European Railroad Discussion > Cog-Rail Metro in Lyon, France

I am currently in Lyon, the second-largest city in France. It's a very beautiful place, with spectacular medieval architecture and two rivers which create dramatic canyons in the middle of the city.

Being a hilly, chaotic, and French city, where the streets look like a diagram for how to tie your shoelaces and people don't think trains are obsolete, Lyon has an extensive system of art-laden streetcars, subways, and funiculars. On the Line 3 of the light rail, in the suburbs, there is probably the most fabulous piece of public art I have ever seen: a series of vintage pictures on a wall beside the tracks, so that when a train passes, a flip book-like video is created. Unfortunately, it must be seen in person to be appreciated. (And my camera was out of batteries as I whizzed past it on my way into town from the airport.)

There were originally five funiculars in the city, climbing the steep hills, but only two remain in their current state. The other three were combined into Line C of the Metro, which uses conventional metro equipment equipped with a rack system to climb the steep inclines. While I was wandering in a trendy hillside neighborhood earlier today, I serendipitously came upon a station along the metro Line C, located on a steep grade with tunnels on both ends.

Photo 1: The Croix-Paquet station, in a quiet neighborhood.

Video: A train approaches the station.

More photos of trains around Lyon coming soon, and I hope this video encodes. I've never before posted a video that has worked: it always says "This video is still being encoded. Please check back in a few minutes." forever.

Tor not in Eugene

---

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

Photo 2: A train pulls up to the platform, showing the incline. Taken through a glass wall, without a tripod (as you can see from the 1st picture).

Photo 3: The platform, now silent after the train has passed. Another evening in Croix-Paquet, Lyon.

---

---

Now for some shots of Lyon's funky trams. It seems like every city in Europe has its own distinctive funky trams.

Photo 4: A tram on a bridge.

Photo 5: Here we see the funky blobbiness of the tram. That's a heavy-rail bridge in the background. Just thirty seconds after I took this picture, a TGV passed on the bridge. Given that, being France, the mainline trains pass with just as much frequency as the trams, I think that it would only take a few hours to get a shot with a tram and a train "racing" each other on these bridges, but it was a few hours I didn't have.

Photo 6: The tram has a decal of the Lyon skyline along the side, which I think looks disconcertingly like graffiti. But perhaps I'm just on edge, because there is SO MUCH graffiti in Lyon.

---

---

---

***WARNING: CONTAINS NON TRAIN RELATED CONTENT***

And lastly, here are my favorite businesses in Lyon. All are within a literal stone's throw from the Croix-Paquet station. It's difficult to throw a figurative stone, however. I guess that means an editorial. And you can't throw an editorial very far.

Photo 7: Clothing...

Photo 8:...a café...

Photo 9: ??????

Darn, it looks like that video is still encoding. And my pictures are terrible. What else could go wrong...oh no, ZOMBIES!!!!!!

---

---

---

Believe it or not, Lyon's trams are designed to look like silk worms because Lyon was once the center of the French silk industry. Lyon's system is the second largest in France with 66.3 km in its system. It opened in 2001 and carried 73.71 million passengers in 2013.