It links the Col de Saint-Ignace, some 10 km (6.2 mi) to the east of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, to the summit of the La Rhune mountain (Larrun).

The idea of building a railway to the summit of La Rhune was first proposed in 1908, and a law passed in 1912 entrusted the construction and operation to the département.

In a referendum in 1978, the population of the nearby village of Sare rejected a proposal to build a road to the summit of the Rhune, thus enabling the railway to survive.

[1][2] The concession to build the line, and operate it until 1982, was granted by the département to the Société Anonyme des Chemins de Fer Basques, which changed its name to the Voies Ferrées Départementales du Midi in 1914.

The line has the following technical characteristics:[3] Trains consist of a four-wheeled electric locomotive that pushes two coaches up the mountain, and leads them down.

The two 160 hp three-phase asynchronous motors, rotating at 750 rpm, drive two central toothed wheels via a pair of double reduction gears.

The locomotives are equipped with two hand brakes, capable of stopping the train: they act on each toothed wheel via grooved drums located on either side.