Ligne de Cerdagne

The Ligne de Cerdanya is an electric narrow-gauge railway, which opens as a mountain train a part of the French- Catalan Pyrenees. It is operated by the TER, a sub- company of the French railway company SNCF.

The meter gauge Ligne de Cerdanya represents the continuation of a Perpignan outgoing, -disclosing the province of Roussillon and ending in the fortified town of Villefranche -de- Conflent standard gauge line dar. With the opening of the first track section of Cerdanya - line in 1910 was Villefranche to the transfer station for narrow gauge railway.

While the web in French because of their eye-catching yellow paintwork Canari ( canary ) or petit train jaune ( Little Yellow train ), or in Catalan Tren groc, is called, it is known in German-speaking countries as " Pyrenees Metro". They got this name because of their doubt in continental Europe, rare in the open country form of operation: The traction voltage of 850 V DC power is supplied by a swept from the top side power rail.

The route

The route is claimed despite the large differences in height than pure adhesion railway routes without gear, which places special demands on the drive vehicles. The good 62 -kilometer route passes through stunning scenery, numerous bridges and through 19 tunnels.

The eastern starting point Villefranche is the operational center of the "train jaune " with workshops and other operating equipment.

At the beginning follows the route of Villefranche from the rapidly rising and gorge-like valley narrowing of Tet, in which the traction power is generated by water power. Here, have a number of sections to the maximum slope. After about 20 kilometers, the height difference is the starting point already 600 meters and the route changes at Fontpédrouse means of the masonry arch bridge Pont Séjourné the valley. Then the route continues to gain altitude and crosses between the stations Sauto and plan on the cable-stayed bridge Pont de Cassagne again the valley. The Pont de Cassange is named after the fatalities in the construction of the web designer Albert Gisclard also Pont Gisclard and belongs to a type of bridge in France only was used in Europe.

The train leaves here the Conflent and reached Montlouis- la- Cabanasse in the Cerdanya at the time of its opening in 1910 preliminary endpoint. Just one year later the next section was built by Bolquère where the track to 1592m above sea level reached its apex, and thus also the highest point in the network SNCF, and descends at once down to the popular winter resort of Font-Romeu. From here on, it goes on down the valley in curvy lines. The train reached via Saillagouse and the small pilgrimage Err the valley of the Cerdanya. In Bourg- Madame and 1928 was the last stop. As the routes of Toulouse and Barcelona in Latour de Carol - Enveitg met, the narrow-gauge railway was extended there. So they had reached their total length of 63 kilometers. The travel time for the total distance is just under three hours.

In the station of Latour meet three routes with different gauges meet, which happens relatively rarely. It is also noteworthy that here meet three mountain paths, each of which reaches a highest point in each network: the SNCF standard gauge overcomes near Andorra an altitude of 1567 m; this is the highest point reached by a standard gauge railway in the adhesion operation in Europe. The track in Iberian broad gauge to Barcelona again achieved in Tosa - tunnel with 1494 m the highest point in the network of the Spanish rail company RENFE.

The vehicles

For developing the upper Conflent and Cerdagne you sat from the beginning to the electric traction. On the one hand stood hydroelectric power in great abundance, on the other hand was it inclines of up to 60 ‰ overcome. To get along without rack, you need the greatest possible number of driven axles. Therefore, four-axle equipped with multiple unit control system Sprague railcars were ordered as they had previously proven themselves in the Paris Metro. For freight transport thus equipped freight railcars were procured.

At the opening in 1910, ten people drive, ten freight railcars, 14 Personenbeiwagen, and a large number of wagons were procured, which underwent several significant changes over the years. With the route extensions several trailers were converted into railcars in 1937 came six Vierachsbeiwagen with open platforms in the Pyrenees. The trailers are alternately strung with the railcar, for reasons of traction power rule of thumb is that for every motorcycles, a railcar in the train must be present. After a wave phasing in the fifties of the 20th century still remained 14 people railcars, as well as two goods railcars as work vehicles operating status. During this time extensive line closures you wanted in the Cerdanya no large investments and, therefore, decided to subject the already urgent need of renewal vehicles of a general revision rather than a new acquisition, which essentially consisted of a sheeting of the wooden car bodies and the installation of semi windows. Around the mid 1970s, the last only modest freight was then adjusted.

When the train was again in the early 1980s before the expiration, it was decided to broader changes, which also affected the organization of the operation. Thus, the formerly independent operation was outsourced services in the adjacent standard gauge lines and the fleet was subjected to a new rebuild after to procure considerations, tram similar new vehicles, proved to be unsuitable for the specific conditions this route. So the original motor cars were new steel boxes while preserving the original appearance, improved suspension, powered by low voltage auxiliary systems and contemporary cabs with sedentary operation.

Since this conversion still did not constitute a long-term solution, the managers were still for a suitable successor type around and found this in the already numerous cars in Europe, dedication and commitment of GTW type the Swiss company Stadler. Since 2004, two new vehicles on the Ligne de Cerdanya are in use: The motor coaches are equipped with air conditioning, toilets and undivided picture windows, but are not compatible with the old coaches, so that also fails, the entrainment of the popular with the public open observation car. To the identity of the true path to as "the little yellow train ", they also bear the distinctive yellow paint.