Métro Lausanne-Ouchy

The Métro Lausanne – Ouchy (LO) is a company who owned a rack railway which linked the lakeside at Ouchy with the main line railway station in Lausanne and Flon. The system also included a parallel system between the railway station and Flon. 2008 the line reopens as rubber-tyred metro, extended to Epalinges in the North.

History

The line was opened in 1877 as the first funicular in Switzerland. The line was known as “La Ficelle” (The String) and used water balance as the means of raising and lowering the cars. In 1958 the funicular was rebuilt into a rack and pinion railway using the Strub system and intermediate stations at Jordils and Montriond were opened. The line became known by the name "métro", although to the natives and its many regular users it was always “La Ficelle”.

Until 1954 there was no direct connection between the freight station of Sébeillon and the Flon valley and this line was used by freight trains from the main station to the storage area of the harbour (in Flon).

The line was sold by the operating company to the town of Lausanne in 1984 and on 22nd January 2006 it was closed to be rebuilt as part of Metro line 2 (M2) with a completion date in September 2008. The rolling stock was sold to the French city of Villard-de-Lans with the intention of it being used on their new rack railway, “La Patache”, to make a link between the centre of Villard and Le Balcon de Villard. This is due for completion in 2008.

Technical Details

The system consists of two lines, the first from Ouchy, through Jordils, Montriond and the SBB-CFF-FFS railway station to Flon. This is known as “Metro – Ouchy” and is paralleled between the CFF railway station and Flon by a separate line, known as the “Metro – Gare”.

The line between Ouchy and Flon is 1482 m. in length, and rises 106 m. at a maximum gradient of 11.6% ( 1 in 8.66 ). This journey is completed in 8 minutes. The system is single track with a double track section in the station at Montriond to allow crossing of trains (See photograph). The second line from the CFF railway station to Flon is just 318 m. in length, rises 37 m. at a maximum gradient of 12% (1 in 8.33 ). The trains were two 2-car units and offered a fast service, with trains every 6 to 10 minutes. The line is now referred to as Métro-Ouchy or M2.

The New Line

The 'M2 project' will incorporate this railway into an extended line from Ouchy to Epalinges with 14 intermediate stations and use 15 trains fitted with tyred wheels, similar to those in use on Line 1 of the Paris Metro system. The urban sections were built in tunnel using "cut and cover" building techniques, the disruption causing much anger amongst residents and commercial premises owners along its length with much dispute and comment over the chosen route. The construction and trackwork was, however, completed in February 2007.

See also

*Lausanne Metro