| Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne | |
| Canal Length: | 224.191km (139.306miles) |
| Current Num Locks: | 114 |
| Former Names: | Canal de la Marne à la Saône |
| Date Began: | 1880 |
| Date Completed: | 1907 |
| Start Point: | Vitry-le-François |
| Begin Coord: | 48.7269°N 4.5953°W |
| End Coord: | 47.3236°N 5.4342°W |
The Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne (in French pronounced as /kanal ɑ̃tʁ ʃɑ̃paɲ e buʁɡɔɲ/, literally Canal between Champagne and Burgundy), previously named Canal de la Marne à la Saône (in French pronounced as /kanal də la maʁn a la son/, literally Canal of the Marne to the Saône), is a canal in north-eastern France connecting the towns of Vitry-le-François and Maxilly-sur-Saône.[1] It is a summit level canal of Freycinet dimensions connecting the Marne and the Saône. It is 224.191 kilometres long, and has 114 locks (71 on the Marne side and 43 on the Saône side) and two tunnels, Condes which is 275 metres long and the tunnel on the summit level between Balesmes-sur-Marne and Noidant-Chatenoy, 4820 metres long. which runs almost exactly underneath the source of the Marne.
The canal is fed by four reservoirs designed for that purpose:,,, and Lac de la Vingeanne
The canal was recently renamed "Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne" for the purpose of promoting tourism, but barge skippers often call it the "canal d'Heuilley". This is in reference to Heuilley-sur-Saône, the name of the lock and lock-cut on the Petite-Saône which the canal joins, although the actual junction lies within the neighbouring commune Maxilly-sur-Saône. It is a standard process among bargemen to name the canal after the location where it starts. For example, the Canal Vire-et-Taute in Cotentin was called "canal des Ourmes" the name of its first lock, "les Ormes".[2]
Work began on the extension of the old canal of the Haute-Marne in 1880, and the canal opened in 1907, the last to be built of the Freycinet canal network in central France.[3]