Chemins de fer électriques Veveysans

Vevey-Saint-Légier-La Chiésaz-Blonay-Les Pléiades
Map of the route
Timetable field :	112 and 115.1
Route length:	10.51 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system :	900 volts  =
Maximum slope :	Adhesion 50  ‰ rack 200  ‰
Rack system :	Strub
Legend SBB from Montreux 0.00 Vevey 386 m above sea level M. SBB to Lausanne SBB to Chexbres 0.77 Bosquets 1.21 Gilamont 432 m above sea level M. 1.77 Clies 458 m above sea level M. 2.46 Hauteville 492 m above sea level M. 3.02 Château-d'Hauteville 515 m above sea level M. 3.60 St-Légier-Gare 533 m above sea level M. to Châtel-St-Denis 4.02 St-Légier-Village 553 m above sea level M. 4.51 La Chiésaz 577 m above sea level M. 5.35 Château-de-Blonay 616 m above sea level M. 5.72 Blonay 620 m above sea level M. after Clarens to Chamby 6.17 Prélaz-sur-Blonay 670 m above sea level M. 6.94 Tusinge 727 m above sea level M. 7.34 Les Chevalleyres 773 m above sea level M. Bois-de-Chexbres 8.43 Fayaux 970 m above sea level M. 9.17 Ondallaz-L'Alliaz 1113 m above sea level M. 9.81 Lally 1235 m above sea level M. 10.51 Les Pléiades 1348 m above sea level M.

The Chemins de fer électriques Veveysans ( CEV ) were a Swiss narrow-gauge railway company, the successor of which is today's Transports Montreux-Vevey-Riviera (MVR).

MVR is the owner of the infrastructure of the still existing route network of the former CEV. This consists of the Vevey - Saint-Légier - Blonay - Les Pléiades line and the Blonay – Chamby line .

While the railway line Vevey-Les Pléiades is operated year-round scheduled routes, the railway Blonay-Chamby serves the trains running only in the summer season trains of Blonay-Chamby and occasional operating rides.

The Blonay – Les Pléiades section is continuously provided with a rack according to the Strub system.

history

Railway line Vevey – Saint-Légier – Blonay – Chamby 1901

The origin of the Chemins de fer électriques Veveysans lies in the adhesion railway line Vevey – Saint-Légier– Blonay - Chamby, opened in 1902 . In Chamby existed from the beginning following the 1901 opened railway line Montreux - Les Avants of the Montreux-Bernese Oberland Railway (MOB).

Saint-Légier – Châtel-Saint-Denis railway in 1904

In 1904, the route network was expanded with the Saint-Légier– Châtel-Saint-Denis railway . While in Saint-Légier the newly built railway line connected to the existing Vevey – Blonay – Chamby line, in Châtel-Saint-Denis the railway line of the original Châtel – Palézieux railway (CP) and the Châtel – Bulle – Montbovon railway were connected (CBM). The latter two railway companies are predecessor companies of today's Freiburgische Verkehrsbetriebe (tpf).

Blonay – Les Pléiades railway line in 1911

In 1911, the cog railway up from Blonay to Les Pléiades was opened, which initially operated as a pure cog railway only between Blonay and Les Pléiades.

BDeh 2/4 73 with adhesion and gear drive and Bt 221 from 1970 in Blonay

Closure of railway lines and new rolling stock at the end of the 1960s

In view of the sometimes very low demand for transport, the public sector was not prepared to finance the renewal of the entire network. In a financing agreement signed in 1966, the granting of federal funds was tied to the condition that the Blonay – Chamby section was closed immediately and the Saint-Légier – Châtel-Saint-Denis section after two years at the latest. The remaining Vevey – Les Pléiades line could be operated more economically as a continuous line with the new adhesion and rack-and-pinion railcars.

On May 21, 1966, rail traffic on the Blonay – Chamby line was discontinued without replacement, but the line was retained for the time being. On July 20, 1968, Switzerland's first museum railway was opened on it, the Blonay – Chamby (BC) museum railway .

