Trolleybus Lucerne

Trolleybus Lucerne
Hess Swisstrolley of the VBL in the center of Lucerne
Basic information
Country	Switzerland
city	Lucerne
opening	December 7, 1941
operator	Verkehrsbetriebe Luzern (VBL)
Infrastructure
Power system	600 volts direct current
Stops	96 (13 in Kriens , 6 in Emmen , 1 in Horw , 11 in Ebikon )
Depots	Weinbergli
business
Lines	7th
vehicles	59
Network plan from December 15, 2019

The Lucerne trolleybus is the trolleybus system of the Swiss city ​​of Lucerne , which runs across the city limits to the neighboring communities of Emmen , Horw , Kriens , Ebikon and Littau , which was incorporated in 2010 . It was opened on December 7, 1941 and gradually replaced the former Lucerne tram from 1899 until 1961. Today, the Lucerne public transport company (VBL) operates seven trolleybus routes . In 2015, 28.6 million passengers were carried on the trolleybus network without Line 5, which was introduced later. They are supplemented by 25 bus routes operated by  the same transport company , including seven night bus routes .

Lines

Verkehrsbetriebe Luzern operates seven trolleybus routes, these are in detail:

line	route	Stops	Timing sequence HVZ / NVZ	Courses	Art	Vehicle use
1	Obernau Dorf - Ebikon, Fildern	38/38	7½ minutes	13	Diameter line	Double articulated trolley
2	Sprengi - Lucerne train station	16/16	7½ minutes	8th	Radial line	Double articulated trolley
4th	Hubelmatt - Lucerne train station	09/ 09	10 mins	3	Radial line	Articulated trolley
5	Kriens bus loop - Emmenbrücke station south	20/20	7½ / 15 minutes	7th	Tangential line	Articulated trolley
6th	Matthof - Büttenenhalde	23/24	10/15 minutes	7th	Diameter line	Articulated trolleys, a few double articulated trolleys
7th	Biregghof - Unterlöchli	23/24	7½ / 15 minutes	7th	Diameter line	Articulated trolley
8th	Hirtenhof - Würzenbach	19/20	10/15 minutes	6th	Diameter line	Double articulated trolley

Lines 1 and 5 cross the border to the neighboring municipality of Kriens on their western branch, line 1 on its eastern branch crosses the municipality of Ebikon , and lines 2 and 5 lead to Emmen, north of Lucerne . In addition, the southern terminus of line 7 is beyond the city limits in the area of ​​the municipality of Horw .

Lines 6 and 8 serve the same route between Brüelstrasse and Schönbühl, so that overlaying results in a 5-minute cycle in the HVZ and a 7½-minute cycle in the NVZ. This is why one often speaks of the double line 6/8.

The Lucerne Transport Association introduced the RBus system on Line 1 in June 2014 , Line 2 followed in December 2016, and Line 8 has also been part of it since autumn 2017. The main lines of the Lucerne trolleybus are to be gradually converted into a high-quality trolleybus system by 2025.

Line 5 does not run on Sundays and public holidays or on weekdays only until 8 p.m., as it is mainly intended to complement the RBus lines 1 and 2 for commuters between Kriens and Emmenbrücke.

The Weinbergli depot is located on the route of lines 6, 7 and 8.

Planning

Line 1 is to be extended to Ebikon : As of December 2019 ^[obsolete] to Ebikon train station and on to the Mall of Switzerland . In a further step, line 12, which is now operated by buses, is to be electrified in 2022 . The latter, however, was suspended for the time being in November 2016 as part of austerity measures by the Canton of Lucerne. Instead, a catenary-free operation between Kreuzstutz and Littau is to be examined.

history

prehistory

As early as 1912, the then Trambahn Luzern (TrL) examined the construction of a trolleybus route between Halde and Seeburg as a connection to the tram network after a visit to the unattended Ludwigsburg Railway . However, the project was not pursued after the outbreak of the First World War . In 1928 the first buses finally started operating in Lucerne, and of all things the Luzernerhof – Halde tram section, to which the first trolleybus project was supposed to connect, was converted to bus in 1930. In the mid-1930s an expansion of the bus fleet became necessary. That is why the TrL directorate, together with representatives from Winterthur and the Rheinthal, organized a study trip that led to eight Belgian and German networks. A project to convert the Allmend -Halde line to a trolleybus was then worked out. This project was clearly rejected by the city's residents on July 3, 1938. One of the main points of criticism of the opponents was the aesthetics of the two-pole catenary.

