La Grande Chaloupe station

In 2016, parts of La Grande Chaloupe railway station, built in the 1890s and renovated several times, were identified and its position determined during field walking surveys. Discovered following a Réunion railway exploratory mission, these remains are among the oldest railway works still visible today.

La Grande Chaloupe train station: a history

La Grande Chaloupe train station was initially a stop on the line when it first came into service in 1882. In July 1936, the stop became a second-class station, 13.2 metres long and 7 metres wide with a ridgecap height of 6.7 metres. The station had a waiting room, a luggage area, a ticket office, and the station master’s office. It had two double-door openings on the trackside and a window. Located at Km 47 + 900 m, the station stands between two tunnels and two gullies: on one side, the Tamarins gully and the 730-metre-long gully train tunnel at Jacques in La Grande Chaloupe, and on the other side La Grande Chaloupe gully and the 4,020-metre-long La Grande Chaloupe tunnel in La Possession. The station has three lines: the main line and the passing siding where trains could pass each other between two tunnels, and a stabling siding. An inscription on the side facades reads: “GRANDE CHALOUPE".

Field walking surveys

La Grande Chaloupe, on the coast, between the gully tunnel in Jacques at La Grande Chaloupe and La Grande Chaloupe tunnel in La Possession is still a site of outstanding beauty. The landscape of the valley and its heritage - lazarettos, the station and the remains of the railway works - are steeped in vegetation. La Grande Chaloupe is home to one of the last remaining low-altitude dry deciduous forests - an example of the biodiversity of Réunion’s natural heritage. A place of confinement for indentured immigrants from different horizons, the lazaretto was a required passage for the cultures that forged Réunion’s identity. Since 1998, this heritage site has been listed as a protected historical monument.