→ Main article : Blonay – Chamby railway line

In 1969 the Saint-Légier – Châtel-Saint-Denis railway line was shut down and broken off. The replacement is a bus line from Vevey, the concession of which, as a nationwide specialty, was jointly granted to GFM, today tpf, and Transports publics Vevey – Montreux – Chillon – Villeneuve (VMCV).

Kk 502 before Bt 224 before Beh 2/4 71, modernized 1999, and 72, modernized 2001, with adhesion and gear drive in Blonay for the Vevey – Saint-Légier – Blonay – Les Pléiades railway line

Accidents in 1966 and 1970

On August 24, 1966, a train going to Blonay derailed near Saint-Légier because of a sleeper bolt lying on a rail . 15 people were injured.

On July 7, 1970, a head-on collision between two railcars occurred near the Clies station , injuring 40 people. The two trains were in Clie cross should.

Vevey – Saint-Légier – Blonay – Les Pléiades railway since 1970

On the remaining Vevey – Saint-Légier – Blonay – Les Pléiades railway line, the newly acquired railcars with mixed adhesion and gear drive, which were later supplemented with a few control cars for shuttle trains, enabled continuous operation between Vevey and Les Pléiades.

Since the delivery of the new articulated multiple units Be 2/6 7001 to 7004 in 1997, traffic has often been broken up again, which means that you have to change trains in Blonay. This is why the procurement of new gear-wheel articulated multiple units Beh 7501 - 7508, similar to the articulated multiple units (GTW) that were delivered to the Cremallera de Núria and Cremallera de Montserrat in Spain , took place in 2015.

vehicles

• He 2/2 1 and 2 (1911), He 2/2 3 (1913) rack-and-pinion locomotives, 3 retired in 1984
• BDeh 2/4 71 to 74 (1970), BDeh 2/4 75 (1983), 71 1999 and 72 modernized in 2002, 73 and 74 canceled in 2017, 75 canceled in May 2018
• Bt 221 and 222 (1976), 222 canceled in 2017, Bt 223 (1983) sold to TPC in 2009 , there BVB B 66, Bt 224 (1990) modernized in 1999 after Brand, with low-floor entry
• Be 2/6 7001 to 7004 (1997 and 1998), also in use on the Montreux – Les Avents section of the Montreux – Berner Oberland Railway , sold to ASm (7001–7003) and MIB (7004) in 2017
• BDe 4/4 103 (1903) was transferred to Chernex for demolition on March 17, 2010. Bogies and electrical equipment went to the Blonay – Chamby museum railway for the reconstruction of the Ce 2/2 36 of the Lausannois tramway .
• BDe 4/4 105 (1913) is not operable is of the Association CEV 105 worked up
• Te 2/2 81 (built in 1963 from parts of railcars 38 and 39 of the Lucerne transport company ), from the mid-1990s in shunting service on the Montreux – Berner Oberland Railway, today in Chernex
• Te 2/2 82 (built in 1938 from the undercarriage of the K 39 and engines of the motor coaches 101 to 103)

literature

• Michel Grandguillaume, Gérald Hadorn, Jean Paillard, Jean-Louis Rochaix: Crémaillères et funiculaires vaudois. BVA, Lausanne 1982, OCLC 715111912 .
• Michel Grandguillaume et al. a .: Voies étroites de Veveyse et de Gruyère. BVA, Lausanne 1984, ISBN 2-88125-003-3 .
• Jean-Louis Rochaix et al. a .: Chemins de fer privés vaudois 1873-2000. Editions La Raillère, Belmont 2000, ISBN 2-88125-011-8 . Supplementary volume to the above books.
• Jean-Louis Rochaix et al. a .: Chemins de fer privés vaudois 2000-2009. Editions La Raillère, Belmont 2009, ISBN 978-2-88125-012-5 . Supplementary volume to the above books.

Web links

Commons : Chemins de fer électriques Veveysans  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Golden Pass

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Près de Saint-Légier, une Locomotrice occupée par 15 personnes déraille ( Memento of November 18, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ). In: Gazette de Lausanne . Lausanne August 25, 1966, p. 3.
2. ↑ Deux rames entrent en collision au-dessus de Vevey: 50 blessés ( Memento of November 18, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ). In: Gazette de Lausanne. Lausanne July 8, 1970, p. 19.
3. ↑ Brief message and picture of the transfer.