As early as October 1938, TrL ordered two buses to cover the need for additional vehicles. A decision was made in favor of vehicles with a rear engine , which offered more usable space than the classic normal-handlebar buses . Since the mechanical switching of these cars was classified as complicated, it was decided to run the drive diesel-electric . The two vehicles were given the numbers 16 and 17 and were put into operation in mid-1939. Since it became more and more difficult in the course of the Second World War to procure fuel for the buses and this was partly even rationed , the TrL was forced to reduce bus operations considerably from spring 1941 and to use buses with wood gasifiers in some cases . In addition, in May 1941, the War, Industry and Labor Office banned all parallel traffic on urban bus and tram lines, whereupon the Allmend – Halde city line had to be discontinued on May 11th. So it happened that on September 7, 1941, a vote was taken again to convert this line to trolleybus. In advance, the TrL organized a four-day demonstration in Hirschmattstrasse with the two-vehicle number 11 of the Basel trolleybus . In contrast to 1938, this time the trolleybus proposal was clearly accepted with around 74 percent of the votes.

Supplement to the tram (1941–1959)

Ten trolleybuses and the extension to the Wesemlin district were among the first network expansions in the years 1949-51 (photo 2016)

Thanks to extensive preparatory work before the vote in autumn, the first trolleybus was able to run between Allmend and Lucerne train station on December 7, 1941. Two vehicles were available for every twelve minutes: a rented trolleybus from the Lausanne trolleybus and bus number 17, which had been converted into a two-vehicle car. Just two weeks later, car number 16 was also equipped for trolleybus operation. On January 25, 1942, operations on the section Bahnhof – Dietschiberg (Halde) could begin, after the delivery of the new trolleybuses 18-21, a six-minute cycle was offered on the entire line from April. In addition to the contact line system of the new trolleybus line, which was created without switches, a service contact line was also installed in the area of ​​the Eschenstrasse depot, which, however, was separated from the remaining contact line systems by the electrified Brünigbahn .

After the end of the war, the number of passengers rose sharply, which is why the Lucerne public transport company ordered two trailers at the end of 1945, which could be used behind the trolleybuses 18-21 at peak times. After adapting the clutch and making further improvements, it went into operation in autumn 1947. There were also plans to extend the Halden line from Dietschiberg to Brüelstrasse, Lido and Seeburg, which is why ten trolleybuses were ordered in 1947/48. They should be delivered between June 1949 and March 1950, four of which would have been intended for the operation of the extension. Since the costs for contact line systems rose during this time, the approved credit was no longer sufficient for the construction and the planned developments in the Brüel-Würzenbach area were also not implemented to the expected extent. That is why the political decision-makers as well as the Lucerne public transport company came to the decision in 1949 not to expand the network in the dump. Instead, the vehicles of the 22-31 series were used on the only line 5 from the end of 1949, which meant that the trailers were no longer needed and were assigned to bus operation from 1950.

After the project to extend it to the Seeburg was suspended, the city council approved a loan for the electrification of line 7 between the station and Wesemlin in September 1950. Between 1944 and 1948, preparatory work for future mast foundations for the line into the Wesemlin had been carried out along the Abendweg as part of its expansion. In the course of the construction work, intermediate turning loops in both directions of travel were implemented for the first time at Lucerne train station. On May 20, 1951, the line was inaugurated on schedule. The newly opened section was linked with the line to the Allmend to form line 5 and the railway station – Dietschiberg line was now operated as radial line 6. The renewed increase in the number of passengers meant that two additional trolleybuses were delivered to the Lucerne public transport company in 1955.

