The funicular linking Sierre to Crans-Montana (VS) has been back on track since Sunday. This complete upgrade will have lasted a little over nine months. Of the six intermediate stops, two are kept for the time being.
The 4.2 kilometers of rails more than a century old which wind over 1000 meters of elevation have been completely rebuilt and the two cabins replaced. The total investment amounts to nearly 24 million francs. The railway and bus company Sierre-Montana-Crans (SMC) was able to count on a loan of 8.3 million francs granted by the Valais Grand Council.
The Federal Office of Transport officially gave the green light on Friday to the operation of the line, welcomed the SMC. With the new funicular, the pace of the races is reduced from 30 to 20 minutes. Enough to ensure reliable connections with, in particular, the trains of the Simplon line and the Crans-Montana urban network.
The SMC company hopes to “double attendance in the coming years” and thus go from an average of 1,000 to 2,000 passengers per day, said Patrick Cretton, director of the company.
Four judgments in question
To guarantee a race every 20 minutes, the company decided to eliminate four intermediate stops out of six. A decision that has provoked the irritation of residents who have come together in the association for the defense of the interests of users of the F’unis funicular.
Over the years, actions, discussions, projects and counter-projects, only two intermediate stops have been maintained: Venthône and Bluche. Discussions to save two other intermediate stops are in a preliminary phase, notes Patrick Cretton, who speaks of a “long-term project which will require, among other things, a search for funds and a new investigation”.
According to the director, it would be possible from a technical point of view to maintain four omnibus runs per day. The question will be in particular to establish whether these new “works are worthwhile with regard to proportionality”, he specifies. On December 2, during a presentation to the press of the public transport offer in the canton, the State of Valais did not leave much hope.
In the absence of federal financial support, which deems attendance insufficient at these four stops, canton and municipalities must seek a solution that is “financially reasonable”, explained the canton. And if a solution is found, it will take “six to seven years” before any entry into service of these intermediate stations which are no longer up to standard, i.e. the time to carry out the entire procedure until building.
Request for clarification
The F’unis association is aware that it will not be able to save the Muraz and Marigny stops on which the canton “does not come into play” and which are already well served by buses. On the other hand, it is mobilizing to “reactivate the two other stops two kilometers away from a bus stop”: St-Maurice de Laques, in the municipality of Crans-Montana, and Darnona, in that of Noble-Contrée.
“These two municipalities announced to us last September that they were entering into financial matters and we are very happy regarding it”, indicates Dominique Rouvinet, president of F’unis. They would assume half of the costs, equally with the canton.
On the other hand, the association does not understand why the canton announces such a long procedure (six to seven years) for work to bring the two intermediate stations up to standard: “We are going to ask for clarifications and try to obtain a timetable”, specifies Dominique Rouvinet.
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