ...

to run the service, the company had to close the funicular from 24 November 1900 until 22 May 1901. The funicular was of

double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most li ...

, using the Strub rack system for braking. The rails were supported by sleepers made of

structural steel Structural steel is steel used for making construction materials in a variety of shapes. Many structural steel shapes take the form of an elongated beam having a profile of a specific cross section (geometry), cross section. Structural steel sha ...

, supported on concrete pedestals. The system was powered by two sealed water tanks/bladders with a capacity of located under the floor of each cabin. The tanks of one cabin were refilled at the upper station, allowing its descent under gravity with the combined weight of the passengers and water, enabling the other carriage to ascend. A steam engine situated at the lower station worked the filling pumps at the upper station. The cabins held forty-eight passengers in four closed compartments arranged like a staircase; the two end platforms were reserved for the driver and

brakeman A brakeman is a rail transport worker whose original job was to assist the braking of a train by applying brakes on individual wagons. The advent of through brakes, brakes on every wagon which could be controlled by the driver, made this role r ...

. These were retained for a brake system established on the

rack railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with ...

. This system transported a million passengers a year for some thirty years.

First renovation, 1931

When the contract expired, the

Mayor of Paris The mayor of Paris (, ) is the Chief executive officer, chief executive of Paris, the capital and largest city in France. The officeholder is responsible for the administration and management of the city, submits proposals and recommendations to ...

and the Seine Department charged the (STCRP) with running the service and modernising the infrastructure. The rack system was deemed too dangerous and so the initial system was shut down; operations ceased on 1 November 1931. The water-driven system was replaced by two electrically driven cabins and reopened on 2 February 1935 after an interruption of more than three years. Traction was provided by a winch driven by a

electric motor An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...

, allowing a cabin holding fifty people to make the journey in 70 seconds at a speed of . The cabins were no longer arranged like a staircase but composed of a single compartment with a horizontal floor. By 1955, the line was in service from 7 am until 9 pm in winter and until 11 pm in summer, entry to the station being made by cancelling a bus ticket. In 1962, the funicular transported passengers and operations were suspended for some weeks for a new renovation. The line was opened in the presence of "" (Parisian illustrators) and Émile Kérembrun, the President of the , a philanthropic society.

Second renovation, 1991

After fifty-five years of operation, transporting two million passengers annually, the system was in need of renovation. An idea was proposed by the RATP and the Mairie de Paris, to lengthen the line with a tunnel to the Anvers métro station. The idea was abandoned due to high cost. The RATP entirely rebuilt the funicular in 1990–1991. Operations ceased on 1 October 1990, being substituted with a minibus service, the "Montmartrobus", between the Place Pigalle and the top of the , until the new system entered service on 5 October 1991. The old stations were demolished and rebuilt as designed by architect François Deslaugiers. The works were undertaken by Schindler Group, a lift manufacturer, and cost 43.1 million

francs The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' ( King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centur ...

Since its latest renovation, the system uses angled lift technology with electrical traction. It is no longer a funicular but retains the term in reflection of its history. The system no longer functions with the requisite interconnected and counterbalanced arrangement of a funicular (where cabins always move in opposite directions, the descending cabin counterweighing the ascending one). The machinery is located in the higher station; it is composed of two totally independent winches powered by motors. The cabins each weigh unladen, when full. They have a service brake and an emergency brake. The carriages and chassis were made by Skirail, and the electrics by

Poma Poma, incorporated as Pomagalski S.A., and sometimes referred to as the Poma Group, is a French company which manufactures cable-driven lift systems, including fixed and detachable chairlifts, gondola lifts, funiculars, aerial tramways, peo ...

. Operation is entirely automatic: The presence and number of passengers are detected by a system combining electronic

balance scale A scale or balance is a device used to measure weight or mass. These are also known as mass scales, weight scales, mass balances, massometers, and weight balances. The traditional scale consists of two plates or bowls suspended at equal dis ...

s mounted in the cabin floor, and

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

in the stations. A computer determines the cabin's departure, indicated with a display board in the cabin. According to the amount of passenger traffic, it chooses between the two possible operating speeds, and . For safety, the

platform edge doors Platform screen doors (PSDs), also known as platform edge doors (PEDs), are used at some train, rapid transit and people mover stations to separate the platform from train tracks, as well as on some bus rapid transit, tram and light rail sy ...

open only when a cabin is present, as on the

Paris Métro Line 14 Paris Métro Line 14 (French: ''Ligne 14 du métro de Paris'') is one of the sixteen lines on the Paris Métro. It connects and Aéroport d'Orly (Paris Métro), Aéroport d'Orly on a north-west south-east diagonal via the three major station ...

and some stations on London's

Jubilee line The Jubilee line is a London Underground line that runs between in suburban north-west London and in east London, via the West End of London, West End, South Bank and London Docklands, Docklands. Opened in 1979, it is the newest line on the ...

. On 7 December 2006 at 5.50 pm, a cabin crashed down the slope during a brake system test by RATP. The terminal of the lifting cable broke. The service was suspended, adding to the problems of the residents and traders on the , the first having to make do with a less-frequent replacement bus service, the second seeing their trading levels fall (20–30% lower than for December 2006) from having fewer tourists. One of the two cabins was put back in service on 30 June 2007, the other on 2 August 2008.

Operation

The funicular has a similar fare system as the

Paris Métro The Paris Métro (, , or , ), short for Métropolitain (), is a rapid transit system serving the Paris metropolitan area in France. A symbol of the city, it is known for its density within the capital's territorial limits, uniform architectur ...

network. Each station has

turnstile A turnstile (also called a gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce One-way traffic#One-way traffic of people, one-way ...

s which accept the

Navigo card The Navigo card () is a contactless smart card used to travel on public transport in Paris and Île-de-France. The card is based on the Calypso (electronic ticketing system), Calypso standard, initially implemented with Radio-frequency identifica ...

