Bassecourt station underwent major work to enable the creation of a second track in view of the increase in the rate of trains between Delémont and Porrentruy. The creation of this second track involved moving the 66 kV high-voltage line to the north between pylons 79 and 84. The study commenced in 2015, and the line was finally realised at the end of 2017 when it became operational. A long-term solution was thus essential, enabling the integration of the high-voltage extension into the natural landscape and responding to heightened demands with respect to realisation.
The desire to increase the rate of trains between Delémont and Porrentruy necessitated the creation of a crossing track at Bassecourt station, enabling one train every thirty minutes. The new infrastructure includes the creation of an underpass for pedestrians and cyclists, as well as the removal of the Temple level crossing.
The construction of this new infrastructure required the shifting to the north of the 66 kV high-voltage line between pylons 79 and 84 in order to free up space for the creation of the crossing track and its platform. Four pylons (80 to 83) were taken down and replaced with five pylons (80 to 83 + 83A).
First of all, the arrangement of the new pylons was checked, taking into account:
- existing obstacles, such as the Swiss Federal Railways station building, the Tellis service station and its “Couche-Tard” building, and the bend in the rue de l’Abbé-Monnin.
- future obstacles such as the underpass.
After calculating the electromagnetic fields at the level of the station building, the splitting of the phases was envisaged in order to limit radiation and so to respect the 1 µT imposed by the Ordinance on Protection against Non-ionising Radiation (ORNI) with regard to the site of sensitive use (LUS), in other words the accommodation on the first floor situated in the station building. The pylon close to the service station was conceived as a pole with crossarms only on one side in order to respect the directives of the Ordinance on Electrical Lines (OLEI) and the presence of a fuel tank close to the high-voltage line.
The pylon by the bend in the rue de l’Abbé-Monnin was set back enough to add a crash barrier and so protect drivers.