Abandoned train tracks in Annecy & Tunnel de la Puya
The railway line from Annecy to Albertville started operating in 1901 and closed to passenger traffic in 1938. Freight traffic kept running until 1964 when it shut down for good. In 1975, parts of the line on the west side of Lake Annecy were converted into a bike path: The Voie Verte du Lac d’Annecy. More of the line (until Ugine, near Albertville) was converted later in 2005. However, some of the rails in Annecy, west of the train station until a bit before Tunnel de la Puya (under the Semnoz), still remain. There is also a section of abandoned tracks in the Zone Industrielle de Vovray that used to be connected to the old Annecy-Albertville line.
I walked alongside those train tracks last fall: First, I walked from the train station to the ends of the train tracks in Vovray. Some parts were fenced off so I had to walk around. Some other time, I went back to the place where the line branched off towards Albertville and followed its course until Tunnel de la Puya, which was walled off. I walked on the Semnoz to get to the other side, in Sevrier. The exit of the tunnel was still open. I walked a little in the tunnel from there, but it was pretty dark so I didn’t go very far.