Funiculaire de Saint-Just, Funicular railway in 5th arrondissement Lyon, France

The Funiculaire de Saint-Just runs 783 metres from Vieux Lyon - Cathédrale Saint-Jean to Saint-Just, with an intermediate stop at Minimes - Théâtres Romains. It climbs 91 metres, crossing the Rue Tramassac on a viaduct, then passing through a 300-metre tunnel and a 388-metre tunnel. The upper station lies inside the tunnel. Since 2016 two coupled cars, each 23.4 metres long and 2.4 metres wide, carry up to 216 people per train.

Construction began in 1875 under engineer François Grivet, and the line opened on 8 August 1878, measuring 821 metres with a 97.62-metre climb. It was converted to an electric rack railway in 1901, then rebuilt as a single-track funicular between 1957 and 1958, with a passing loop at Minimes - Théâtres Romains.

Locals call it the "Ficelle", meaning string or cord, after the cable that hauls the cars. The line has three stations: Vieux Lyon - Cathédrale Saint-Jean, the open-air intermediate stop Minimes - Théâtres Romains, and Saint-Just, the highest station, built inside a tunnel.

The line runs about 350 days a year, with the traction cable replaced at each annual inspection and a deeper ten-year overhaul. The lower station, built in 1991 near Saint-Jean cathedral, sits 30 metres underground and shares its site with the metro. Trains leave every five to ten minutes, and the full trip takes three minutes twenty seconds.

The line runs about 350 days a year because strict cableway rules require an annual overhaul in which the traction cable is replaced; every ten years a deeper inspection follows, and cars are occasionally sent by truck to Chambéry for full renovation.