About this journey

Tavannes station sits where the standard-gauge Swiss Federal Railways main line meets the metre-gauge network of the Chemins de fer du Jura (CJ), and it is here that Line 237 begins. Immediately after departure, the train crosses the 246-metre Tavannes viaduct, opened in 1966 to separate the railway from the road through the village. The first section of this route, from Tavannes to Tramelan, opened on 16 August 1884 as one of the first Swiss narrow-gauge railways, described at the time as a model for similar operations. The extension to Le Noirmont followed in 1913, completing the full corridor through the Bernese Jura.

Beyond Tavannes the line climbs at a 4.0 percent gradient through meadows and fields toward Tramelan, then steepens to 5.0 percent on a winding ascent to the Franches-Montagnes plateau at Les Reussilles. The line crosses the cantonal boundary between the Bernese Jura and the Canton of Jura before reaching Les Breuleux-Eglise halt, the highest point of the route, after which a descent at 4.4 percent leads into Le Noirmont. There, the line meets the La Chaux-de-Fonds–Glovelier line, also operated by CJ — a network that took its present form when predecessor companies merged on 1 January 1944. The journey thus moves from a valley junction shared with standard-gauge rail to a plateau terminus at the heart of the Jurassian metre-gauge system.