The line connects the towns of Yverdon-les-Bains and Sainte-Croix, both in the canton of Vaud, and is some 24 kilometres (15 mi) long, overcoming a vertical height change of 633 metres (2,077 ft).

It is now owned and operated by the TRAVYS company (Transports Vallée-de-Joux - Yverdon-les-Bains - Sainte-Croix).

Like many Swiss railways, it suffered from a shortage of coal during the Second World War and, in 1945, it was electrified at 15 kV  16.7 Hz AC, using overhead wires.

In 1974 the railway pioneered the Vevey system of Rollbocks, which allows a train of standard-gauge wagons to be automatically loaded onto transporter bogies so that it can travel on a narrow-gauge line.

[6][needs update] In 2013 and as part of a joint order with Transports de la région Morges-Bière-Cossonay, the Montreux–Oberland Bernois railway and Transports publics fribourgeois, TRAVYS ordered three new trains for the Yverdon–Ste-Croix railway from Stadler Rail.