Moselle. Do you know why trains run on the right in Metz?

She is a former Messina who has now moved to Lyon and happily reminds those who visit her by train after five hours.

In Metz, and to be more precise, in Moselle, Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin, trains run on the right, unlike the rest of the French rail network, which runs on the left.

Far from being a joke, this curious difference has a perfectly historical explanation. Less known than public holidays or the local health insurance system, it is part of the same heritage, that of the annexation of Alsace-Moselle to the German Empire from 1871 to 1918.

On the German model

Until the return of these three departments to France in 1918, the railway developed on the German model, therefore on the right, unlike the rest of France, modeled on the British model.

This difference would be linked to the historical rivalry between the two countries in the 19th century.

Choosing a direction of traffic opposite to that of the neighboring nation made it possible to slow down the enemy’s progress in the event of an invasion attempt.

Device called grade separations

However, let us be reassured… Today, the passage from one direction of traffic to the other at the limit of the zones concerned is done by the use of uneven passages called “leapfrogs”.

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