Native name Ligne C Stations 5 Last extension 1984 | Opened 1891 and 1974 | |
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Lyon metro line c croix paquet 2010
Line C (Ligne C) of the Lyon Metro is the modern incarnation of the Funiculaire Croix-Rousse - Croix-Paquet (Croix-Rousse - Croix-Paquet Funicular), an old cable-hauled railway operating on part of the current alignment.
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In 1891, the original funicular line was opened, running between its namesake stations. After surviving the closure of the nearby funiculaire Rue Terme - Croix-Rousse in 1967, this line closed in 1972 for refurbishment and conversion to rack railway technology, reopening for service in 1974 (four years before lines A and B opened). When it was integrated with the metro as Lyon Metro Line C in 1978, the line's southern end was extended from Croix-Paquet to Hôtel-de-Ville (City Hall), also equipped with rack rail. A further extension of Line C opened on December 8, 1984, when its northern end was extended from Croix-Rousse to Cuire as an adhesion railway (no rack).
Today, the line currently serves 5 stations, and is 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi) long. It was constructed using various methods: the original route used by the former funicular line runs up a steep incline rising from a deep tunnel to an exposed trench, the newly built level segment at Croix-Rousse using cut-and-cover, and the latest section beyond Hénon running on the surface. Croix Paquet station claims to be the steepest metro station in the world, with an incline of 17%. The repurposed alignment of the original funicular from Croix-Paquet to Croix-Rousse is among the world's oldest structures currently used by metro trains, having first opened 125 years ago.

List of the stations
Chronology


