page_title: Montmartre Funicular
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: Montmartre Funicular / History / Origins
caption_attribution_description: Carte postale ancienne éditée par CM N° 351 PARIS&#160;: Montmartre - le Sacré Cœur et le Funiculaire
context_page_description: The Montmartre Funicular is an inclined transport system serving the Montmartre neighbourhood of Paris, France, in the 18th arrondissement. Operated by the RATP, the Paris transport authority, the system opened in 1900, and was entirely rebuilt in 1935 and again in 1991.
  Notably, the system is today a funicular in name only. Its formal title, the Montmartre Funicular, is a vestige of its earlier configuration, namely where its cars operated in a counterbalanced, interconnected pair, always moving in opposite directions in concert, thus meeting the definition of a funicular. The system now uses two independently operating cars that can each ascend or descend on demand, qualifying as a double inclined elevator — retaining the term funicular in its title as a historical reference.
  The system carries passengers between the base of Montmartre and its summit — accessing the nearby Sacré-Cœur basilica and paralleling the adjacent staircases of Rue Foyatier. The 108 m cars climbs 36 m in under a minute and a half and carry two million passengers a year.
context_section_description: Construction of the Montmartre transport system was authorized by the Paris municipal council in 1891. It was built to serve the Sacré-Cœur Basilica at the summit of the outlier of Montmartre and was inaugurated on 5 June 1891. Original plans specified electrical traction and six stations between two termini. As built, the system used only two terminal stations and water-filled bladders as counterweights for motion.
  The funicular entered service on 12 or 13 July (sources vary), and its operation was ceded to the Decauville company with a contract lasting until 1931. However, lacking the necessary authorisation from the Paris Prefecture of Police to run the service, the company had to close the funicular from 24 November 1900 until 22 May 1901.
  The funicular was of double track at standard gauge, using the Strub rack system for braking. The rails were supported by sleepers made of structural steel, supported on concrete pedestals.
  The system was powered by two sealed water tanks/bladders with a capacity of 5 m³ (180 cu ft) located under the floor of each cabin. The tanks of one cabin were refilled at the upper station, allowing its descent under gravity with the combined weight of the passengers and water, enabling the other carriage to ascend. A steam engine situated at the lower station worked the filling pumps at the upper station. The cabins held forty-eight passengers in four closed compartments arranged like a staircase; the two end platforms were reserved for the driver and brakeman. These were retained for a brake system established on the rack railway. This system transported a million passengers a year for some thirty years.
caption: First Montmartre funicular
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