Charles Ibry

Charles Ibry was a French railway engineer who invented a timetable chart in the 1840s for planning train schedules for efficiency and safety on the Paris to Le Havre line. In 1882, a villa was constructed for him in Dinard.

Ibry chart

In the first half of the 1800s, the early days of train operation, little thought was given to punctuality and train safety, and many accidents occurred, often deadly. Also, extending the lax schedule of stagecoach timetabling, trains were often late or early, complicating the task of keeping trains apart on the same section of track. — in some cases trains are paused at stations or sidings. Ibry's chart influenced rail planning ever since, starting in France. It is also known as a line grid or string chart.