Conversion from tram to trolleybus (1959–1961)

As early as the early 1930s, there were initial considerations to partially replace the two tram lines with buses or trolley buses. However, these only gained weight around twenty years later, after a change in personnel in the management of the Lucerne transport company. In March 1952, for example, they first submitted an application to the Federal Office of Transport for the introduction of large-capacity trolleybuses with a length of 12.5 meters and a width of 2.5 meters . After the Verkehrsbetriebe Luzern was informed that such wagons would be approved, several variants were worked out for the partial and complete replacement of the tram. In addition to the condition of the track, it was also taken into account that a large part of the rolling stock consisted of two-axle wagons built between 1899 and 1926. In the course of this planning, the parties involved realized that the redesign of several places strongly depended on whether the plan was to use or without a tram. Since both the engineers and the politicians assumed that the large-capacity trolleybuses could carry as many passengers as the large-capacity tramcars used up to now and also represented a smaller obstacle to traffic, the decision was ultimately made against the tram. The corresponding bill reached the people on May 5, 1957 and was approved with around 71 percent of the votes. This approved not only the contact line system, but also the order for 34 large-capacity trolleybuses. The first 17 cars (numbers 201-217) should be delivered in the run-up to the conversion of line 2 in the summer of 1959, the second part series was supplemented by two more cars in 1959 and comprised 19 copies (numbers 218-236), which were delivered in 1961 . The increasing demand as well as expansion plans meant that in 1961 six additional open-plan cars, which were technically identical to the first part series, were reordered, which were delivered on time for the Swiss Federal Gymnastics Festival in 1963 .

As part of the changeover to the trolleybus, line 2 was extended to the dump from November 15, 1959, whereby line number 6 was again omitted. Ten years after the first expansion plans were suspended, the network was also expanded from the Dietschiberg stop to Brüelstrasse (then called Würzenbach). At the same time as the conversion of line 2 to trolleybuses, the trolleybus hall of the Weinbergli depot including service contact line from the Langensandbrücke and the Tribschen- / Kellerstrasse junction went into operation. By 1966, the area had been expanded to such an extent that the depot and workshop on Eschenstrasse could be completely dispensed with. On November 12, 1961, line 1 was converted, making the tram in Lucerne history. Both changes were made according to the same scheme: tram operation until Saturday afternoon, then bus replacement services and trolleybuses start operating on Sunday morning.

Network expansion and articulated trolley (1961–1985)

Following the conversion of Line 1 to a trolleybus, various completion work on the overhead contact line network followed in the form of intermediate turning loops and a new line branch. On November 11, 1962, the Breitenlachen – Hubelmatt section was opened. It was served by line 4, which shared the route with line 5 between Breitenlachen and Zwyssigplatz. In 1966, the trolleybus network was expanded three times and extended by a total of 7.5 kilometers. The remaining branch of the city bus line 7 Bahnhof-Weinbergli-Wartegg-Biregghof in 1951 was switched to trolleybuses on April 10th, which meant that the catenary between the junction of Kellerstrasse and the Weinbergli depot was no longer used only for business trips. A good month later, on May 15, the second line to the Tribschen area was switched to trolleybus with line 6 Bahnhof – Weinbergli – Wartegg-Matthof. About half a year later, on October 30, 1966, line 2 was finally extended from Brüelstrasse to Hinter-Würzenbach.

After 1966 the network remained unchanged for the time being, even if there were repeated considerations for line extensions. In late autumn 1963, when bus line 14 was opened, the city council announced that it would be replaced by line 4 or 5 at an unspecified time. For this purpose an extension from Zwyssigplatz via Adligenswilerstrasse to the St. Anna private clinic would have been planned. More than ten years later, in May 1977, the director of the Lucerne public transport company was asked whether it would not be possible to open lines 4 and 5 in the Dreilindenstrasse area and to take one of the two lines to St. Anna. His answer ruled out the use of trolley buses on the narrow avenue because of the trees, whereupon the idea was shelved.

