Canal du Midi - Part 2

Beside the Fonserannes Staircase is another unused structure and what appears to be a slide. Apparently this was intended to replace the lock staircase. It was built in the sixties intended to enable 38m barges t pass through. The blue and pink structure (right) carried the boats up and down the slope (left). It only operated 3 times before the hydraulic brakes failed! That was the end of artifiical machines on Riquet's canal. Bottom right is the small sluice that carries the water back into the canal after the locks are operated.