La Chaux-de-Fonds trolleybus

La Chaux-de-Fonds trolleybus
Solaris Trollino 12 at La Chaux-de-Fonds train station
Basic information
Country	Switzerland
city	La Chaux-de-Fonds
opening	December 23, 1949
Shutdown	May 20, 2014
operator	Transports Publics Neuchâtelois SA (TransN)
Infrastructure
Power system	600 volts direct current
business
Lines	3

Network 2014

Legend 304 Éplatures Nord Blaise-Cendrars Forges Arc-en-ciel Breguet Tricentenaire Numaga Cernil-Antoine Ami-Girard fusion 301 Recorne Chapeau rablé Lycée Blaise-Cendrars Succès Villa Turque Pouillerel North Abeille Armes-Réunies Paix 302 Combe-à-l'Ours Grillon Éplatures Jaunes Bonne Fontaine Morgarten Entilles Grand-Pont Cook Balancer Coullery Bibliothèque Bois du Petit Château Stavay-Mollondin Citadel Bel-Air Chasseral 304 Hôpital Théâtre Espacité Grande fontaine Marché Versoix Moulins Perret-Gentil Parc des Sports Pâquerette 302 Charrière Fritz Courvoisier Étoile Monique St-Helier L'Éplattenier 301 arêtes

The La Chaux-de-Fonds trolleybus was the trolleybus system of the Swiss city ​​of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the canton of Neuchâtel . It was opened on December 23, 1949 and replaced the former tram from 1897. The original operating company was Compagnie des Transports en commun, La Chaux-de-Fonds ( TC ), after a merger in 2005, the trolleybus operation belonged to the Transports Régionaux Neuchâtelois company ( TRN ). From 2012 on, the then newly founded Transports Publics Neuchâtelois SA ( transN ) was the owner. This still operates the neighboring trolleybus Neuchâtel and local bus services in the region.

In April 2011 it became known that the trolleybuses in La Chaux-de-Fonds would be replaced by hybrid buses by 2014 due to cost reasons , but this sparked violent protests. The background is a project to relocate the bus station in front of the train station in a south-westerly direction, which would require the construction of the central section of the contact line system in the area of ​​the station square. On May 20, 2014 the trolleybus operation was stopped as a result of the construction work and the overhead lines in front of the station were dismantled. After the construction work was completed in 2016, electrical operation was no longer started.

Lines

Recently it wrong three Trolleybus diameter lines , they were all in a ten-minute cycle with four rounds operated:

line	route	Stops	Travel time	Cycle sequence	Car use
301	Recorne - Gare - Arêtes	17/15	17/18 minutes	10 mins	Articulated trolley
302	Combe à l'Ours - Gare - Charrière	19/18	17/18 minutes	10 mins	Solo car
304	Éplatures Nord - Gare - Hôpital	18/20	18/19 minutes	10 mins	Articulated trolley

Lines 302 and 304 were replaced by bus lines 52 and 54 in the evenings as well as on Sundays and public holidays, so that only line 301 operated during off- peak hours . The La Chaux-de-Fonds trolleybus was also the last Swiss trolleybus operator to use solo cars without trailers . When the timetable changed in December 2013, the lines were renumbered to 301, 302 and 304, the original line names were 1, 2 and 4.

vehicles

The following 52 vehicles have been procured for the La Chaux-de-Fonds trolleybus over the years:

	Numbers	piece	Manufacturer	Electrics	Type	Art	Years of construction	low-floor
	1-10	10				solo	1949	No
	11-12	02				solo	1954	No
	13-14	02				solo	1961	No
	15-16	02				solo	1965	No
	17-29	13				solo	1942-1963	No	Acquired used, including from the trolleybus in Bern
	101-108	08th	FBW / Hess / Hague	SAAS	91 T	solo	1978-1982	No	with used electrical equipment from the Geneva trolleybus , in VST standard paint
	111-113	03	NAW / Hess / Ramseier + Jenzer	Siemens	BT 5-25	solo	1990	No	last high-floor wagons , retired at the end of 2007 (113) and end of 2010 (111 and 112)
	121-125	05	NAW / Hess	Siemens	BGT-N2	joint	1996	Yes	The first low-floor wagons and the first articulated wagons, 123–125 in 2013, 121–122 moved to Neuchâtel after cessation of operations, 123 dismantled there as a spare parts donor due to an accident and scrapped in the same year. At the end of 2015, all other cars were also taken out of service, 125 were demolished as part of a fire brigade exercise and the remaining cars were handed over to the Retrobus association.
	631-633	03	Solaris	Cegelec	Trollino 12 AC	solo	2005	Yes	original numbers 131–133, after cessation of operations sold to the Budapest trolleybus , where identical vehicles were already in use
	141-144	04th	Solaris	Cegelec	Trollino 18 AC	joint	2005	Yes	In 2011 it was traded in at the manufacturer Solaris, which it sold to the Salzburg trolleybus in 2012 (numbers 316-319), where identical vehicles were already in use

Since the last high-floor wagons 111–113, which were replaced by buses, were scrapped , mixed operation with diesel buses has increased . This expanded when, at the end of 2011, wagons 141–144 were removed from the inventory and in 2013 wagons 123–125 were moved to Neuchâtel. Both series were replaced from October 2012 by seven articulated hybrid buses with the numbers 341–347, which also come from Solaris. When operations ceased, there were still five trolleybuses (121, 122, 631, 632 and 633), of which Car 632 was no longer operational. There is now not a single trolleybus left on site.

Web links

Commons : Trolleybuses in La Chaux-de-Fonds  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of the Transports Régionaux Neuchâtelois
• The La Chaux-de-Fonds trolleybus on www.trolleymotion.ch
• Picture gallery on www.railfaneurope.net

Individual evidence

1. ^ History of the La Chaux-de-Fonds trolleybus on www.trolleymotion.com
2. ↑ Article in the newspaper 24heures (French)
3. ↑ La Chaux-de-Fonds: Decision postponed , report on www.trolleymotion.eu of July 28, 2014 ( Memento of the original of September 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ Budapest: Three Solaris Trollino from Switzerland , report on www.trolleymotion.eu from August 18, 2014 ( memento of the original from August 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ Tram No. 113 / 02-04-2013 , ISSN  1422-5344 , pages 57-58
6. ↑ Trolleybus La Chaux-de-Fonds ceases to operate on www.trolleybus.ch