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Origin and history

The Viaduct des Fades, located between Sauret-Besserve and Les Ancizes-Comps in Puy-de-Dôme, is an exceptional railway structure built in the early 20th century. It crossed the valley of the Sioule at 132.50 meters high, making it the highest railway viaduct in France and the second in Europe. Its two 92-metre high masonry batteries still hold the world record for their category. The work, of semi-metallic type, combines steel, puddled iron and granite, with a characteristic straight apron.

The project, declared of public utility in 1881, was entrusted to the Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans (PO) and designed by the engineers Felix Virard and Abel Draux. The work, led by the Société française de constructions mechaniques (former Cail establishments), began in 1901. The piles, built by Creusian masons, were built without scaffolding thanks to their hollowed structure. The apron, mounted using "flying cages", was completed in 1909 after major technical challenges, such as a landslide that changed the original plan.

Inaugurated on October 10, 1909 by René Viviani, the viaduct served on the Clermont-Ferrand–Montluçon line until its closure in 2007 for security reasons. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1984, it is now threatened by corrosion. A local mobilisation, supported by the Heritage Foundation and a €500,000 funding from the Heritage Lotto in 2019, led to its rehabilitation. Since 2020, a bike track allows you to discover it partially.

The name "Fades" derives its origin from the "fada" (fee), linked to a local legend evoking two sisters who built a "mad" bridge in the 19th century. The viaduct, a symbol of technical audacity, also embodies a cultural heritage, as evidenced by the "Ordinary Congress of Banalyse" held on site between 1982 and 1991 by situationist intellectuals.

With a length of 470 meters and an apron weighing 2,604 tons, the Fades viaduct remains an engineering model. Its records (highest masonry piles, 66th highest railway bridge in the world) and its sober architecture, where the right beam dominates, make it an emblematic monument of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Its current protection and tourism development underscore its heritage importance.

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