Franco-Swiss Company

Legend SFR–Jura foot line from Biel and BLS-BN from Bern 75.29 Neuchâtel 479m MSL 73.96 Neuchâtel junction 475m MSL 73.96 SFR-JN to La Chaux-de-Fonds 72.39 Neuchâtel-Serrières 476m MSL 70.34 4.98 Auvernier 492m MSL SFR-Jura foot line to Yverdon-les-Bains 8.37 Bôle 544m MSL 13.65 Champ-du-Moulin 649m MSL 18.11 Noiraigue 728m MSL 22.45 Travers 749m MSL TRN-RVT to Buttes/St-Sulpice 26.04 Couvet CFF 775m MSL 29.47 Boveresse 835m MSL 35.54 Highest point 938m MSL 39.36 Les VerrièresBorder station 931m MSL 41.07 464.84 French/Swiss border 920m MSL RFF–Frasne–Les Verrières line Former line from Vallorbe 453.56 Pontarlier 838m MSL Former line to Gilley RFF-To Frasne

The Franco-Swiss Company (French: Compagnie Franco-Suisse, FS) was a former railway company in Switzerland, formed in 1859 and absorbed into the Western Swiss Railways in 1872.

History

The French company, Paris–Lyon–Mediterranean Railway (PLM) sought to connect its network with the Swiss network. To achieve this, it founded in 1856 with other investors the Franco–Swiss Company, and subscribed 40% of the capital for the construction of a railway line from Pontarlier in France to the Swiss border at Les Verrières through the Val-de-Travers to Neuchâtel.

On 7 November 1859 the company opened a line from Vaumarcus (extending the West Switzerland Company's line from Yverdon-les-Bains) to the village of Frienisberg, near Le Landeron on Lake Biel, part of what is now called the Jura foot line. A temporary station was established at a pier in Frienisberg for a link by boat across Lake Biel to Nidau near Biel, which was served by trains of the Swiss Central Railway on its section of the Jura foot line from Olten via Herzogenbuchsee.

On 25 July 1860 the line from Auvernier on the Jura foot line to Les Verrières on the Swiss border opened, connecting with and Frasne–Les Verrières line of the PLM. The construction of the line proved quite difficult requiring numerous engineering works. In order to achieve a maximum gradient of 2% between Auvernier and the crest at Les Bayards the line had many cuttings and tunnels. Four lives were lost in the work.

PLM rollingstock was originally used on both routes; soon international trains operated from Paris to Neuchâtel via Les Verrières.

The railway played an important role in the Franco-Prussian War, when during January and February 1871, the French Armée de l'Est with 87,000 men under General Bourbaki retreated into Switzerland and were disarmed and interned in Les Verrières. On 22 March when the interned troops were released and were being repatriated by train a collision occurred due to an incorrect setting of points. The driver and 22 internees were killed and 72 soldiers were injured, some seriously.

The line was not profitable as its rival, the Swiss Central Railway carried most traffic between Switzerland and France over the border at Basel.

On 1 January 1872, the Western Swiss Railway (French: Chemins de Fer de la Suisse Occidentale, SO) was formed out of a merger of the Franco–Swiss Company with the West Switzerland Company (French: Compagnie de l'Ouest-Suisse, OS) and the Lausanne–Fribourg–Bern Railway (French: Chemin de Fer Lausanne-Bern-Fribourg, LFB).

Operations

The Neuchâtel–Pontarlier line is electrified at 15 kV 16.7 Hz, with a change to 25 kV 50 Hz at Pontarlier. Regional passenger services are operated by Transports Régionaux Neuchâtelois hourly between Neuchâtel and Travers, starting or finishing at Buttes. Two SNCF TGV trains operate each way between Bern, Neuchâtel and Paris, but no trains stop between Travers and Pontarlier.