Jeumont, Nord Département, Hauts-de-France, France

🇫🇷 Jeumont is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It lies on the Belgian border and on the river Sambre, adjacent to the Belgian town Erquelinnes. It is part of the agglomeration (unité urbaine) of Maubeuge.

Electrical engineering The name of Jeumont is associated with several companies making heavy electrical equipment for wind turbines, nuclear reactors and naval propulsion. They have their origins in the Atelier de Construction Electrique du Nord et de l’Est (ACENE), which became part of the Empain group under the name Forges et Ateliers de Construction Electriques de Jeumont (FACEJ) in 1921, merged with Schneider Westinghouse in 1964 and in 1993 Jeumont Industrie became part of the Framatome group. Framatome became Areva, which in 2007 sold the generators and motors division of Jeumont SA to Altawest as Jeumont ELECTRIC. Areva retained the nuclear and wind turbine divisions, which were renamed JSPM.

Economy There are important foundries, forges and blast furnaces, together with manufactures of machine tools and porcelain.

The town has a board of trade arbitration, a communal college, a commercial and industrial school.

Transport Being close to the Belgian border, Maubeuge station has two lines to Belgium: one leading North towards Mons, the other Eastbound to Charleroi. Neither have seen passenger service for several years; however, from December 2018 a limited service to Namur via Charleroi was announced. Trains to the South-West are frequent.

There is an aerodrome in nearby Elesmes but it is purely recreational, with no facilities for commercial air transport of either passengers or cargo.

Tour de France Maurice Garin, the winner of the inaugural 1903 Tour de France, began his cycling career in 1892 with the local Maubeuge cycling club, when he finished fifth in the 200-kilometre (124 mi) Maubeuge-Hirson-Maubeuge race. In 2003, on the 100th anniversary of his win, he was commemorated with a street named after him.