The Yverdon to Sainte-Croix Railway (, YSteC) is a

railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

and former

railway company A rail transport company is a company active within the rail industry. It can be: * a manufacturing company, * a rail transport operations, railway undertaking providing services through operating rolling stock, * a railway infrastructure manager ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. The line connects the towns of

Yverdon-les-Bains Yverdon-les-Bains () (called Eburodunum and Ebredunum during the Ancient Rome, Roman era) is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Jura-North Vaudois District, Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It ...

and Sainte-Croix, both in the

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 ...

, and is some long, overcoming a vertical height change of . It is now owned and operated by the TRAVYS company (''Transports Vallée-de-Joux - Yverdon-les-Bains - Sainte-Croix'').

History

The line was opened in 1893 by the Yverdon–Ste-Croix railway company, largely as a result of the influence of William Barbey from Valeyres-sous-Rances, who financed the building of the line. The line initially used

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 to the articulated Mallet design. Because of the influence of the religious William Barbey, the line did not operate any trains on Sundays. In 1918, after the death of William Barbey, the line began operations on Sundays. Like many Swiss railways, it suffered from a shortage of coal during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and, in 1945, it was electrified at , using

overhead wires An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union of Railways for the tec ...

. In 1974 the railway pioneered the ''Vevey'' system of Rollbocks, which allows a train of standard-gauge wagons to be automatically loaded onto transporter bogies so that it can travel on a narrow-gauge line. On February 14, 1976 two railcars collided head-to-head between Essert-sous-Champvent and Valeyres-sous-Montagny at about . Seven people died and 40 others were injured. The accident was put down to human error; the two trains were scheduled to cross at Essert-sous-Champvent, but the line was not equipped with

automatic block signalling Automatic block signaling (ABS), spelled automatic block signalling or called track circuit block (TCB ) in the UK, is a railroad communications system that consists of a series of Railway signal, signals that divide a railway line into a seri ...

that would have prevented the accident. In 2001, the Yverdon–Ste-Croix railway company was merged with the Pont-Brassus railway company and the Transports Publics Yverdon-Grandson bus company to form the new TRAVYS company. The company has since also absorbed the Orbe–Chavornay railway company. In 2013 and as part of a joint order with Transports de la région Morges-Bière-Cossonay, the Montreux–Oberland Bernois railway and Transports publics fribourgeois, TRAVYS ordered three new trains for the Yverdon–Ste-Croix railway from

Stadler Rail Stadler Rail AG is a Swiss manufacturer of railway rolling stock, with an original emphasis on regional train multiple units and trams, but moving also into Rapid transit, mass rapid transit, High-speed rail, high speed, Inter-city rail, interci ...

. Of these, two will be used to replace older stock, whilst the third will allow the introduction of a half-hourly service on the line. The trains are due for delivery in 2015.

Locomotives and rolling stock

References

External links

Web site of TRAVYS, owners of the line
(in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Yverdon-Ste-Croix railway Metre-gauge railways in Switzerland Defunct railway companies of Switzerland Railway lines in Switzerland Railway lines opened in 1893