. A Métro-Train-RER Ticket can be used for a single journey. The ticket does not allow for a free interchange between the Métro or bus network and the funicular. Paris Visite, daily, weekly, and monthly passes are also valid for the funicular. Two Métro stations are within easy walking distance of the lower station: Anvers on Line 2 about to the south and Abbesses on Line 12 about to the west. Bus line 40 has a stop Rue du Cardinal-Dubois in front of the upper station. The ("Allocation codes") of the lower and upper stations are respectively 31-02 and 31-03. Code 31 corresponds to the

Quartier Pigalle Pigalle () is an area in Paris, France, around the Place Pigalle, on the border between the 9ème arrondissement, Paris, 9th and the 18ème arrondissement, Paris, 18th arrondissements. It is named after the sculpture, sculptor Jean-Baptiste Pigal ...

, or FUNB and FUNH.

Finance

The RATP finances the line's operation (maintenance, infrastructure and cost of personnel). Fares are set by political decisions which do not cover the true cost of transportation. The loss is made good by the controlling authority, the (STIF), which since 2005 has been under the control of the ("Île-de-France Regional Council") and composed of local representatives. It defines the general conditions of operation and the duration and frequency of services. Losses are made good by an annual block grant to regional transport operators funded by the ("Transport payment"), a tax raised on companies with more than nine employees. Public bodies also contribute.

Projects

Given the interest in the technical solution provided by the funicular for public passenger transport over relatively short and extremely steep routes, studies have called for the RATP to build similar systems, notably at

Issy-les-Moulineaux Issy-les-Moulineaux () is a commune in the southwestern suburban area of Paris, France, lying on the left bank of the river Seine. Its citizens are called in French. It is one of Paris's entrances and is located from Notre Dame Cathedral, whic ...

, in the renovation project of the Fort d'Issy quarter, and to link the Meudon-sur-Seine station on Paris Tramway Line 2 with the Gare de Bellevue, which would recreate the old Bellevue funicular at

Meudon Meudon () is a French Communes of France, commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, on the left bank of the Seine. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of P ...

, demolished in 1934.

Popular culture

The funicular is an essential element in Paris life, and thus appears in many films and television series having Montmartre as a theme. One of the most famous is (1990), starring

Thierry Lhermitte Thierry Lhermitte (; born 24 November 1952) is a French actor, director, writer and producer, best known for his comedic roles. He was a founder of the comedy troupe ''Le Splendid'' in the 1970s, along with, among others, Christian Clavier, Géra ...

and

Philippe Noiret Philippe Noiret (; 1 October 1930 – 23 November 2006) was a French film actor. Life and career Noiret was born in Lille, France, the son of Lucy (Heirman) and Pierre Noiret, a clothing company representative. He was an indifferent student a ...

, and it also appears in (1997), (2006) and ''

Louise (Take 2) ''Louise (Take 2)'' is a 1998 French drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualifie ...

'' (1998). In the first pilot episode of the police series , a chase takes place on the Rue Foyatier steps alongside the funicular, just like in the classic film '' Céline et Julie vont en bateau'' (1974, Jacques Rivette); in the pilot, the character played by Jean-Pierre Castaldi runs up it to catch the crooks. Similarly in the film (2009), Michel Fernandez ( Thierry Frémont) flees by the stairs, chased by Nora Chahyd ( Rachida Brakni) who takes the funicular.

Jean-Pierre Melville Jean-Pierre Grumbach (20 October 1917 – 2 August 1973), known professionally as Jean-Pierre Melville (), was a French filmmaker. Considered a spiritual godfather of the French New Wave, he was one of the first fully-independent French filmmake ...

opened his film (1956) with a

tracking shot In cinematography, a tracking shot is any shot where the camera follows backward, forward or moves alongside the subject being recorded. Mostly the camera’s position is parallel to the character, creating a sideway motion, tracking the chara ...

around the Montmartre quarter where the film is set, and voiceover then says " ird's eye view of the funicular descending, with music Place Pigalle">hot of the Place Pigalle ("It is at one and the same time heaven ... and ... hell"). The funicular figures in an eponymous work by

Jean Marchand Jean Marchand (December 20, 1918 – August 28, 1988) was a French Canadian public figure, trade unionist and politician in Quebec, Canada. Life and career During the 1949 Asbestos Strike in Quebec, Marchand led the striking workers as s ...

(1883–1940), on view at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. It appears in literature in a short story by Boileau-Narcejac titled ("The enigma of the funicular"), published in 1971 in the review , and also in the works of Jacques Charpentreau who, in a poem entitled , compares the cabins to two contrary brothers: ("When one flies into the air, the other falls to the ground/ And la, la la"). In October 2006, at the request of the website for its "" ("concerts to download"), the singer

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

made an appearance in one of the funicular's cabins surrounded by passengers, singing her song ("The end of the world in ten minutes") from the album as it ascended. The funicular also appears in the 2011 3D computer generated animated film, A Monster in Paris.

References

Sources

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External links

Virtual tour in 360 degrees
Use the mouse to turn around. {{coord, 48, 53, 07, N, 2, 20, 33, E, display=title, region:FR-IDF_source:frwiki Funicular railways in France Rail transport in Paris Buildings and structures in the 18th arrondissement of Paris Railway lines opened in 1900 RATP Group Montmartre Former water-powered funicular railways converted to electricity Standard-gauge railways in France Inclined elevators