Yellow Train (Ligne de Cerdagne)

The route

The Ligne de Cerdagne, known everywhere as the Train Jaune or Yellow Train, is a 63 km metre-gauge line in the Pyrenees of Pyrénées-Orientales. It runs from Villefranche-de-Conflent at 427 m up the Têt valley to the Cerdanya plateau and on to Latour-de-Carol-Enveitg near the Spanish border. Its summit at Bolquère-Eyne, 1,593 m, is the highest railway station in France.

The line was declared of public utility in 1903 and built by the Compagnie du Midi to end the isolation of the upper cantons of the Cerdanya. The section to Mont-Louis was completed in 1910; an extension from Bourg-Madame to Latour-de-Carol followed in 1927. From the start it was electric, fed at 850 V DC through a third rail with power from hydro-electric plants on the Têt.

Today it is single track with passing loops, 22 stations of which 14 are request stops, and 19 tunnels, the longest being the 380 m Pla de Llaurar tunnel. Trains are limited to 55 km/h. The line is now mainly a tourist route, and between 2010 and 2023 about 80 million euros were invested in renewing it.

What to watch for

1. Three gauges at Latour-de-Carol

   Watch the first minutes closely. The yellow train's metre-gauge track runs beside standard-gauge track from Toulouse and Iberian broad gauge from Barcelona. Few stations in Europe bring three gauges together, and it is a reminder that this corner of the Pyrenees was linked to both France and Spain by rail.

2. The third rail beside the track

   Early in the ride the camera picks out the 850 V third rail running alongside the running rails. The line has been electric since it opened, fed by hydro-electric plants on the Têt. In 1911 workers reported fireballs on the third rail during storms, and lightning rods were fitted afterwards.

3. Summit at Bolquère-Eyne

   About 1 hour 9 minutes in, the train passes Bolquère-Eyne at 1,593 m, the highest station in France. On the plateau side the gradients are gentle, but from here to Olette the line falls almost a kilometre, which explains the loops, tunnels and bridges that follow.

4. The Gisclard suspension bridge

   At around 1 hour 22 minutes the train rolls onto the Pont Gisclard, a 253 m suspension bridge high over the Têt. It is the only suspension bridge on an operating railway in France and a listed historic monument. Twelve of its suspension cables were replaced in 2023, the year this video was filmed.

5. Séjourné viaduct

   Shortly after Fontpédrouse comes the Pont Séjourné, a 236.7 m masonry viaduct across the Têt at km 18. It was designed by the engineer Paul Séjourné and built between 1906 and 1908, two years before the line opened to Mont-Louis on 18 July 1910. It has been a listed historic monument since 1994.

What you will see

The video, filmed in June 2023 from the driver's seat of a Z100 motor car, runs the line downhill from Latour-de-Carol. In the first minutes the standard-gauge track to Toulouse and the Iberian-gauge track to Barcelona run alongside, then the Yellow Train dives through the Pla de Llaurar tunnel and drops to Bourg-Madame on the French–Spanish border before crossing the open, farmed Cerdanya plateau by Osséja, Err and Saillagouse.

From Saillagouse the line climbs again, through the Saint-Vincent tunnel and the Col Rigat gallery, over the Eyne viaduct and up to Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via. A little over an hour into the video the train passes Bolquère-Eyne, the summit at 1,593 m, and then Mont-Louis-La Cabanasse.

The second half is the steep descent of the Têt gorge. After the Jardo viaduct and the Planès tunnel the train crosses the Gisclard suspension bridge, drops to Fontpédrouse and then runs over the stone Séjourné viaduct. Past Thuès-les-Bains and Nyer the valley widens, and the ride ends at Olette at 608 m.

Station by station

1. Latour-de-Carol-EnveitgMountain junction at 1,247 m where three gauges meet: the metre-gauge Yellow Train, the standard-gauge line from Toulouse and the Spanish broad-gauge line from Barcelona. The video starts here, at km 62.6.
2. Bourg-MadameBorder town beside Puigcerdà in Spain and, at 1,144 m, the lowest point of the Cerdanya plateau section. The line from Villefranche first ended here before the 1927 extension to Latour-de-Carol.
3. OsséjaVillage station at 1,241 m on the southern edge of the plateau, close to the Spanish border. From here the train turns north-east across open farmland towards Saillagouse.
4. SaillagouseMain village of the upper Cerdanya at 1,302 m. The filmed run loses about five minutes of footage here because the camera overheated, as the uploader notes in the chapters.
5. Font-Romeu-Odeillo-ViaStation at 1,534 m below the ski resort of Font-Romeu, in the village of Via. After Estavar the line has climbed more than 200 m from the valley floor to reach it.
6. Bolquère-EyneAt 1,593 m, the highest railway station in France and the summit of the line. Shortly before it the train crosses the Eyne viaduct; after it the long descent to the Têt begins.
7. Mont-Louis-La CabanasseStation at 1,511 m below the fortified town of Mont-Louis, a passing loop on the single track. The first section of the line, from Villefranche, reached here in 1910.
8. Fontpédrouse-Saint-Thomas-les-BainsPassing loop at 1,051 m in the Têt gorge, reached after the Gisclard suspension bridge. Just beyond it the train crosses the Séjourné viaduct, the line's best-known stone bridge.
9. Olette-Canaveilles-les-BainsStation at 608 m, 9.7 km above Villefranche, where the video ends. In just over 52 km from Latour-de-Carol the train has come down about 640 m.

Riding it for real

The Yellow Train is part of the SNCF regional network in Occitanie and connects with standard-gauge trains to Perpignan at Villefranche-Vernet-les-Bains and to Toulouse and Barcelona at Latour-de-Carol-Enveitg. Both modern enclosed two-car units and the older yellow carriages run, and some of the old cars are open when the weather allows. Check SNCF TER Occitanie for current timetables and fares, as services vary by season.

The video is embedded from YouTube and remains on its owner’s channel. Views count toward the original video.