When ordering the six trolleybuses with the numbers 237–242 in the autumn of 1961, the Lucerne city council did not consider the introduction of trailers or articulated vehicles on the trolleybus routes to be expedient. Thanks to the strong increase in demand, this soon changed and at the beginning of 1965 the order of 14 articulated trolleybuses was discussed. Due to the desired short delivery times and the required capacity of 150 passengers, the then newly developed APG trolleybus for the Lucerne transport company was out of the question. The 42 trolleybuses delivered between 1959 and 1963, for which Schindler Waggon Pratteln (SWP) acted as general contractor, were also considered unsatisfactory because of their teething troubles. Verkehrsbetriebe Luzern saw itself as a guinea pig with these wagons, which had been a new design, and wanted to prevent a similar scenario in the articulated wagons that were also developed by SWP. For this reason, among other things, the Lucerne Transport Authority did not accept an offer from SWP that would have included the conversion of six large-capacity trolleybuses into articulated vehicles with single-axle drives. Instead, they ordered 14 articulated trolleybuses from Büssing , Emmelmann and Siemens-Schuckert in May 1965, following approval from the local community . The Association of Swiss Transport Companies (VST) saw this step by the VBL as a severe blow to the standardization efforts within the association, as the then Vice-Director announced. Nonetheless, the first articulated tram from the 151–164 series arrived in Lucerne as early as December 1965 and was used in passenger service from January 10, 1966, mainly on main lines 1 and 2.

On December 3, 1972, the citizens of Lucerne voted for a loan that was intended for the procurement of ten articulated buses and 14 articulated trolleybuses to replace the oldest vehicles from the 1940s and 1950s. A tender had previously taken place to which 20 suppliers had been invited. Once again the decision was made in Lucerne against the current Swiss standard trolleybus and in favor of manufacturers from abroad. The order for the chassis for all vehicles was given to Volvo , the bodies were to be built by Carrosserie Hess and Siemens was commissioned with the electrics for the trolleybuses. The first vehicles started operating in the spring of 1975 and all new articulated trolleybuses were in service until the timetable change on June 1, 1975.

Fleet renewal and network restructuring (1986–1998)

In June 1985, the electorate of the city of Lucerne voted for the procurement of 30 solo and 16 articulated trolleybuses, which were delivered in 1988 and 1989. In 1991 four more identically constructed articulated trolleybuses followed. With the new series, produced by NAW, Hess and Siemens, it was possible to replace all of the older solo trolleybuses from the time the tram was converted, as well as the first series of articulated buses from the 1960s. However, not all retired vehicles were scrapped: after trolleybuses number 226 and 227 had already been sold to Trolleybus Schaffhausen in 1980 , car number 218 followed in 1989 as a spare parts donor. In addition, after being retired in 1988, car number 222 was used as number 91 in La Chaux-de-Fonds for around nine months . The second articulated trolleybus series, which continues to be in use, was adapted to the new NAW trolleybuses both inside and outside between 1988 and 1993, with major technical adjustments being made.

See also : NAW / Hess BGT 5-25 and BT 5-25

On July 2, 1986 the seventh line of the Lucerne trolleybus network was opened with line 8, although the previous bus line was only introduced in November 1981. The trolleybus network was expanded further on November 5, 1990, when both line 1 from Kriens to Obernau and line 2 from Emmenbrücke Central to Sprengi were extended to change the timetable. While the extension of line 1 replaced a bus line that had already been introduced in 1968, line 2 represented a new development of a district by the Lucerne transport company. At the same time, the renewal of the catenary systems on the entire trolleybus network ended with the opening of the new sections. This was carried out from 1982 to 1990 and included, among other things, the complete conversion to elastic contact lines from Kummler + Matter and the installation of high-speed switches. At the same time, some seldom-used turning options were eliminated. In addition, the catenary system on the station square underwent numerous changes during the 1980s. These were due to temporary construction work for the new construction of the Lucerne train station and the associated bus station , both of which opened in August 1990.

