The Gare of Luméville-en-Ornois
The old station of Luméville-en-Ornois (also called La Gare) is a land, bought in 2007 by opponents to CIGÉO. It is located on the route of the potential railway line, which ANDRA wishes to rehabilitate, in order to transport radioactive waste to its storage site via CASTOR trains (see this page for more information).
A place of life, organization and resistance against the nuclear waste disposal project, La Gare has hosted many festive and political events, such as the Hippiepest in the 2010s, the VMC camp in 2015, the Printemps des Luttes Paysannes in 2016, the anti-prison week of Anarchist Bure Cross in 2020, the Rayonnantes camp in 2021, the Bestiales in 2023, the Barricades weeks/festivals in 2022 and 2024, the Septembre Infini camp in 2025…
Following CIGÉO’s Declaration of Public Utility in 2022, ANDRA launched an expropriation procedure in 2024 for the Gare site ; the expropriation was effective in 2025, followed by several months of occupation (see the occupation news feed) until the land was evicted in april 2026 (see the expulsion info feed and this article).
Currently, the land is fenced and monitored by security guards (see this article for more information).
La Gare during the Rayonnantes camp (2021)
Some fanzines about the occupation of La Gare (2025-2026) :
N°1 (september 2025) page by page version and booklet version
N°2 (september 2025) page by page version and booklet version
N°3 (october 2025) page by page version and booklet version
N°4 (december 2025) not available on the Internet
N°5 (april 2026) page by page version and booklet version
A brochure about La Gare (dating from spring 2024) : The old Luméville station : a legal and physical barricade against CIGEO : notebook version, page version in series
Contact of the Gare of Luméville : garealarevanche [at] riseup.net
The website of the old Luméville station (no longer updated since 2021), including an article below :
LA GARE, IN A FEW WORDS
The Ancienne Gare de Luméville (-en-Ornois) is a private site and a direct militant place against Cigéo, the radioactive waste burial project in Bure and its surroundings in Meuse and Haute-Marne. It is located 10 km from the laboratory and is on the route of the potential Branched Terminal Installation (ITE) : the railway that ANDRA wishes to create and operate to transport nuclear waste to Cigéo via CASTOR convoys. L’Ancienne Gare (but here we prefer to call it “La Gare”) is directly threatened by this project of an atomic mega-garbage can.
It is a resource place, of organization and reception for the curious, the collectives, the activists against Cigéo… but not only : we fight against all forms of authoritarianism, discrimination, oppression, the destruction of life, the levers of capitalism and productivism… And of course, you are free to come!
Bought in the 2000s by a group of activists, it is a space of about 8 ha between the villages of Luméville-en-Ornois and Mandres-en-Barrois. It has hosted many events such as the ten-day anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist VMC camp in August 2015, the Spring of Peasant Struggles in 2016, the anti-prison week of the Anarchist Bure Cross 2020, the Rayonnantes camp in August 2021…
Address of the Former Luméville Station : RD138 in Luméville-en-Ornois 55130 Gondrecourt-le-Château
To come by train : the nearest station is in Joinville (52300).
THE FINAL INSTALLATION (ITE), IN SHORT
The ITE could be one of the related infrastructures of the Cigéo atomic mega-bin project. It would be part of the network for the transport of nuclear waste that Andra wants to deploy if it obtains the DUP decree (declaration of public utility), perhaps during 2022.
For the territory of Meuse and Haute-Marne, the agency plans 2 dangerous projects for the rail transport of nuclear waste to Cigéo : the ITE and the rehabilitation of line 027000. Their work would be launched upon obtaining the DUP, while Cigéo is still not authorized: this is another good example of the policy of the nuclear industry’s fait accompli.
The Embranchée Terminal Installation: between Gondrecourt-le-Château and Saudron (where the laboratory is located), 14 km of new railway would be built, partly on the route now disappeared from the old line. The old station of Luméville is located on the route of the ITE potential and a expropriation procedure could take place, after the “declaration of public utility” by Cigéo.
The track crosses Gondrecourt then branches off to the west towards the downhill area of the CIGEO project.
This image shows the section of track that will be built across fields (purple), from the old track to the future CIGEO project station (yellow).
THE HISTORY OF THE GARE
The militant place is located on a section of the Jessains-Sorcy line, today largely out of service. At the old station of Luméville, the entire line was dismantled in the 70s and 80s. There are no more traces of balastres and track devices but only platforms in dimension stone and a few small buildings (station hall or barrier house).
History of the old railway line : The section where the former Luméville station is located was operated from 1892 until the mid-20th century, mainly during the First World War, then for the transport of goods. Half of this line, from Montier-en-Der (52) to Sorcy-Saint-Martin terminus (55), was created for purely strategic and military reasons, following the Franco-German war of 1870.
La Gare in the sight of Cigéo : 2006 marks the start of the Cigéo project, with the law of 28 June 2006 that makes the choice of setting up the atomic waste landfill site in Bure/Saudron. There is already the laboratory/Trojan horse since 2005. This also means that all the attention of the French nuclear promoters on “deep geological disposal” will be openly placed on this territory, contrary to the Bataille law of 1991 which recommends several lines of research.
A group of opponents buys the land of the Ancienne Gare de Luméville-en-Ornois and its buildings.
Several events are organized there, such as:
– Anti-nuclear, anti-lab and anti-Cigeo actions, like the Débranche festival!
– The Hippiepest, a noise-punk-grindcore music festival, is then organized with 4 editions on site around the 2010s.
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