Viaduc de la Crueize, Railway bridge in Saint-Léger-de-Peyre, France.
The Crueize Viaduct is a straight railway viaduct on the Béziers–Neussargues line, crossing the Crueize valley in the gorge de l'Enfer. It has six arches of 25 m span, a total length of 218.80 m and a maximum height of 63.30 m above the valley floor. The piers taper gradually from base to top, and only the capping is in ashlar; the rest is gneiss rubble clad in sandstone.
Léon Boyer rerouted the Marvejols–Neussargues line across the plateau, cutting the estimated cost from 9,500,000 to 6,500,000 francs. The viaduct's construction lot was tendered in May 1879, work began in early 1880, and the masonry was finished in August 1884. The Compagnie du Midi opened the structure on 9 May 1887.
The viaduct is nicknamed "Viaduc de l'Enfer" after the gorge de l'Enfer, the steep valley it crosses. It carries the Béziers to Neussargues line between the Marvejols and Saint-Sauveur-de-Peyre stations, the latter now closed, and is flanked by the Lestoura and Born tunnels. It should not be confused with the separate Crueize road bridge.
The viaduct stands at kilometric point 629.723 on the Béziers–Neussargues line, between the Lestoura tunnel (KP 628.977) and the Born tunnel (KP 634.564), at an altitude of 905 m. It remains an active railway structure, so it is viewed from outside rather than crossed on foot. The deck is straight and descends towards Marvejols at a gradient of 27.5 mm per metre.
The viaduct's piers taper gradually from bottom to top, a technique first used at the Vezouillac Viaduct to even out pressure on the masonry. Up close the curve is actually a series of straight lines about 5 m long, forming a polygon; from a distance it reads as a smooth curve.
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