A few years ago, we celebrated Christmas with a delightful family holiday in Nice. We walked everywhere, or took public transport.

One highlight was lunch on Christmas Day in Monte Carlo. Afterwards at the railway station, we waited for the train to take us back to Nice. We stood on the platform waiting for the train, and then to my astonishment it approached us from the right. The trains were passing on the left hand side, just as they do in England! This got me thinking. Road traffic drives on the right in France; so why do French trains pass on the left?

Back in the 19th century, Britain’s leading railway pioneer Thomas Brassey had tendered and won an export contract to build a railway in France, from Paris to Rouen, and on to Le Havre. For the largest viaduct on the line, Brassey was dissatisfied with poor quality of the local mortar, and tried in vain to have the specification changed. Using this mortar, Thomas Brassey and his team of English navvies built the structure. Then disaster struck. A storm broke on 10th January 1846, and the entire Barentin Viaduct collapsed.

“The first thing to do is build it up again,” he said. In less than six months, the viaduct was rebuilt. He could have gone to law, with a good case on his side, since it would have been hard to prove he had been at fault. Instead, he announced that he would bear the loss himself. I have contracted to make and maintain the road, and nothing shall prevent Thomas Brassey from being as good as his word,” he said.

This proved a splendid advertisement and not quickly forgotten. When further railway contracts were awarded in France, the obvious contractor was Thomas Brassey, the man who kept his word. 
Due to his prompt action, Brassey completed the contract three months ahead of schedule, and gained a substantial bonus; the railway company was so grateful for being able to start operating early that they paid him for the rebuilding.

The Barentin Viaduct (old)

The Barentin Viaduct (new)

By 1848, Brassey and his partners had built three-quarters of all the mileage of French railways yet constructed. These were built in accordance with best British practice, with the trains running on the left. And that is why French railways run on the left to this day. Happy Christmas!

Adrian Fisher is an award- winning maze designer in Durweston, who was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen’s 2020 Birthday Honours, for services to International Trade and the Creative Industries.

Adrian Fisher

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