CdF

Chemins de Fer de Funia Lan (Funia Lan Railways)

History

The first rail line in Funia Lan was constructed from the Port Henri Diamond Mine to the coast. It was run by a separate company to the mine: Chemins de Fer de Port Henri.

Following the invasion of the country and partition by the French and English governments between 1887 and 1892, rail services were built in the respective regions by the respective governments:

• The British owned Southern Railways which hauled grain and livestock and passengers had lines radiating from Kings City
• the French Chemins de Fer de Funia Lan which ran lines North and East from Port Henri

In addition, a suburban system was built around Kings City and Chemins de Fer de Port Henri expanded their services in and around Port Henri, between mines and mining communities and between mines and the ports.

Rail Gauges

Unfortuately for various reasons, the gauges of the four railway companies were different.

• Chemins de Fer de Port Henri: 1 metre (3' 3 3/8")
• Chemins de Fer de Funia Lan: 1.435metres 4' 8 1/2" (known as "standard gauge)
• Southern Railways: 1.676metres (5' 6")
• KIngs City Railways 1 067 (3' 6")

The line from Kings City to Port Henri had a change of gauge at "Borderton", a railway town seven kilometres from the centre of Port Henri. In 1901 the Southern Railways: 1.676metres (5' 6") gauge track was laid into Gare Port Henri. This station had three different gauges until 1953 when the Southern Railways line was regauged

National Control

In 1943, IHC was given control of the railway companies. All of the companies are brought under Chemins de Fer de Funia Lan. A key difference between most other countries and Funia Lan was the complete lack of competition with railways. Because private car ownership is not possible and because all cities in Funia Lan prohibit car transport within their boundaries, car transport did not negatively impact the rail system. In addition no domestic air service is permitted.

The first challenge that CdF faced was the use of four different gauges in the nation. There were strong arguments about which gauge would prevail.

The first decision was that the Chemins de Fer de Port Henri main lines were re-guaged. The suburban passenger remained at their gauge. The Southern Railway lines were converted gradually to standard gauge (1.435m). The new suburban system in Funia Lan Cite used standard gauge. The Kings City suburban system has remained at 1 067m.

Suburban Railways

• 1956 Kings City Suburban system handed over to Kings City TramWays Ltd
• 1961 The suburban railway system around Port Henri is incorporated into PATH (Port Area Transport Holdings Ltd). The system has manitained its 1.067 metre gauge.
• 1986 the suburban rail system around Funia Lan Cite was sold to Capital#One.

TransRapide

The decision was made to adopt maglev technology on a new line from Funia Lan Cite to Kings Cite and Port Henri. The maglev lines were built and operated by TransRapide. This reduced the Funa Lan Cite-Port Henri travel time to 3.5 hours.

Chemins de Fer de Funia Lan Today

• Freight

• Passenger

CdF operates two high speed lines using French TGV technology: Port Henri to Kings City and Port Henri to Balai and onto Damor. The company operates standard speed passenger services from Funia Lan Cite to Norge. It runs a night train service from Funia Lan Cite to Kings City and one between Funia Lan Cite and Port Henri.