ReportingConnecting Clermont-Ferrand to Béziers, the line was put back into service in November 2021, after work. The opportunity for a winter crossing of the Massif Central at low speed, from picturesque gorges to windy and snowy plateaus.
On the hillside, the train climbs steadily and soon overlooks the wide valley of the Tarn where market gardening flourishes. Cradled by the felted sliding of the wheels on the rails, the traveler becomes somewhat numb. Suddenly, at the exit of a short tunnel, the snow is falling heavily. The causses, on the borders of Aveyron and Lozère, are covered with an icy coat, and the green landscape observed on the way there, the day before, turns white. Then, approaching La Canourgue, on the banks of the Lot, the train runs along fallow fields, stone houses and campsites, deserted in this season. It’s not snowing anymore.
Taking the Aubrac railway, between Clermont-Ferrand and Béziers, is not just about traveling by train. It is a journey, a crossing. An immersion far from everything, providential in these uncertain times. Also called the Causses train, the line connects the Auvergne region to the Languedoc Midi, crossing the Massif Central, climbing passes, sometimes at more than 1,000 meters in altitude, to immediately descend into some valley.
This railway adventure has to be earned. Every day, a single convoy covers the 400 kilometers of the line in six and a half hours, with a change in Neussargues (Cantal) to swap the diesel engine (blue) from the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region for a flocked electric traction (red) of the logo of the Occitanie region. In mid-November 2021, Clermont-Béziers reopened after almost a year of suspension for maintenance work. The line, endowed with low resources, not frequented enough, is regularly threatened with closure.
Garabit Viaduct, the attraction
On certain sections, the picturesque “tac-tac-doum-doum” of the old-fashioned train accompanies the journey. Although reactivating railway reminiscences from childhood, this little music signals a dilapidated infrastructure. Next summer, again, the circulation of trains will be interrupted for more than two months, the time to renovate the tracks.
This justifies taking the Aubrac train in the middle of winter. At this season, the rivers are full and muddy, nature at rest, the fruit trees show only the lichen and moss that dot their bare branches, not to mention that the snow carpets the plateaus and complicates traffic on the highway. . Putting off walks in the open air for better days, we find pleasure in crossing an icy landscape in a rolling refuge, heated and lit, with, in the headphones, the nostalgic tones of the winter travel, by Schubert.
You have 66.46% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.