Belfort – Delle railway line

Belfort dent
Delle station
Route number (SNCF) :	854,000
Route length:	20.32 km / 1.57 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	25 kV 50 Hz  ~
Legend from Paris 442.7 Belfort 358 m 443.7 to Besançon 443.9 Bridge over A36 (40 m) 443.9 Savoureuse Bridge (25 m) 444.2 to Mulhouse Danjoutin (since Dec. 2018) 449.1 Meroux 366 m Start of route relocation 449.9 Meroux (TGV) Belfort-Montbéliard TGV 361 m Connection to LGV Rhin-Rhône End of route relocation 454.3 Bourogne 337 m 454.4 Bridge over the Bourbeuse (47 m) 454.7 Bridge over the Rhine-Rhône Canal (21 m) from Montbéliard 456.1 Morvillars 338 m 459.6 Grandvillars 357 m Joncherey (since December 2018) 464.2 Dent 367  m 464.6 124.5 State border F – CH 369  m above sea level M. Property border RFF – SBB 123.4 Boncourt 374  m above sea level M. to Delémont

The railway line Belfort-Delle is a standard gauge railway line in the French department of Territoire de Belfort in the region Bourgogne Franche-Comté and is owned by the state-owned rail infrastructure company Réseau Ferré de France (RFF).

The 20-kilometer line was closed for passenger traffic in 1993, the cross-border section to Boncourt in 1996. Due to the construction of the eastern branch of the LGV Rhin-Rhône , Switzerland and France have agreed to reactivate the line. December 2018.

history

In Belfort, two sections of the Paris – Mulhouse line of the Compagnie de l'Est (EST) and the last section of the Dijon – Dole – Besançon – Belfort line of the Compagnie Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée (PLM) met in 1858 .

On June 29, 1868, the PLM opened the branch line Montbéliard – Audincourt – Morvillars – Delle , which branches off the main line Belfort – Dole at Montbéliard .

Meroux train station (TGV)

Delle station around 1900

The connection to Switzerland was made by the Chemin de fer Porrentruy – Delle (PD), which opened its main line from the border station Delle via Boncourt to Porrentruy on September 23, 1872. However, there was still no connection to the rest of the Swiss rail network, in which the French were particularly interested. With the cession of Alsace to the German Empire in 1871, Delle became the northernmost border station between Switzerland and France.

The PD became part of the Jura bernois (JB) in 1876 and was connected to Delémont on March 30, 1877, and thus to the rest of the Swiss railway network. On August 13, 1877, the EST finally opened a connecting line from Belfort to Morvillars, which branches off the main line Paris – Mulhouse in Danjoutin and is significantly shorter than the PLM line via Montbéliard. EST also laid its own second track between Morvillars and Delle.

In its heyday, the Delle border station had a significant volume of traffic; in terms of the volume of goods in transit, the Porrentruy station was ranked fourth in Switzerland on the Swiss section in 1913. With the opening of the Grenchenberg tunnel in 1915, the route between Delémont and Biel was also significantly shortened. Due to the importance of the border crossing, the Delémont – Delle line was electrified by the SBB with 15 kV 16⅔ Hz alternating current and on May 15, 1933, electric train transport to Delle was started.

With the nationalization of the PLM and the EST, the routes became the property of the SNCF on January 1, 1938 . The old competitive disadvantage of the significantly longer PLM route via Montbéliard and Morvillars immediately came through and passenger traffic on the Montbéliard – Morvillars section was discontinued in the same year. With the outbreak of World War II, border traffic via Delle also came to a standstill.

Rail traffic was resumed after the Second World War. In 1948, Switzerland and France agreed to build a new border station in Delle. On the French side, however, a downturn set in, as the SNCF was barely able to afford the cost of renewing the infrastructure. The last two-lane section Morvillars – Delle was dismantled on a track in 1953, depending on the condition, the better preserved track of the PLM or the EST was left. The SNCF finally refrained from the intended electrification in 1957. The new border station in Delle was opened against all odds in 1967.