In a multi-part report on the overall planning of the Lucerne transport company from 1992 and 1993, it was already stated that the radial and diameter lines of the trolleybus network were to be adjusted and gaps in the overall network to be closed by additional lines. While line 19, which was then proposed as a trolleybus line, was finally implemented as a diesel bus line, the decision was made to restructure the line on May 24, 1998. This change meant that lines 6, 7 and 8 became diameter lines and lines 2, 4 and 5 became radial lines with an end point at the train station. Only line 1 retained its entire route. Complaints from residents of Emmenbrücke that they could no longer reach the old town without having to change trains ultimately led to line 2 being extended back to the Luzernerhof in 2001. However, a lack of demand on the Lucerne Bahnhof – Luzernerhof section meant that line 2 was shortened again in 2004.

Low-floor with and without trailer (1998-2005)

Trailer train number 273 and 303 in March 2007 in the Hirtenhof loop

Because the Lucerne public transport company repeatedly reached its capacity limits during rush hour, especially on line 1 to Kriens, the use of double-articulated cars , double-decker cars and trailers was examined in the mid-1990s . For this purpose, tests were carried out with a Van Hool AGG 300 , among other things . However, procurement in this regard would have been very expensive, and according to the assessment at the time, cyclists would have been endangered when overtaking and the double articulated buses could only take 25 more people than the existing articulated trolleybuses. Therefore, the decision was made in Lucerne to procure seven low-floor trailers. This happened at a time when all the other Swiss trolleybus companies except Lausanne had already done away with their trailers. In this way, the BT type solo trolleybuses, which were still quite young at the time, were able to operate in Lucerne 5-25 can still be used. After the city council had approved a loan of 25,000 Swiss francs for the conversion of the 270 vehicle, which was intended as a towing vehicle, the trailer test drives could begin in March 1996. Regular trailer operation finally began on August 17, 1998 on line 1 with towing vehicles number 270–278. Since the capacities were still not sufficient despite training courses with trolley buses and buses during rush hour, four more trailers were put into operation in June 2002 and their use was extended to line 6/8. In order to shorten the interval on line 1 to five minutes by December 2005, another four trailers were procured in the autumn of that year.

After a campaign of signatures by the Lucerne Youth Parliament , on June 2, 2000, the Lucerne public transport company started operating a night bus network on weekends. The orientation was based on the range of late courses on the regular lines, as they had already existed on selected occasions such as the Lake Night Festival or Carnival . As a result, trolleybuses were used on the N1 line to Kriens – Obernau (three trips) and the N2 line to Emmenbrücke (three trips) and Biregghof (one trip). The night bus network with a flat fare of five francs fell short of expectations and was therefore restructured in June 2001, which meant that trolley buses could no longer be used.

At the beginning of the 2000s, the fleet of the Lucerne trolleybus operation was still completely high-floor except for the trailers and therefore no longer met the requirements of the passengers. However, since it was not yet clear in the first phase after the rail reform whether trolleybus routes would also have to be tendered every ten years, replacement procurement was postponed for the time being. It was only in the autumn of 2002 that it became clear that the trolleybus operation would continue to operate with the existing license until at least 2016, and the Lucerne public transport company was able to start purchasing eight low-floor trolleybuses . In the course of a tender, Lucerne decided in favor of the brand new Swistrolley 3 from Carrosserie Hess and thus the Lucerne public transport company was the first customer of the new vehicle type. The first car, number 201, went into regular service on September 23, 2004 and the remaining seven trolleybuses (numbers 202-208) followed until December 2004. In return, the Volvo / Hess / Siemens trolleybuses from 1975 were eliminated in April 2004 of the fleet and were sold to Burgas . The reduced number of trolleybuses between May and September 2004 was due to a replacement bus service on Line 1 due to the renovation of Luzernerstrasse in Kriens. At the end of 2004, around a third of Lucerne's trolleybuses were low-floor, with lines 4, 5 and 7 initially being operated entirely with high-floor solo trolleybuses. In order to counteract the interim lack of vehicles by increasing the timetable, two more identically constructed Hess Swistrolleys (numbers 209-210) were put into operation in April 2006.

