Yverdon–Ste-Croix railway

Yverdon–Ste-Croix railway line
The station at Ste-Croix
Overview
Type	Light rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Canton of Vaud, Switzerland
Termini	Yverdon-les-Bains Sainte-Croix
Stations	10
Services	1
Operation
Opened	1893
Owner	TRAVYS
Operator(s)	TRAVYS
Depot(s)	Yverdon-les-Bains
Technical
Line length	24 km (15 mi)
Number of tracks	Single track
Track gauge	Metre (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)
Minimum radius	100 m (328 ft)
Electrification	15 kV  16 2⁄3 Hz AC overhead wire
Maximum incline	4.4%
Route diagram 0,0 Yverdon-les-Bains 435 m ü. M. La Thielle79 m 0,5 Depot and workshop 1,1 William Barbey YSteC 2,2 La Brinaz 3,0 Valeyres-sous-Montagny 450 m ü. M. 5,5 Essert-sous-Champvent 507 m ü. M. 8,5 Vuiteboeuf 589 m ü. M. 11,5 Baulmes 631 m ü. M. 14,4 Six-Fontaines 705 m ü. M. Murets145 m 19,3 Trois-Villes 907 m ü. M. Cochâble59 m Arrêtaz73 m Covatannaz153 m Onglettaz29 m 24,2 Ste-Croix 1066 m ü. M.

The Yverdon to Sainte-Croix railway (French: Chemin de fer Yverdon–Ste-Croix, YSteC) is a metre gauge (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in gauge) railway line and former railway company in Switzerland. The line connects the towns of Yverdon-les-Bains and Sainte-Croix, both in the canton of Vaud, and is some 24 kilometres (15 mi) long, overcoming a vertical height change of 633 metres (2,077 ft). It is now owned and operated by the TRAVYS company (Transports Vallée-de-Joux - Yverdon-les-Bains - Sainte-Croix).

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 locomotives 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 and, in 1945, it was electrified at 15 kV  16 ²⁄₃ Hz AC, using overhead wires.

On February 14, 1976 two railcars collided head-to-head between Essert-sous-Champvent and Valeyres-sous-Montagny at about 50 km/h (31 mph). 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 that would have prevented the accident.