Cite du Train

The Cité du train the French National railway museum is the biggest railway museum in the World, this one being situated in Mulhouse. It is the successor to the Musée Français du Chemin de Fer, the organisation responsible for the conservation of major historical SNCF railway equipment.

In 1961, Mulhouse City Council offered land in Dornach to allow the SNCF to present their historical rolling stock, representative of the company's history. In 1971, the first locomotives were provisionally placed in the old engine shed, Mulhouse-Nord. A second site nearby was opened to the public in 1983 at which stage the museum received 240,000 visitors a year.

As attendance declined, it was decided to transfer the collection to the group Culture Espaces, which was already in charge of the Cité de l'automobile since 1999. The French national, regional and departmental governments, as well as the City of Mulhouse, financed a renovation at a total cost of 8.6 million euros.