Tunnel du Mont d'Or
| Tunnel du Mont d'Or | |
|---|---|
 Portal on the French side
|
|
| use | Railway tunnel |
| traffic connection | Dijon – Vallorbe railway line |
| place | Mont d'Or |
| length | 6 098 |
| Number of tubes | 1 |
| business | |
| operator | SNCF Réseau |
| Coordinates | |
| North portal | 46 ° 45 ′ 1 ″ N , 6 ° 18 ′ 27 ″ E |
| South portal | 517374 / 173655 |
Map with all coordinates: The Tunnel du Mont d'Or is a railway tunnel on the Paris - Dijon - Vallorbe - Lausanne - Simplon - Milan line . The 6,096 meter long tunnel passes the French-Swiss border here . It crosses under the Mont d'Or in the Jura . Although the tunnel was laid out with two tracks, the railway line has only been single-track since the Second World War .
history
The history of the tunnel is inextricably linked with the history of the neighboring town of Vallorbe . On July 1, 1870, the (Lausanne–) Daillens –Vallorbe line was opened, the most complex structure being the viaduct below Vallorbe. In 1872 construction began on the route to Pontarlier with the 1662 m long tunnel under the Col de Jougne , which was completed on July 1, 1875 (see also Coni'Fer ). This made it possible for the first time to have a continuous rail connection from Paris to Lausanne with a travel time of 14 hours 15 minutes, although a change of direction was necessary in Vallorbe . From 1906 the Simplon-Express , the predecessor of the Simplon-Orient-Express , which operated from 1919 , ran on this route.
After the traffic increased at the beginning of the 20th century, the disadvantages of the chosen route became clear. Up to the apex of the route in the Jougne tunnel (1012 meters) a gradient of 2.5% had to be accepted. For this reason, the construction of a new direct line began in 1910, which was supposed to cross under the Mont d'Or in a tunnel, with the apex of the line only at 896 meters. To this end, the Vallorbe train station was generously expanded.
The work was extremely complicated, and major water inrushes occurred several times during the construction work. The breakthrough was achieved on October 2, 1913, and the new tunnel was finally put into operation on May 15, 1915.
The Second World War did not leave the tunnel unaffected. In July 1941 the tunnel at the border was walled up, on the French side the second track was dismantled by the Germans as a reparation payment. The line to Pontarlier was also dismantled. In January 1945 the wall in the tunnel was removed again.
Electrical operation began on April 25, 1958, with the French traction current system with an operating voltage of 25 kV. On May 19, 1977, the Orient-Express ran for the last time on this route, and since January 22, 1984 the TGV has connected Paris and Lausanne with a journey time of 3 hours 45 minutes.
Web links
- (fr) Information about the tunnel (PDF; 796 kB)