I am sure a lot of people in the Pays de Gex area still remember the Collonges- Fort-l’Ecluse – Divonne-les-Bains railway line passing through Pays de Gex.

I arrived here for the first time in the late nineties, and to start with I was always careful when approaching a train crossing. I was soon told there was no need to worry about being hit by trains since the line had already been closed for many years.

Later, I remember hearing people claiming to have seen recent trains, and I remember we tried (after giving them incredulous glances at first) to work out how that could at all be possible. You’re probably laughing right now because information is so easy to get hold of these days. Twenty years ago, there were no Facebook groups, and the information on Wikipedia was scarce (especially in French). Exploring this train line has therefore provided me lots of new knowledge about the train line that runs from one side of the Pays de Gex to the other.

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Here are some historic facts:

The railway line between Collonges-Fort-l’Ecluse and Divonne-les-Bains was inaugurated in 1899, at the height of the railway craze sweeping through most of Europe. The length of this railway line was at the outset 38 kilometres. Five years later, you could travel all the way to Nyon in Switzerland from Collonges-Fort-l’Ecluse, however, this part was closed and removed in the early 1960’s when the highway was built.

During the second world war the line was closed for traffic.

The last passenger train on the Collonges to Divonne line ran in 1980. I assume this had to do with the proliferation of individual transportation that has changed so many other aspects of our lives: constructions of motorways and more and more households having access to a car. With institutions like CERN and the United Nation setting up offices in Geneva, the traffic patterns had also changed, and the need for travelling into Geneva was probably now much larger than the need for going to exotic places like Bellegarde and Lyon.

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In hindsight, I think you could say that the local politicians were short-sighted, because closing this railway line made public transport within Pays de Gex almost impossible for many years. There used to be three to four train services per day, and the communes in Pays de Gex fought to keep their beloved train line, but it was just not profitable enough.

With the large influx of people into the area in the last 20-30 years, and the difficulties we now face going from one village to another, this train service would probably have been very useful today. My own kids very quickly found out that it was easy enough to use public transport to go into Geneva, but using public transport to see their friends around Pays de Gex was impossible for them for a very long time.

Reading up a bit on the history also shed light on these ghost trains I’d heard about and proved that those friends of mine were indeed not delirious or mad after all. From 2001 to 2014, part of the railway line was actually used to transport household waste from Chevry to Bellegarde to be incinerated twice a week.

In 2014, the railway line was closed for good.

From Divonne to Gex, the old railway lines have been transformed into a very nice walking and cycling path.

However, today we’ll focus on walking on the real tracks. A railway walk is perfect whatever the weather. However, if you want to explore the parts that have not been transformed into a walking path, I will recommend long socks and trousers. Speaking from experience, I can say that wearing a pair of shorts and short socks is not ideal on overgrown paths with thorn bushes and nettles. But on the upside, from July to September you don’t need to bring a snack with you as you can feast on the delicious blackberries growing in and around the tracks.

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I have done two outings walking on the railway line, for both walks I started in Asserans where I literally parked on the railway lines. I then walked from Asserans to Peron and back and from Asserans to Collonges and back. You will need plan around two and a half to three hours for both walks.

The most scenic walk was from Asserans going west, to Collonges. Here you will be walking through two tunnels and across two spectacular train bridges.

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The first is tunnel is Grand Echaud which is 258 meters, followed by the Tunnel des Isles which is 149 meters. In both tunnels, having a flashlight available is handy. Luckily most phones these days have this tool built in.

The two impressive bridges, or viaducts, are the Viaduct de Grand Echaud and Viaduct d’Almogne.

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The old station building in Collonges Fort-l’Ecluse is not a very interesting sight and you will probably be better off enjoying the nature, pretty views, tunnels and viaducts on your return to Asserans.

Enjoy walking, and feel free to share!