Since the line to Basel SNCF was electrified in 1957, freight traffic has shifted to the better-developed rail lines to Basel; as a result, the Belfort – Delle route has gradually lost its importance over time.

The last through trains between Delémont and Belfort - with good connections to long-distance trains to Paris - were abandoned on September 26, 1992 and the Belfort – Delle line was closed for passenger traffic by the SNCF. Freight traffic on the Morvillars – Delle – Boncourt section was discontinued on June 30, 1993. With the timetable change on May 27, 1995, the SBB stopped operating the Delle station from the Swiss side. With the discontinuation of passenger traffic, the Boncourt – Delle section was shut down and de-electrified a year later, on June 1, 1996.

As a result of the line closure, practically the entire track system of the extensive Delle border station was dismantled in 1996 and 1997. When the rail infrastructure was outsourced from SNCF in 1997, the remaining facilities became the property of RFF.

The section between the Danjoutin and Morvillars junction, where an industrial area was served, remained open for freight traffic; after Meroux, petroleum products were occasionally delivered.

reactivation

A rethink began in 2001, when the planning of the LGV Rhin-Rhône also improved the chances of the disused line being put back into operation. In 2002, a round table was formed for the first time in Delémont under the direction of the Franche-Comté region, and a study was commissioned. The costs were borne by France, Switzerland, the Franche-Comté region and the cantons of Jura and Bern . In 2004 the decision was made to restructure the train service on the Swiss side with the restart. In 2005, the National Council approved around 40 million Swiss francs from the FinöV fund as a contribution in accordance with the HGV connection law . The lump sum was paid in favor of the reactivation and electrification of the Belfort – Delle line.

Delle station (2015)

As a first symbolic step, the Boncourt – Delle section was reactivated, for which the partially overgrown route had to be exposed, the substructure replaced, a new track laid in the otherwise rail-less Delle station and the route re-electrified. With the timetable change on December 10, 2006, cross-border rail traffic was resumed by the SBB.

On December 11, 2011, the LGV Rhin-Rhône went into operation; with her, in the municipality Meroux located station Belfort-Montbéliard TGV removed some six kilometers from the railway station Belfort. The central platform for regional trains should be laid out at a right angle above the new line running in an incision. After reactivating the Morvillars – Delle section, these would run continuously between Belfort and Biel / Bienne and reduce travel times from the Swiss Jura communities - particularly Porrentruy , Delémont and Moutier - to the next connection point to the French high-speed network.

On August 21, 2014 Federal Councilor Doris Leuthard and her French counterpart Frédéric Cuvillier signed the bilateral agreement on the Delle – Belfort railway line. The agreement defines the roles of the actors on both sides of the national border who are involved in the planning, construction, operation and financing of the route. The cost of the work on the French side was estimated at around 110 million euros. The donors are the Franche-Comté region, the Republic of France, the French communities in the region, the rail network company Réseau ferré de France (RFF) and the European Union . In view of the benefits of this project for Switzerland, the federal government and the canton of Jura are contributing 24.7 and 3.2 million euros, respectively.

Construction began on September 10, 2015, with the gradual removal of the old superstructure , which was ultimately completely replaced over the 20 kilometers. The original route was largely retained, only at Meroux did the incision of the LGV Rhin-Rhône make it necessary to slightly relocate the route to the south by means of a double curve. Of the 20 level crossings that were still in existence at the time, some of which had long been inactive, six crossings were abolished and one replaced by a road overpass; the remaining 13 level crossings, however, were renovated and newly secured.

