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24-593: The Prefect of the Bas-Rhin department , Monsieur Migneret, invented the VFIL concept with the passing of the Act of 21 May 1836 which defined the prefecture 's powers over highways. This economical mode of transport piqued the interest of other departments, and became the object of an inquiry. This led to the Act of 12 July 1865 which authorised departments and communes to implement VFILs, either themselves or through concessions , with

48-574: A mountainous region . It may operate through the mountains by following mountain valleys and tunneling beneath mountain passes , or it may climb a mountain to provide transport to and from the summit . Mountain railways often use narrow gauge tracks to allow for tight curves in the track and reduce tunnel size and structure gauge , and hence construction cost and effort. Where mountain railways need to climb steep gradients, they may use steep grade railway technology, or even operate as funicular railways . Bohinj railway The Culdee Fell Railway

72-563: A dozen small carriages or wagons, often far fewer. Routes were quite short, some tens of kilometres, with operational speed below 20 km/h (12 mph). The slowness and rudimentary comfort of the secondary railways have passed into folk stories; anecdotes abound of unsavoury episodes, passengers getting off the train to push it up a steep hill, children hot-wiring cars to run alongside the breathing machine. Their users gave them nicknames: tortillards ("twisters"), tacots ("bangers"), coucous ("cuckoos"), yoyo (imitative, as on

96-467: A few infrequent freight trains each week, fewer after 1914). Road users were warned of level crossings by simple traffic signs saying Attention au train , which in the 1930s were augmented by the Cross of St Andrew ; never a barrier . Stations were built in the same style, of small dimensions: a little waiting room and, attached to it, a modest ticket hall leading to a platform long enough to serve

120-606: A proposal by the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior . They serve at the government's discretion and can be replaced at any meeting of the Council of Ministers. To uphold the law, they are authorised to undertake a wide variety of actions, such as coordinating police forces, enforcing immigration rules, controlling authorities' finances, as well as suing local collectivities in

144-515: Is the State's representative in a department or region . Regional prefects are ex officio the departmental prefects of the regional prefecture . Prefects are tasked with upholding the law in the department they serve in, including controlling the actions of local authorities. Prefects are appointed by decree by the President of France when presiding over the government 's Council of Ministers, following

168-452: The chef-lieu de région is also the préfet de région , or the prefect of the région . Prefects operate under the Minister of the Interior . Their main missions include: Prefects may issue administrative orders in areas falling within the competency of the national government, including general safety. For instance, they may prohibit the use of certain roads without special tyres in times of snow . The prohibition on smoking or leaving

192-565: The Boisleux Marquion line), and so on. Author Marcel Proust refers often to one such train service in his novel Within a Budding Grove , always using the full phrase "le petit chemin de fer d'intérêt local" in French, literally translated as "the little train of local interest". Prefect (France) A prefect ( French : préfet , plural préfets , both [pʁefɛ] ) in France

216-564: The Chemin de Fer de la baie de Somme . The development of secondary railways happened at the same time throughout Europe. In Belgium, the SNCV created infrastructure and rolling stock to respond to the same need, but they evolved differently for many different reasons (construction by a single national body, the higher population density , a greater number of connections, partial electrification , and so on) and their development culminated around 1950. On

240-575: The Constitution of France : In the local governments of the Republic, the representative of the State, representing each member of the Government, is in charge of national interests, of administrative checks, and the respect of Law. The exact role and attributions are defined in decrees , most notably decrees of 1964, 1982, 2004, each replacing the preceding one. The prefect of the département containing

264-438: The State's assistance and control. Local bodies had a great deal of autonomy over both technical and financial planning. But the system was open to abuse: the law, in providing State subsidies of start-up capital, encouraged speculation ; in many cases, schemes started with this capital were later abandoned because of technical difficulties. The State had to restore good order to the situation and, in 1878, Charles de Freycinet ,

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288-558: The VFILs made up a baby boom , their lives were brief; only two or three generations will ever have seen them in use. In 1928 the various networks were at their largest, 20,291 km (12,608 mi). In the Second World War many lines closed, victims of both the road and their own slowness. Not long after the end of the war, from the early 1950s, the survivors fell one by one. But a few still survive, sometimes as heritage railways such as

312-455: The connections with the Big Companies. The secondary railways then grew spectacularly, from just 2,187 km (1,359 mi) of route in 1880 to 17,653 km (10,969 mi) in 1913. This expansion was somewhat anarchic, and once again it became being necessary to change legislation so that it encompassed both railways proper and tramways that ran on normal streets . This was done with