The AggloMobil concept developed with a view to the opening of the Lucerne S-Bahn was implemented on December 11, 2005 and the bus and trolleybus network was geared to the new supply and demand situation. In the case of the trolleybus network, this meant that line 5 was canceled at that time and instead all courses ran as line 4 to Hubelmatt. This made it possible to correct the overcapacity on the common section to Breitenlachen, as well as from the Allmend towards the train station in conjunction with line 20, while only the Rynauerstrasse stop was omitted. In order to keep all options open for future network developments, the catenary systems on this section were not dismantled for the time being; only the Allmend loop was eliminated with the construction work on the Lucerne Allmend / Messe underground station, which began in 2009 .

Double articulated trolleys and line extensions (2006-2013)

In March 2006 the Lucerne public transport company decided to put three double-articulated trolleybuses into operation by changing the timetable in December 2006. So that this short delivery time was even possible, the identical configuration was chosen as that of the ten Hess LighTram 3s currently in production for the Geneva trolleybus . This made it possible for the Lucerne public transport company to receive their double articulated trams before the Zurich public transport company, which had ordered earlier but wanted the new CO-BOLT-3 front. The double-articulated trolleybuses number 231–233 started operating on line 1 on time.

The extension of Line 7 from Zwyssigplatz to Unterlöchli, which opened on August 23, 2004, has a long history that goes back to 1988. At that time, the Lucerne electorate approved the extension, but this was postponed due to financial shortages and a lack of construction work in this area. When the extension became relevant again at the end of 2000, individual residents began to defend themselves against the impending extension, which resulted in various objections . After the suspensive effect was withdrawn from the pending objection in spring 2004, the construction of the contact line was pushed ahead and the line was extended in the middle of the timetable year. The final rejection of the objection did not follow until around two years later.

To replace the high-floor NAW articulated trolleybuses, Verkehrsbetriebe Luzern ordered 16 new articulated trolleybuses of the Hess / Vossloh-Kiepe Swisstrolley 3 type in April 2008. Only one year later, on April 20, 2009, the first vehicle from the 211-226 series was put into operation The last car was put into operation in September 2009. From the older Swisstrolleys built in 2004 and 2006, the trolleys differ in their CO-BOLT-3 design, length of 18.75 meters and various technical details such as a passenger air conditioning system. The new vehicles thus significantly improved comfort compared to the NAW articulated trolleybuses that they replace, even if the 190, 191 and 200 cars were initially retained as operating reserves. While the latter were both retired in spring 2010, number 190 remained in service until an accident on July 24, 2012. The NAW solo trolleybuses that remain in operation for trailer operation and on Line 4 were overhauled between January 2008 and 2011 and adapted to the appearance of the newer trolleybus series both inside and outside.

The AggloMobil service concept complained about the lack of a direct connection from the Büttenenquartier to the city center, which is why in 2006 various routes were examined for a corresponding development. The best variant was the fork of trolleybus lines 6 and 8 at the Brüelstrasse stop, which also made it possible to reduce the oversupply in the Würzenbach area. Various road extensions for the articulated vehicles and some objections from residents delayed the project several times. Despite a loan decision by the city parliament in October 2008, work on the contact line systems could not begin until January 2013. The work was completed in October and the scheduled operation of line 6 in the Büttenenhalde began with the timetable change on December 15, 2013.

