involved a tunnel and the creation of reservoirs to feed water into the higher pounds of the canal. The tunnel was built between 1826 and 1832, and in 1832 the entire canal was opened for navigation, although work on the important feeder reservoirs was not completed till 1840. Between 1879 and 1882 work was completed, where necessary, to increase lock sizes to conform to the Freycinet standard, after which it became possible to move barges of up to 250 tonnes displacement, and up to 38.50 metres long on the canal. The Canal de Bourgogne was, when built, an engineering triumph. Commercial usage never quite reached the levels that its promoters had envisaged, however. Traffic grew between 1832 and 1850, by when 43.5 million tonnes were being carried annually, but thereafter growth tailed off and volumes were disappointing. There were various reasons for this: Even after work had been completed on enlarging the locks, in 1882, the canal's size remained a constraint on volumes, notably at Pouilly-en-Auxois, where the tunnel's one-way only traffic lengthened journey times and reduced flexibility for canal users (the tugboat that towed the convoys of péniches can still be seen at Pouilly-en-Auxois.) Competition from railways had not been foreseen when the canal was built, and was still a future threat when it was completed in 1832. However, between 1847 and 1852, the Paris–Marseille railway, its strategic and economic importance highlighted by its designation as an "impériale" communications artery, made it possible to transport goods much more rapidly and in very much larger volumes than could be achieved using the canal. The canal was experimentally taken over by the Région Bourgogne in 2010, but after two years returned to VNF’s management. It carries very little traffic, and the region baulked at the rehabilitation expenditure to be committed. Users Commercial barge traffic is restricted to the two extremities; between St Jean de Losne and Dijon in the south and from Migennes to Brienon in the north. Otherwise traffic is restricted to three types of user: privately owned boats (now the most important user group), hire craft, in decline due to the closure of several hire bases in recent years, and hotel barges, mainly centered on the Ouche valley in the south, although three hotel barges remain operating on the northern section. En route PK 0 Laroche-Migennes PK 19 Saint-Florentin PK 45 Tonnerre PK 74 Ancy-le-Franc PK 102 Montbard PK