As part of the start-up incubator run by the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, in partnership with SNCF, Lumeen is taking on the challenge of making France’s railway heritage accessible to hospitalized patients and nursing home residents.

Lumeen develops and markets a medical and recreational device designed for the healthcare and social care sectors. It offers immersive virtual reality experiences to improve well-being, foster social connection, reduce anxiety, pain, behavioral disorders, and the use of medication.

Selected to join the Centre des Monuments Nationaux incubator and to experiment with new digital services alongside SNCF, a partner of this initiative, Lumeen will produce, within this framework, a virtual tour of the Train Jaune.

Nicknamed the Canary, the Train Jaune is an iconic railway line in the Pyrénées-Orientales. First put into service in 1910, it links Villefranche-de-Conflent to Latour-de-Carol over nearly 63 km, crossing 650 engineering works—including the spectacular Gisclard Bridge and Séjourné Viaduct, both listed as historic monuments. With its yellow and red livery in the Catalan colors, this narrow-gauge train climbs to more than 1,500 meters above sea level, offering a unique journey through breathtaking mountain landscapes. Today, it remains both a regional transport service and an unmissable tourist attraction.

A cooperative production method has been developed to combine SNCF’s heritage collections, Lumeen’s expertise with sensitive and vulnerable audiences, and the technical know-how of the Adventice team.

The result is a powerful experience for people who can no longer travel but still seek cultural activities and moments of escape. Already distributed in more than 500 healthcare and social care facilities across Europe, these immersive experiences bring thousands of people every day into the heart of the spectacular Pyrenean landscapes. The immersive tour also helps to raise awareness of this unique attraction beyond regional and national borders.

Once this experiment is validated, other virtual tours—such as the Cité du Train in Mulhouse—will be produced, thereby addressing the need to make heritage accessible to audiences who are otherwise excluded.