In 1877,the idea of joining Neussargues to Marvejols by a railway which served St Flour was formed. This idea, was very criticized and described as utopian because of the difficulty of the building. In fact the viaduct would stretch across the Garabit’s valley in the cantal, 122 metres high and stretches for 564 metres long. This project was to fit into the section Neussargues-Marvejols and to complete a long itinerary North-South, this creating the coke of the French railway network.

THE BUILDING

At the end of the year 1880, the achievement of the viaduct works started under the supervision of Léon Boyer, the creator of Garabit, and of Gustave Eiffel, director and in charge of the project. For this grandiose challenge, about one thousand workers were mobilized in four principal sectors: the masonry, the roadway, the piles and the arch. The Eiffel company  was hired for that building, because it was the only one able to build this viaduct. The materials used may seem rudimentary today, but at this time they were the top of  technology, notably in the domain of  metallurgy. The technic used had already been proved valid on the bridge of Rouzat over the Sioule: it was a railway which entered on the viaduct at the valley’s edge, passing first on masonry arches, then on a big girder which was built on metallic piles. This technic was improved, for the occasion, by the building of a big metallic arch, showpiece of the work. This arch was formed by two half-arches, built cantilever without scaffolding  whose tops joined.     

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VIADUCT IN FIGURES

The viaduct of Garabit stretches across the valley of “La Truyère”.

It dimensions are as follows:

·        height on top of the river: about 122 m

·        total length of the viaduct: about 564 m

·        length of the metallic apron: about 448 m