Chemins de fer d'Aire à Fruges et de Rimeux-Gournay à Berck
The Aire–Fruges and Rimeux-Gournay–Berck railway (Chemins de fer d'Aire à Fruges et de Rimeux-Gournay à Berck; CF du ARB) was a railway from Aire-sur-la-Lys to Berck, in the Pas-de-Calais department of France. It opened in 1891 and closed in 1955. History of rail transport in France In France, the building of railways was controlled by the Government. This avoided the duplication of routes that was seen in the United Kingdom and meant that the large cities and towns were connected. The citizens of the smaller towns and villages also wanted railways to be built to connect them to the network. The departments were given authority to oversee the construction of these minor lines, some of which were built to standard gauge and others were narrow gauge. The Loi Migneret of 12 July 1865 established that railways in France were to be classified as of "General Interest" (Intérêt Général) or "Local Interest" (Intérêt Local). The former were deemed to be of sufficient importance that they could be partly charged to the state. The latter were charged to the department. The CF du ARB came under the control of the Pas-de-Calais department. Rang-du-Fliers was connected to the railway network in November 1847 with the opening of the Longueau–Boulogne railway. It is located from Berck-Plage, which was to develop into a fashionable health resort. A proposal in 1871 to connect Berck to Montreuil with a metre gauge railway was turned down. It was put forward again in 1882 and received authorisation. Also in that year, a standard gauge branch was proposed from Rang-du-Fliers to Berck. In 1886, a M. Macquet was given permission to build a metre gauge railway from Verton to Berck, but he was unable to raise the capital to build it. M. Lambert was given permission that year to build lines from Aire-sur-la-Lys to Fruges and also from Renty to Hucqueliers. The final proposal was to build a line from Berck to Rimieux-Gournay to join the existing Chemin de fer d'Anvin à Calais (CF AC) line, and then from the CF AC another branch to Aire-sur-la-Lys.
