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 Map of the CEVA railway line | |
| Overview | |
| Status | Open |
| Owner | CFF |
| Locale | Switzerland (canton of Geneva) and France (Haute-Savoie) |
| Termini | |
| Service | |
| Type | Commuter |
| System | SNCF andCFF |
| Operator(s) | CFF |
| History | |
| Opened | 15 December 2019[1] |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 14.1 km (8.8 mi) |
| Number of tracks | Double track |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge |
| Electrification | 15 kV 16.67 Hz |
CEVA (Cornavin‒Eaux-Vives‒Annemasse) is an orbital rail line designed to connect the main railway station ofGeneva,Switzerland (Gare de Cornavin) on the north ofLake Geneva with theGare d'Annemasse inAnnemasse,France, to the south of Lake Geneva. The link allows through running between the main Swiss rail network and the until then isolated line east of Annemasse inHaute-Savoie, which was served until 2013 by FrenchSNCF services. A new station was constructed on the route atGare des Eaux-Vives and the line between this station and the border was replaced with a double track line in tunnel. Track already existed as far asStade de Genève station;[2] the full route opened on 15 December 2019 toLéman Express andRegioExpress services.[1]
The project was to build the remaining section of an outer ring link connectingGeneva (Cornavin station) withAnnemasse running through Geneva's west, south and south eastern suburbs. It was planned to enhance the public transport network of the Geneva region, which increasingly over the years has become a trans-frontier conurbation, with thousands of cross-border daily commuters travelling between the Geneva area and surrounding regions of France. It links theCFF route Lausanne – Geneva Cornavin – Geneva Airport and the SNCF route Geneva Cornavin –Bellegarde-sur-Valserine – Lyon with lines in the Haute Savoie servingThonon-les-Bains,Évian-les-Bains, and theArve valley to St Gervais and Chamonix as well as Annemasse toAnnecy.[3]
The origins of the project go back to 1850. In 1888 the Eaux-Vives toAnnemasse line was opened. At Eaux Vives, the abutments were built for a bridge across the main road on the alignment of the proposed link round to Cornavin. This Geneva ring was part of a proposed new link to the Simplon route to Italy, using a direct route from Paris and Dijon under the Jura mountains via the Faucille tunnel to Geneva, round the 'CEVA' route and along the south side of Lake Geneva to St-Maurice. This was never realised due to competition from the Vaud canton which succeeded in keeping the Dijon – Vallorbe – Lausanne – St Maurice route as the main Simplon line to Italy.
A contract of 1912 between the Confederation and the canton said that each partner would pay one third of construction costs of CEVA and SBB a further third.
In 1949 the first section of the ring was built, connectingCornavin station to a large new freight marshalling yard at La Praille, but was used only for freight. Until 2013 the Eaux-Vives – Annemasse line remained an isolated shuttle served bySNCF trains, although the line (infrastructure) was legally the Geneva State Railway (French:Chemin de Fer de l'Etat de Genève).
After numerous false starts over a century, the ring line project was reborn in the 1990s and a passenger service was introduced on theLa Praille line as far as Lancy-Pont-Rouge station which opened on 19 December 2002 and is the present terminus for the regional trains coming fromCoppet inVaud, after passing through Geneva'sCornavin station. Pont Rouge acts as an interchange to the Geneva tram route 15.[4]
The first official CEVA project work was undertaken in the last two years,[year needed] and consisted of widening Cornavin station on its south side, to allow room for a platform for use by CEVA trains. This entailed the wholesale moving of a historic listed building by a few metres.
Approval of the plans by the Federal Office of Transport was given on 5 May 2008, but opponents brought the case to court. The Federal Administrative Court rejected the plea in June 2011[5] but the opponents also took the last step, going to the Federal Court.
On 28 March 2012, the Federal Administrative Court rejected all remaining objections, thus concluding the legal process and allowing the works to proceed freely.[6]
In 2012, Eaux-Vives station closed and the disused Chêne-Bourg station was reopened until 1 April 2013, when all train services stopped to allow construction to start. A substitute bus service from Annemasse to Eaux-Vives began running.[7]
The CEVA line is electrified with the Swiss 15 kV 16.7 Hz including a track to one of the Annemasse platforms. To simplify electrification situation in the Geneva area, the portion between Genève-Cornavin and Bellegarde was changed from 1500 V DC to 25 kV 50 Hz AC in summer 2014.
The new service over the CEVA line opened in December 2019; it was branded asLéman Express and operated with newStadler FLIRT electric multiple unit trains built in Switzerland byStadler Rail.
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Since completion, a continuous railway route runs fromCornavin station via La Praille, Bachet-de-Pesay, over the riverArve, in tunnel under the commune ofChampel and on past Eaux-Vives, underground toAnnemasse, as a financing for the French part of the new infrastructure was found.
The CEVA project consisted of four principal sectors:[9]
| International | |
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| National | |