The project also included six public facilities, including the construction of the new Danjoutin and Joncherey stops , the Meroux TGV transfer station above the Belfort-Montbéliard TGV station , and the Grandvillars and Morvillars station facilities , each at the old stations. While Grandvillars was expanded to double track again after more than 60 years, the former Morvillars branch station was only rebuilt as a single track. The new Meroux TGV station, which was not built at the old Meroux station (near Moval ) in order to facilitate the transfer options, was also laid out with two tracks . With the exception of the renovated station building from 1967, Delle station was also completely rebuilt, removing all of the old railway systems, including the substructure and a passenger flyover to the island platform. The last single-track system was expanded to three-track.

The electrical systems were installed between October 2016 and June 2017: the signaling and barrier systems, including their cable harnesses along the track bed. The catenary masts were installed between January and May 2017. The track work was carried out between May and October 2017 with the laying of around 31,400 railway sleepers and 41 kilometers of track. The contact line system was installed and straightened in October and November 2017. The GSM-R mobile radio system was finally installed between December 2017 and May 2018. The construction work was completed on May 25, 2018 with the commissioning of the contact line system.

The commissioning planned for the timetable change in December 2017 according to the original forecasts turned out to be too optimistic and was postponed by a year. The official inauguration ceremony took place on December 6, 2018 from 10:00 a.m. at Delle train station, in the presence of the representatives of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region , the Federal Office of Transport , the Canton of Jura , the Territoire de Belfort and the Grand Belfort municipal associations and Sud Territoire and the infrastructure owner SNCF Réseau . An open day was celebrated on December 8, 2018 in the stations Belfort-Ville, Belfort-Montbéliard TGV, Delle and Delémont; the use of the special trains and the Swiss regular trains between Delle and Délemont was free.

With the timetable change on December 9, 2018, regular operations began on the Belfort – Delle route.

business

Timetable year 2019

• RE Biel / Bienne - Delémont - Delle - Meroux TGV

  Run with SBB RABe 522 “FLIRT France”; runs daily, every 60 minutes (Biel – Delle); on the Delle – Meroux section there are gaps in intervals and different days of operation (around 10 pairs of trains per day)

• TER Belfort - Meroux TGV - Delle

  Guided by SNCF Z 27500 (ZGC); only runs in the morning / evening, on different days of traffic (no regular timetable)

• TER Belfort - Meroux TGV

  runs daily (no regular timetable)

outlook

According to the project documentation from SNCF Réseau, a stop was planned in Sévenans . However, implementation was postponed, but could take place at a later date.

literature

• Hans G. Wägli: Swiss Rail Network . AS Verlag, Zurich 1998, ISBN 3-905111-21-7 .
• Hans G. Wägli: Railway Profile Switzerland 2005 . Diplory Verlag, Grafenried 2004, DNB 972778233 .

Web links

Commons : Belfort – Delle railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Association interligne TGV Belfort – Bienne (fr)
• Binari Morti: Le chemin de fer Montbéliard – Audincourt – Morvillars – Delle (fr / it)
• SNCF Réseau: Réouverture de la ligne Belfort – Delle (fr)
• Wiki Trains: Montbéliard – Delle (fr)
• Wiki Trains: Belfort – Morvillars (fr)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Route lengths: junction Danjoutin – Delle-Grenz 20.32 km; Belfort – Danjoutin junction 1.57 km (Paris – Mulhouse line); Total distance traveled 21.89 km
2. ↑ Belfort - Delle reopening to revive Franco-Swiss link on railwaygazette.com of December 5, 2018, accessed on December 10, 2018
3. ↑ Cross-border lines, groundbreaking, building permit ... ( Memento from February 8, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
4. ^ Delle – Belfort railway line: Doris Leuthard signs agreement with France ( Memento from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
5. ↑ IRJ: Work begins on reopening of French-Swiss link (en)
6. ↑ transportrail: Belfort - Delle: réouverture en 2018 (fr)
7. ↑ Belfort - Delle reopening to revive Franco-Swiss link on railwaygazette.com of December 5, 2018, accessed on December 10, 2018
8. ↑ SNCF Réseau: Réouverture de la ligne Belfort – Delle: Les gares et haltes