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The Pont–Brassus Railway (; PBr) was a railway company in the Swiss
canton of Vaud
Vaud ( ; , ), more formally Canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts; its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms bears the motto "Liberté et patrie" on a white-green bicolou ...
. It built a standard gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...
line from Le Pont parallel to the north shore of the Lac de Joux to Le Brassus
Le Brassus is a village in the Vallée de Joux in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland. It is part of the Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality Le Chenit.The line has been owned by the
In response to a petition from the residents of the valleys in 1867, a tunnel was built through the Mont d'Orzeires, which had a dual purpose, on the one hand it would serve the railway, and on the other hand, it would channel floodwater from the valley during an extraordinary flood. Lake Brenet used to drain naturally underground, although it now operates as a hydroelectric reservoir.
The Pont–Vallorbe Railway (''Chemin de fer Pont–Vallorbe''; PV) opened the railway line between Vallorbe and Le Pont on 31 October 1886. As a result, the PBr was founded to extend the branch line further into the Vallée de Joux. Traffic between Le Pont and Le Brassus was started on 21 August 1899. The PBr had only passenger cars and freight wagons, but none of its own locomotives. So operations were carried out from the beginning by the JS and after its nationalisation on 1 May 1903 by the SBB.
The economic crisis of the 1930s led to a marked decline in freight and passenger traffic; operations with
Travys
Travys is the brand name of a public transport company operating several rail and bus lines in the Yverdon region in the north of the Swiss canton of Vaud. Its name is based is on an acronym for ''Transports Vallée de Joux–Yverdon-les-Bains–S ...
regional transport company since 2001. Passenger traffic on the line is operated by Swiss Federal Railways
Swiss Federal Railways (, SBB; , CFF; , FFS) is the national railway company of Switzerland.
The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Bern. It used to be a State-owned enterprise, government institution, but since 1999 it has be ...
(SBB). Trains run continuously from Vallorbe
Vallorbe () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Jura-North Vaudois District, Jura-Nord Vaudois in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland.
History
Vallorbe is first mentioned in 1139 as ''de valle ...
via Le Pont to Le Brassus. They operate hourly on non school days and half-hourly on school days.
History
In response to a petition from the residents of the valleys in 1867, a tunnel was built through the Mont d'Orzeires, which had a dual purpose, on the one hand it would serve the railway, and on the other hand, it would channel floodwater from the valley during an extraordinary flood. Lake Brenet used to drain naturally underground, although it now operates as a hydroelectric reservoir.
The Pont–Vallorbe Railway (''Chemin de fer Pont–Vallorbe''; PV) opened the railway line between Vallorbe and Le Pont on 31 October 1886. As a result, the PBr was founded to extend the branch line further into the Vallée de Joux. Traffic between Le Pont and Le Brassus was started on 21 August 1899. The PBr had only passenger cars and freight wagons, but none of its own locomotives. So operations were carried out from the beginning by the JS and after its nationalisation on 1 May 1903 by the SBB.
The economic crisis of the 1930s led to a marked decline in freight and passenger traffic; operations with steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...
s proved to be too unprofitable. For this reason, electrification was approved and was completed on 1 October 1938. Operating costs would be significantly reduced as a result. As the line continued to be managed by the SBB, the use of its power system was adopted.
Frequencies of passenger services declined markedly in the 1980s, not least because of the poor timetable. Therefore, the track has been fundamentally modernised and a new timetable concept with modern rolling stock ( SBB RBDe 4/4) has been introduced.
The PBr was absorbed into a new company, Travys
Travys is the brand name of a public transport company operating several rail and bus lines in the Yverdon region in the north of the Swiss canton of Vaud. Its name is based is on an acronym for ''Transports Vallée de Joux–Yverdon-les-Bains–S ...
on 1 January 2001.
In 2008, the terminal station in Le Brassus was relocated during station modernisation by about 100 metres towards Le Pont. This shortened the total length of the line from 24.55 km to 24.46 km.
Rolling stock
; Historic passenger cars * BC 11 (1875), acquired by SBB in 1914 ( NOB BC 846, SBB BC 4296), abandoned in 1938 * C 21–22 (1899), sold to SBB for demolition in 1952 * BC4 65 (1950), from 1956 AB4 65, from 1963 ABi 65, from 1970 Bi 475, since 1984 in the CTVJ (No. 4420 red) * C4 476 (1950), from 1956 C4 476, from 1963 B4 476, from 1970 Bi 4756, Since 1993 with CTVJ (No. 7476 brown) * B 477 (1939), acquired by SBB in 1984 (B 50 85 23-33 008-8)Notes
Footnotes
References
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pont-Brassus Railway Defunct railway companies of Switzerland 1899 establishments in Switzerland 2001 disestablishments in Switzerland