Funiculaire du Tréport, Inclined elevator in Le Tréport, France.
The Funiculaire du Tréport is an inclined cable railway in Le Tréport, Normandy, linking the lower town near the harbor to the plateau at the top of the cliffs. The cars travel through brick-lined tunnel shafts cut into the rock, covering a vertical rise of around 76 meters (about 250 feet).
The funicular was built from January 1907 by the Massiou company and inaugurated on 1 July 1908, with Gaston d'Orléans, count of Eu, among the first passengers. In 1941 the German occupying forces installed a long-range gun at the upper station, ending operation; it was not restarted at the Liberation. A two-seat cable car ran in the tunnel from 1958 to 1982, and inclined elevators opened in August 2006.
The name "Terrasses" comes from the hillside district above the cliffs, where the first villas were built and where the upper station stands. The 1908 cars were varnished-wood bodies with four tiered compartments and sliding doors; the upper station's coloured brick and metal frame recall Paris metro stations such as Javel.
The ride takes under two minutes and is free for everyone, making it one of the most accessible ways to avoid the steep climb on foot. The lower station is a short walk from the harbor, and the upper station opens directly onto the clifftop with views of the coast.
The four cars operate in pairs on separate tracks, each pair working on a counterbalance principle where one car pulls the other up as it descends. This system has changed little since reopening and still follows the same basic mechanical logic used when the line first opened in 1908.
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