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Focus on the “SAFEGE” Aerial Metro:
In 1958, SAFEGE, an engineering firm affiliated with Lyonnaise des Eaux, embarked on the creation of a suspended metro. The uniqueness of the project was not so much the use of pneumatic bogies, like those used on several lines of the Paris Metro, but the arrangement of these axles… on the roof of the cabin! At a time when concerns were already arising about automobile traffic and the resulting traffic jams, the aerial metro seemed like a future-oriented solution.
A rail, of which nothing remains today, was constructed between the Baudin factory in Châteauneuf, responsible for its manufacture, and Saint-Martin-d’Abbat. On this 1,370-meter-long line, suspended at a height of eight meters, a blue, gold, and silver cabin ran experimentally, reaching speeds of up to 100 km/h.
Inaugurated on January 21, 1960, in the presence of the mayor of San Francisco, the aerial metro received distinguished guests until 1966, such as Nicolas Podgorny, who would become the future leader of the USSR. However, the RATP (Paris public transport authority) viewed this project with suspicion, fearing competition, and it was ultimately abandoned and dismantled.
In the meantime, in search of a futuristic setting for his film “Fahrenheit 451,” French director François Truffaut shot several scenes aboard this still-functioning aerial metro. While nothing remains today of the rail built at the time, the aluminum cabin has survived. Initially destined for the scrapyard, it ended up with a scrap dealer in Huisseau-sur-Mauves, where it was to be cut up. However, it was purchased in 1994, in a wrecked state, by an enthusiast. Kept sheltered for several years, it was restored and now serves, after two years of work, as a “bungalow” on private land not far from its original test site, well away from prying eyes.
