President
Émile Loubet authorised on 8 June 1899 the construction of the
secondary railway line, to be operated by locomotives. Earlier, on 18 May 1899, the prefect of the Manche department had signed an agreement with the brothers Paul and Edmond Beldant and François Baërt, a public works contractor in Le Mans, to build and operate the line and, in particular, to transfer the tramway back when the concession expired. The department had to finance the procurement of two locomotives, eight passenger wagons, two closed freight wagons and twelve open freight wagons, subject to being returned at the end of the concession, and provided the area of public roads of each category required for the substructure of the line and its ancillary facilities free of charge. A fixed-price agreement defined the rates for the infrastructure (studies, land and works), the superstructure (tracks, fixed material and stations) and the rolling stock. According to the specifications, the tramway was to be run on the following public roads: Boulevard du Sud in Avranches, Chemin de Grande Communication No. 47, National Road No. 176 and Chemin de Grande Communication No. 12. The following stations or stops were to be established for passenger services: Avranches-Est (station), Saint-Martin-Saint-Quentin (stop), Pontaubault (station, connection to the western line), Bourg de Pontaubault (stop), Le Vey (stop), Juilley (station), Le Haut-de-la-Lande (stop), Saint-Senier-de-Beuvron (station), Saint-James (station). The gauge was to be , the minimum number of journeys per day was fixed to three in each direction, a train could have no more than twelve carriages, be no longer than and its speed could be no more than . == Operation ==