336-468: The distance. In many cases, lines were laid over road shoulders , which reduced the need to buy land and, above all, limited the need for new bridges and tunnels. But these measures severely limited the maximum operational speed, generally to less than 30 km/h (19 mph). Signalling was itself minimal because of the small number of journeys (generally six a day before the First World War , and

360-462: The law of 31 July 1913, designating them both under the name VFIL and establishing a new, more-logical classification distinguishing railways and urban tramways. The Inter-war period saw new laws (of 1 October 1926 and 17 April 1927, for example) which, with their measures of decentralisation and removal of red tape , tried to ease the financial difficulties of companies already closing their lines and often replacing them with road transport. Though

384-602: The most populous locality. A simple shelter or just a signpost marked out halts or flag stops . The locomotives and other rolling stock also had a scaled-down appearance when compared with those of the larger networks. The steam locomotives were often tank engines , generally having three axles, with or without Bissel bogies front or rear. They were comparatively light, weighing from 8 to 25 t (7.9 to 24.6 long tons; 8.8 to 27.6 short tons) unladen. Later, petrol and diesel multiple units appeared as railbuses . Overall, these machines formed short trains of at most about

408-492: The motor running while filling the fuel tank of a motor vehicle is another example of a matter typically decided by a prefectoral administrative order. On official occasions, prefects wear uniforms . For much of the time after 1800, the departments largely functioned as transmission belts for policies developed in Paris. As such, prefects originally had fairly extensive powers of supervision and control over departmental affairs. This

432-449: The name of the State. The prefects in Lille , Rennes , Bordeaux , Marseille , Lyon and Strasbourg each have additional tasks as heads of their regional defence and security zone ( zone de défense et de sécurité ). In the Paris area, the prefect of police is the head of the local zone. Overseas France has a similar zones system. Subprefects ( sous-préfets ) are responsible for

456-564: The new Minister of Public Works, gave France a vision of a comprehensive system of railways. He introduced rail transport, if not to every chef-lieu , at least to the regions still unconnected by train. De Freycinet then commissioned a two-part plan, known as the Plan Freycinet : To breathe new life into VFILs, it was necessary to enact a new law clarifying the situation. This act became law on 11 June 1880 and fixed problems with State subsidies, guaranteeing, under certain conditions, to regulate

480-467: The secondary railways, everything was designed to save money, which did not necessarily entail poor workmanship or mediocre service. Lines were generally narrow gauge , varying from 600 mm ( 1 ft  11 + 5 ⁄ 8  in ) (Calvados network) to 1,000 mm ( 3 ft  3 + 3 ⁄ 8  in ) as was more common. There were instances where standard gauge of 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in )

504-556: The subdivisions of departments, known as arrondissements , when the arrondissement is not that of the prefecture. The office of a prefect is known as a prefecture and that of a subprefect a subprefecture . From 1982 to 1988, under the Socialist administration of President François Mitterrand , prefects were called commissaires de la République (the Republic's commissioners) and subprefects commissaires adjoints de la République (the Republic's deputy commissioners). The post of prefect

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528-745: Was adopted, often to facilitate the transfer of through traffic to main line railways, such as on the Montérolier-Buchy - Saint-Saëns line in Seine-Inférieure. To keep construction costs down, routes followed the terrain as much as possible, with gradients as steep as 1:22.22 (4.5%) to 1:20 (5%) compared to no more than 1:40 (2.5%) on more traditional lines, with the exception of some mountain railways . Curves could have radii of less than 30 m (98 ft). The rail tracks used were very light; generally Vignoles rail , with mass being 9 to 35 kilograms per metre (18.1 to 70.6 lb/yd) depending on

552-518: Was especially true during the Consulate and the First and Second Empires when even the most trivial local matter had to be referred to the prefect. Since 1982, local government has been progressively decentralized, and the prefect's role has largely been limited to preventing local policies from conflicting with national policy. Mountain railway A mountain railway is a railway that operates in

576-412: Was first created on 17 February 1800 by then- First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte . Their roles were initially similar to those of the pre-revolutionary intendants . Prefects were initially charged with supervising local governments in their department, ensuring that taxes flowed to Paris and supervising conscription at the local level. Currently, the main role of the prefect is defined in article 72 of

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