About this journey

Les Diablerets station sits at 1,157 m above sea level on the north side of the Diablerets massif, and the metre-gauge line descending from here to Aigle belongs to the Aigle–Sépey–Diablerets railway, today operated by Transports Publics du Chablais (TPC).

The route has a long history of ambition and difficulty. A concession was first approved by both Houses of the Swiss Parliament on 24 October 1898, though construction did not begin until 1913; the lower section between Aigle and Le Sépey opened on 22 December 1913, and the upper section through to Les Diablerets followed on 7 July 1914. The line's survival was never guaranteed: on the night of 26 June 1940, a fire destroyed the ASD depot along with three electric railcars and four passenger cars, nearly ending operations altogether. In 1975, the ASD joined three neighbouring narrow-gauge companies to form TPC.

Over its 22.33 km, the line descends 753 m — from the alpine station at Les Diablerets down to Aigle station at 404 m above sea level, where the TPC network meets the SBB Simplon mainline running between Italy and Lausanne. The TPC Beh 2/6 railcar used on this journey covers a route that compresses the transition from high alpine terrain to the Rhône valley floor into a single, continuous descent.