"A new look unveiled for the tracks of the Montenvers rack railway".
This was the headline of a report published by the French newspaper "Le Dauphiné" on the 8th of May 2021 on "Section 9" of the renovation work on the Chamonix - Montenvers rack railway line in Haute Savoie (France).
In almost continuous rain, a team from the Sersa Süd completed the penultimate section of renovation work on the Montenvers rack railway line from the 3rd to the 21st of May 2021. The line, with a total length of 5,141 metres, takes tourists from the centre of Chamonix to the "Mer de Glace" glacier and was inaugurated on the 29th of May, 1909. Featuring meter gauge Strub rack and a maximum gradient of 220%, is part of the infrastructure that allows the general public to discover the glaciers of High Savoy together with the "Tramway du Mont Blanc". With a team specialising in the rehabilitation of this type of infrastructure, Sersa Süd has been working there on the section-by-section rehabilitation of the infrastructure since 2012. The refurbishment activities usually take place during the first three weeks of October during the annual shutdown, which is available for maintenance work on rolling stock and infrastructure. These maintenance activities have been brought forward to the month of May this year because of the extended shutdown due to Covid. Despite the difficulties in implementing the Covid protection and control measures and the exceptionally bad weather conditions, this ninth section with a length of around 600 metres was also completed on time in compliance with the customer's safety and quality requirements.
The documentary team of "Le Dauphiné", despite the rain, was able to talk to our employees to film an interesting video (Video Montenvers) of the work carried out. The site manager, Ilidio Boucinha de Amorim, took the opportunity to present work procedures as well as the machinery and equipment used for the complete implementation of the activities. Since the steep slope of the rail infrastructure did not allow the use of machinery that complies with the rules for the construction of rail facilities, Sersa depended on the construction team to contribute both the muscle power and many years of extensive know-how and experience.
Sersa South can be proud of the successful completion of the 9th stage of the track renewal of the Montenvers rack railroad, which winds its way up the mountains like a snake, as impressively documented in the report by "Le Dauphinè"