RBus and second line 5 (since 2013)

A double articulated trolleybus on the RBus line 1 at Paulusplatz

Even with the use of the trailer trains, both the capacity and the reliability of the trolleybuses remained a hot topic for the Lucerne Transport Authority and the Lucerne Transport Association . This is why the RBus concept, which was presented in December 2012, was born. With the first Hess / Vossloh Kiepe LighTram 4 delivered for the concept, the RBus system was introduced on Line 1 on June 12, 2014 under the name 1ER . The first opening of the infrastructure measure for the system took place on October 29, 2014 in the form of a bus lane on Pilatusstrasse in Lucerne. As part of the renovation of the Seetalplatz in Emmenbrücke, various infrastructure measures were implemented for Line 2, which was integrated into the RBus network on December 11, 2016.

See also : RBus

The commissioning of the double-articulated trolleybuses for the RBus lines gradually pushed the trailer trains out of regular service. The trailers from the first two series (numbers 301-311) from 1998 and 2002 were thus eliminated from the fleet at the end of 2014. The trailers number 312-316 remained together with the seven towing vehicles number 260-264, 274 and 279 still on line 8 and partially on line 1 in operation. With the delivery of the second series of double articulated trolleys for the RBus, they temporarily disappeared from regular service in autumn 2016, but were still mainly used on Line 8 until October 2017, before this was also converted to double articulated trolleys.

Since the access and exit routes on Seetalplatz were completely rebuilt by 2016, the Lucerne public transport company temporarily used buses on Line 2 between December 15, 2013 and December 10, 2016. This made it possible to react more flexibly to changes in traffic management and to circumvent expensive temporary contact lines. For this purpose, 13 new articulated diesel buses were ordered from Mercedes-Benz at short notice in June 2013 . With the released articulated trolleys on Line 2, Line 4 was also converted to articulated trolleys on December 15, 2013 - with a simultaneous cycle extension. This ended the use of solo cars after 72 years, and since then all trolleybus courses have offered at least one barrier-free entry.

Already at the time when trams were still running in Lucerne, there were plans to run a direct line from Kriens to Emmenbrücke. From 1927 the necessary track connection existed at Pilatusplatz, but there were still individual courses for shift changes in the Emmenbrücke steel foundry . After the tram lines were switched to trolleybuses, the line was no longer an issue for several decades and was only taken up again in a political postulate in 1999 . The route from Kriens via Pilatusplatz in Lucerne to Emmenbrücke was only included in the official public transport planning in 2012, when the AggloMobil due service concept appeared. At that time, the tangential line was still run under line number 3, which was adapted in 2015 as part of the planned RBus expansion. The catenary connections required for line 5 were installed in September 2016 and operations began with the timetable change on December 11, 2016.

timeline

Network development of the trolleybus network

The individual route sections went into operation as follows:

date	route	line	modification	Remarks
December 7, 1941	Luzern Bahnhof – Allmend (2.59 kilometers)	Lucerne train station – Breitenlachen today line 4	Bus replacement, partly new development	Breitenlachen- Allmend since December 11, 2005 shut down
January 25, 1942	Lucerne train station - Halde (Dietschiberg)	today lines 6 and 8	Bus replacement, tram until 1930
July 10, 1942	Bleicherstrasse – Eschen- / Kleinmattstrasse	-	Development of the depot and the workshops	1966 shut down together with the Eschenstrasse depot
May 20, 1951	Luzernerhof – Zwyssigplatz	today line 7	Bus replacement
November 15, 1959	Halde (Dietschiberg) –Brüelstrasse (1.05 kilometers) Kantonalbank – Central (4.38 kilometers) Brünigstrasse – Weinbergli	today lines 6 and 8 today line 2 today lines 6, 7 and 8	Auto replacement bus Tram replacement opening up Depot Weinbergli	Seetalplatz – Central has been closed since December 15, 2013
November 12, 1961	Pilatusplatz – Kriens bus loop Luzernerhof – Maihof	today line 1	Tram replacement
November 11, 1962	Breitenlachen – Hubelmatt	today line 4	New development
April 10, 1966	Weinbergli – Biregghof	today line 7	Bus replacement
May 15, 1966	Wartegg-Matthof	today line 6	Bus replacement
October 30, 1966	Brüelstrasse – Würzenbach	today line 8	New development
2nd July 1986	Schönbühl – Hirtenhof	today line 8	Bus replacement
5th November 1990	Kriens bus loop – Obernau Dorf Central – Sprengi	today line 1 today line 2	Bus replacement new development
August 23, 2004	Zwyssigplatz – Unterlöchli	today line 7	Bus replacement, partly new development
December 15, 2013	Brüelstrasse – Büttenenhalde (1.8 kilometers)	today line 6	Bus replacement
December 11, 2016	Emmenbrücke Bahnhof Süd – Viscosistadt	today line 2	changed lines
15th December 2019	Maihof – Ebikon, Fildern (4.7 kilometers)	today line 1	Bus replacement

