The Orbe-Chavornay railway (OC) is a long standard gauge railway in

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 ...

, Switzerland which links the towns of

Orbe Orbe (; ; older , ; ) 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 280 as ''Urba''. In 1179, it wa ...

and Chavornay, where there is an interchange with the

Jura Foot Line The Jura Foot Line (, ) or Jura South Foot Line, is a railway line in Switzerland. It runs from Olten along the foot of the southern Jura range through Solothurn, Grenchen, Biel/Bienne, Neuchâtel, Yverdon-les-Bains and Morges to Lausanne. It is ...

. The line was opened in 1894 and was operated by electric traction from the start, as the first electrified standard-gauge railway in Switzerland. It is the only standard gauge railway in Switzerland using DC electrification. The line was originally owned by the municipal power company but the original company was taken over by

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 ...

in June 2003.

Modernisation

There are plans to upgrade the line and change the electrification system to the Swiss standard

15 kV AC Railway electrification using at are used on transport railways in Rail transport in Germany, Germany, Rail transport in Austria, Austria, Rail transport in Switzerland, Switzerland, Rail transport in Sweden, Sweden, and Rail transport in No ...

system, allowing direct trains from Orbe to

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

as part of the

RER Vaud RER Vaud () is an S-Bahn network in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is centered on Lausanne and began operating in December 2004. Lines the network consists of the following lines: * : – (– ) * : Grandson – Lausanne (– Cully) ...

. The modernisation will also provide accessible stations and increase capacity for goods traffic. The estimated costs of the project are 100 million

Swiss Franc The Swiss franc, or simply the franc, is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) iss ...

s and direct trains to Lausanne are expected to begin running in 2026. To ease the transition and after the existing railcars faced technical defects, in 2022 Travys acquired two GT8-100C/2S

tram-train A tram-train or dual-system tram is a type of light rail vehicle that both meets the standards of a light rail system, and also national mainline standards. Tramcars are adapted to be capable of running on streets like an urban tramway but a ...

vehicles from

Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft ''Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft'' ('Alb Valley Transport Company', AVG) is a railway company owned by the city of Karlsruhe that operates rail and bus services in the Karlsruhe area, southwest Germany. It is both a train operating company, as well ...

. These previously operated on the

Karlsruhe Stadtbahn The Karlsruhe Stadtbahn is a German tram-train system combining Karlsruhe trams, tram lines in the city of Karlsruhe with railway lines in the surrounding countryside, serving the entire region of the middle upper Rhine valley and creating connec ...

and are equipped with both 750 V DC and 15 kV AC electrification.

References

External links

{{Authority control Railway lines in Switzerland Railway lines opened in 1894 Transport in the canton of Vaud 750 V DC railway electrification