The Yverdon to Sainte-Croix Railway (french: Chemin de fer Yverdon–Ste-Croix, YSteC) is a

railway line Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...

and former

railway company A railway company is a company within the rail industry. It can be a manufacturing firm or an rail transport operations, operator. Some railway companies operate both the trains and the track, while, particularly in the European Union, operation ...

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 ...

. The line connects the towns of

Yverdon-les-Bains Yverdon-les-Bains () (called Eburodunum and Ebredunum during the Roman era) is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district. The population of Yverdon-les-Bains, , wa ...

and Sainte-Croix, both in the

canton of 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 ...

, and is some long, overcoming a vertical height change of . It is now owned and operated by the

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 ...

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 William Barbey (1842–1914) was a Switzerland, Swiss botanist and politician. William Barbey was born on 14 July 1842 at Genthod in the canton of Geneva. He studied science at the Academy in Geneva and then engineering at the École Centrale de ...

from

Valeyres-sous-Rances Valeyres-sous-Rances (, literally ''Valeyres under Rances'') is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. Geography Valeyres-sous-Rances has an area, , of . Of this area, or 81.6% is used for ag ...

, 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, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

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, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipment ...

. In 1974 the railway pioneered the ''Vevey'' system of

Rollbock ''Rollbocks'', sometimes called transporter trailers, are narrow gauge railway trucks or bogies that allow a standard gauge wagon to 'piggyback' on a narrow-gauge line. The Vevey system enables a coupled train of standard gauge wagons to be autom ...

s, 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 Essert-sous-Champvent is a former municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. The municipalities of Essert-sous-Champvent and Villars-sous-Champvent merged on 1 January 2012 into the municipality of ...

and

Valeyres-sous-Montagny Valeyres-sous-Montagny is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. History Valeyres-sous-Montagny is first mentioned around 1139-48 as ''Valeriis''. Geography Valeyres-sous-Montagny has an are ...

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 signals that divide a railway line into a series of sections ...

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 Transports may refer to: * Military transport aircraft * a Ministry of Transport * Dow Jones Transportation Average The Dow Jones Transportation Average (DJTA, also called the "Dow Jones Transports") is a U.S. stock market index from S&P Dow Jone ...

, the Montreux–Oberland Bernois railway and

Transports publics fribourgeois The Transports Publics Fribourgeois (TPF) is a renaming of the former Chemins de fer Fribourgeois Gruyère-Fribourg-Morat when the municipal Transport en commun de Fribourg (TF) was absorbed in 2000. Lines The company is a railway operator w ...

, TRAVYS ordered three new trains for the Yverdon–Ste-Croix railway from Stadler Rail. 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