Grasse had, for a time, a funicular railway which transported passengers to and from the PLM railway station below the town . The higher station was at La Cours close to the old town of Grasse. For a great del of its life it competed with the TAM trams which meandered up and down the hill between La Cours and Grasse PLM station.
Details of all the other lines in Grasse can be found by following this link:
The funicular railway station was at the West end of the platform of the Grasse to Cannes railway run by the PLM. It was easier for passengers to access than the trams which started on the station concourse and this, together with the shorter travel time led eventually to the funicular outlasting the tram service.
The funicular was commissioned in 1909 but only lasted until 1938 when it was dismantled.
The Grasse train station was put back into service in 2005. Since then, the idea of the funicular has been under development with the aim of improving access to Grasse from the train station.
Before looking at the new proposal , we can enjoy a number of old postcard pictures of the original funicular in operation.
As we have noted, Grasse has seen a need to commission a new funicular and has been developing plans since 2005.
http://aeiagence.com/projet/funiculaires-de-grasse
https://www.systra.com/en-project/the-grasse-funicular
The project has yet to see the light of day. If it does proceed then it will have 4 stations within an overall length of 570 metres and passengers will be carried up a total of 110 metres with an average incline of 20 % . The funicular will consist of two trains, each composed of two vehicles, connected by cable.
The implementation was entrusted on 12th August 2010 to a consortium of companies: DV Construction (a subsidiary of Bouygues Construction group ), Garelli , Poma, Miraglia, Snaf, Systra , Pierre Lorin and AEI. The project is likely to cost at least 40 million euros. The French State has agreed to paying 5.5 million euros as part of the development of public transport projects under the Grenelle de l’Environnement. The Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region will subsidise the project with an amount of 4 million euros.
The costs are at least:
30 million euros for design and implementation;
4.5 million for intellectual services and engineering;
4 million for land acquisitions!
1.5 million for contingencies.
For supporting information please see reference 2.
References
- Funiculaire-de-Grasse; Wikipedia: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funiculaire_de_Grasse, accessed 18th December 2017.
- Subsidy of 5.5 million for the funicular of Grasse; observatoiredessubventions.com 2013 (accessed 23rd September 2013).
Roger Farnworth 