Orbe-Chavornay railway

The Orbe-Chavornay railway (OC) is a 3.9 km (2.4 mi) long standard gauge railway in Vaud, Switzerland which links the towns of Orbe and Chavornay, where there is an interchange with the Jura Foot Line. 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.^[1][3]

Orbe-Chavornay railway line
Orbe railway station
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Travys[1]
Locale	Vaud, Switzerland
Termini	Orbe railway station Chavornay railway station
Stations	4[1]
Service
Operator(s)	Travys[1]
History
Opened	1894[1]
Technical
Line length	3.9 km (2.4 mi)[1]
Number of tracks	Single track
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge[1]
Electrification	750 V DC overhead wire[1]
Route map Legend SBB to Yverdon-les-Bains 0.0 km 0 mi Orbe 0.5 km 0.3 mi St-Eloi 1.5 km 0.9 mi Les Granges (Orbe) 3.9 km 2.4 mi Chavornay SBB to Lausanne [2] This diagram: view talk edit Show route diagram Show route map

The line was originally owned by the municipal power company but the original company was taken over by Travys in June 2003.^[1]

Modernisation

There are plans to upgrade the line and change the electrification system to the Swiss standard 15 kV AC system, allowing direct trains from Orbe to Lausanne as part of the RER Vaud. The modernisation will also provide accessible stations and increase capacity for goods traffic. The estimated costs of the project are 100 million Swiss Francs and direct trains to Lausanne are expected to begin running in 2026.^[1][3][4]

To ease the transition and after the existing railcars faced technical defects, in 2022 Travys acquired two GT8-100C/2S tram-train vehicles from Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft. These previously operated on the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn and are equipped with both 750 V DC and 15 kV AC electrification.^[5]