The Orbe-Chavornay railway (O-C) is a 3.9 km standard gauge railway in

Vaud Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms b ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, linking the towns of

Orbe Orbe (; la, Urba; older german: Orbach, ; frp, Orba) is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud. It was the seat of the former district of Orbe and is now part of the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois. History Orbe is first mentioned about 2 ...

and Chavornay (where there is an interchange with trains of the

Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (german: link=no, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen, ''SBB''; french: link=no, Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses, ''CFF''; it, Ferrovie federali svizzere, ''FFS'') is the national railway company of Switzerland. It is usuall ...

. The line was opened in 1894 and was operated by electric traction from the start - the first electrified standard-gauge railway in Switzerland. The line was initially operated with a

direct current Direct current (DC) is one-directional flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or even ...

overhead power supply 600 Volts and is now 750 Volts. Since 2001 the line has been operated by the Transports Vallée de Joux - Yverdon-les-Bains - Ste-Croix (TRAVYS).

Modernisation

As of 2017-18 the line is being modernised and upgraded to handle longer trains. The electrification system will be changed to the standard Swiss Federal Railways system of 15 KV alternating current.TRAVYS website: upgrading of railway (accessed 8 January 2018)
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Photographs

Image:OC2.jpeg, Locomotive Ee 2/2 2 (Ee 927 602) at Orbe station Image:OC3wiki.jpg, Electric railcar Be 2/2 14 (Be 557 614) at Les Granges, 2003 Image:OC6wiki.jpg, Restaurant car Br 26 at Orbe, 2003 Image:OC5.JPG, Saint-Éloi halt, 2003 Image:OC Fe 2-2 32 in Orbe.JPG, Fe 2/2 32 at Orbe station, 2009 Image:OC04wiki.jpg, BDe 4/4 15 and Bt 51 (in the livery of TRAVYS) at Chavornay station

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orbe-Chavornay railway Railway lines in Switzerland Railway lines opened in 1894 Transport in the canton of Vaud 750 V DC railway electrification