Aigle–Leysin railway line

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Aigle–Leysin
Abt
Track gauge	1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in)
Electrification	1500 V DC
Highest elevation	1,047 m (3,435 ft)
Maximum incline	23 %
Route map Legend km 6.2 Leysin-Grand-Hôtel Leysin tunnel (233 m) 5.9 Leysin-Feydey 5.5 Versmont 5.2 Leysin-Village Roulaz tunnel (18 m) 4.0 La Roulaz Rennaz tunnel (154 m) 3.5 Rennaz 2.1 Pont-de-Drapel Drapel tunnel (55 m) 1.7 Fontanney 1.0 Aigle-Dépôt Grande Eau [fr] Grand Hotel TPC to Les Diablerets 0.6 Aigle-Place-du-Marché 0.0 Aigle TPC to Champéry SBB to Domodossola [1] This diagram: view talk edit

The Aigle–Leysin railway line is a narrow-gauge railway line in the

Nowadays it is joined in Aigle's main railway station by express trains of the Swiss Federal Railways together with those of three other, local, narrow-gauge railways: the

History

• 5 May 1900 : opening of the two kilometer long section Aigle JS station - Aigle Grand-Hôtel des Bains.
  SIG and CIE.^[3]
• 5 November 1900 : opening of the rack railway section Depot Aigle - Feydey (Leysin). The depot of the tramway was about half-way of the tramway line Aigle JS station - Aigle Grand-Hôtel des Bains on the other side of the river Grand Eau. The rack railway vehicles did not have ability to run with own force on the tramway, because they were only equipped with rack drive. Therefore, the tramway cars took the rack cars from the railway station to the depot, from where they ran on their own propulsion to Leysin.[3]
• 1912 : The line between Leysin-Village et Leysin-Feydey is doubled^[4]
• September 1915 : Extension of the line to the current terminus at Leysin-Grand Hôtel.^[4]
• 31.August 1932 : Tramway operation between Aigle Pont-de-la-Grande-Eau and the Grand-Hôtel des Bains was stopped due to economy crises. The hotel closed in 1934 and did not open after World War II. The hotel was knocked down in 1945 as well as the tramway line between the former station Aigle Pont-de-la-Grande-Eau and the terminus at the hotel.^[3]
• In 1946, the rolling stock was renewed. The three tramway cars used for the Aigle tramway were scrapped. The destination Aigle CFF-Leysin was operated by vehicles, which were able to operate on adhesion track as well as on rack railway track.^[3] Traction current voltage was raised from 650 to 1300 volts. This allowed the journey time to be reduced to around 30 minutes.^[4]

The route

The Aigle–Leysin railway line is 6.5 km (4.04 mi) long and rises 1,047 m (3,435 ft) from its terminus outside the main line station in Aigle to its summit at the Grand Hôtel at Leysin. The first 1 km of the route is through the streets of Aigle from the railway station to the railway depot where the train reverses to enable the powered vehicle to be at the rear of the train for the uphill journey, normal working on a rack (cog-wheel) railway. From this point the line climbs steeply through the vineyards, the steepest gradient being 1 in 4.3 (23%).

The operating voltage of the line has changed four times, increasing from 600 V DC at opening, first to 650 V DC, then in 1946 to 1300 V DC, and later to the present operating voltage of 1500 V DC.

Mergers

In 1975 the four local railway companies, Aigle–Leysin, Aigle–Ollon–Monthey–Champéry, Aigle–Sépey–Diablerets and

In 1985, the Federal Government informed the Aigle–Leysin Railway, and other privately operated railways, that it would cease all funding the following year, however they renewed a federal concession for a further period of 50 years. An agreement was signed between the Canton of Vaud, the communities served by the railway and the Aigle–Leysin Railway and its partners to renew rolling stock and upgrade the track.

In the mid-1990s, faced with greatly increased operating costs, the Canton of Vaud and the communities served by the railway petitioned the Federal Government to revoke its 1985 decision. The Federal Government did so and in 1996, recognizing the importance of this regional line as a public transportation carrier, awarded the line with a contract to provide a public transportation service. This brought about, in 1999, talks which resulted in the founding, the following year, of Transports Publics du Chablais as the parent body of local public transportation with the four local railway companies as founding members. The railway now operates as line A under the TPC banner.

Rolling stock

As of December 2017^[update], Transports Publics du Chablais rostered two locomotives, one