The Fribourg−Yverdon railway is a single-track standard-gauge line of the

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) in

Romandy Romandy ( or ; Arpitan: ''Romandia'')Before World War I, the term French Switzerland () waalso used ( or , , ) is the French-speaking historical and cultural region of Switzerland. In 2020, about 2 million people, or 22.8% of the Swiss pop ...

. The line is sometimes considered to form one of two lines that intersect at

Payerne Payerne (; ) is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud. It was the seat of the district of Payerne, and is now part of the district of Broye-Vully. The German name ''Peterlingen'' for the town is out of use. History The earliest traces of ...

station and are referred to in French as the ''Ligne de la Broye'' (Broye line) or in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

as the ''Broyelinien'' (Broye lines) or ''Broyetallinien'' (Broye valley lines). The Fribourg−Yverdon railway is considered to form the ''Broye transversal''. The

Palézieux–Lyss railway The Palézieux–Lyss railway is a single-track standard-gauge line of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) in Romandy. The section south of Kerzers is sometimes considered to form one of two lines that intersect at Payerne station and are referred ...

includes the ''Broye longitudinal'' (

Palézieux Palézieux () is a village and former municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Lavaux-Oron District, Lavaux-Oron in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. Since 2012 it forms part of the municipality of O ...

–Payerne–

Murten Murten (German language, German, ) or Morat (French language, French, ; ) is a bilingual Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and a city in the See (district of Fribourg), See district of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Fribourg (can ...

–Kerzers). The lines are named after the

Broye The Broye (; ''Dictionnaire-Dikchenéro: Français-Patois/Patê-Franché''. Société cantonale des patoisans fribourgeois. Fribourg: 2013. p. 87 ) is a 68 km long river, in the cantons of Fribourg and Vaud, in Switzerland. It has a watershe ...

river, which passes through the

cantons A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, th ...

Vaud Vaud ( ; , ), more formally Canton of Vaud, is one of the Cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of Subdivisions of the canton of Vaud, ten districts; its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat ...

and

Fribourg or is the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Canton of Fribourg, Fribourg and district of Sarine (district), La Sarine. Located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss Plateau, it is a major economic, adminis ...

, crossing the cantonal border ten times in total.

History

The line was opened in two stages: * 25 August 1876: Payerne–Palézieux * 1 February 1877: Payerne–Yverdon. The line was owned by the

Western Swiss Railways The Western Switzerland Railways (''Chemins de fer de la Suisse Occidentale'', shortened to ''Suisse-Occidentale''; SO or S-O), were initially a joint operation of three Swiss railway companies, but these companies merged on 1 January 1872. The co ...

(''Chemins de fer de la Suisse Occidentale''), which already operated the Jura Foot Railway via Yverdon and the

Lausanne–Bern railway The Lausanne–Bern railway is a mainline railway in Switzerland. The first part of the line was opened in 1860 and the original line was completed on 4 September 1862. The line was built by the Swiss Central Railway and the Lausanne–Fri ...

via Fribourg. The competition from the two established main lines and the rural character of the catchment area never allowed the Fribourg−Yverdon railway to advance beyond the status of a secondary line. Various mergers of railway companies led to the line becoming owned by the SBB at its foundation in 1903. Most of the line was electrified in 1944–1947, late by Swiss standards and reflecting its low traffic. The Givisiez–Fribourg section had already been electrified from 1903 to 1947 for the trains of the Chemin de fer Fribourg–Morat–Anet (FMA) at 750 Volt and side-contact

third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a track (r ...

Route

The line runs from Yverdon to

Estavayer-le-Lac Estavayer-le-Lac (;Florence Cattin/Andres Kristol, ''Estavayer-le-Lac FR (La Broye)'' in: ''Dictionnaire toponymique des communes suisses – Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen – Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni svizzeri (DTS, LSG)'', ...

through the Grande Cariçaie wetland landscape along the shores of

Lake Neuchatel A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

, before running through the broad Broye valley. The watershed between the Broye and the

Saane The Sarine (; ) or Saane () is a major river of Switzerland.6th longest, 7th largest basin, see List of rivers of Switzerland It is long and has a drainage area of . It is a tributary of the Aare. The Sarine rises in the Bernese Alps, near San ...

is climbed after Payerne on a winding ramp that climbs at up to 2.1%.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fribourg-Yverdon railway Railway lines in Switzerland Railway lines opened in 1876 1876 establishments in Switzerland