Note: With the opening of the new infrastructure at Seetalplatz, the following stops were renamed in December 2016: Emmenbrücke Seetalplatz in Emmenbrücke Bahnhof Süd and Central in Viscosistadt

vehicles

Former

image	Numbers	piece	Manufacturer	Electrics	Type	Art	Years of construction	Scrapping	particularities
	16-17	02	FBW / SWS	BBC		Solo, two-vehicle	1941	1966	rebuilt in our own workshop from buses built in 1939
	18-21	04th	FBW / Hess	BBC		solo	1942	1972	Battery switchable from 24 to 72 volts
	22-31	10	FBW / FFA	MFO	1 MHe	solo	1949-1950	1972-1975	Car 25 now a museum car
	32-33	02	FBW / Schindler	MFO		solo	1955	1975
	52-53	02	FBW / Hess	no		pendant	1946	1949 (1973)	From autumn 1947 behind No. 18–21 in service 1950–1973 with the VBL as a bus trailer
	201-217	17th	FBW / Schindler	MFO-BBC		solo	1959-1960	1988-1991
	218-236	19th	Saurer / Schindler	MFO-BBC		solo	1959-1963	1978-1989	Car 227 as VBSH 207 for the Association RétroBus Léman
	237-242	06th	FBW / Schindler	MFO-BBC	1 MHe	solo	1963	1988-1991	Car 242 is now a museum car
	151-164	14th	Büssing / Emmelmann	SSW		joint	1965	1987-1988	Car 162 from the Association RétroBus Léman
	165-178	14th	Volvo / Hess	Siemens	B58	joint	1975	2002-2004
	181-200	20th	NAW / Hess	181–196: Siemens 197–200:  FIG	BGT 5-25	joint	1987-1991	2009–2012	Car 184 owned by the Léman RétroBus Association
	251-280	30th	NAW / Hess / Ramseier + Jenzer	Siemens	BT 5-25	solo	1988-1989	2006-2017	257 and 271 cars operated by the Léman RétroBus Association , 280 are now museum cars
	301-316	16	Lanz + Marti / Hess	no	APM 5.6-13	pendant	1998, 2002, 2005	2014-2017	301 trailer at the Léman RétroBus Association

All motor vehicles that have been discarded so far have been high-floor vehicles ; only trailers have been withdrawn from the fleet of low-floor vehicles . After being phased out in 1980, the two cars 226 and 227 were still in use on the Schaffhausen trolleybus until 1991 under the new numbers 206 and 207 . Cars 252 and 253 were used as driving school cars in addition to regular regular service when they were commissioned . In the mid- noughties, they completely retired from the liner service. Car 252 was used as a driving school car until October 2017, while car 253 was scrapped in mid-June 2011 due to a defect. Car 280 served as a de-icing car between 2007 and 2017 . Ten more solo cars of this type went to the Valparaíso trolleybus in Chile in 2014, and the remaining eight NAW solo cars followed in 2017.

Today's

The regular trolleybus fleet of Verkehrsbetriebe Luzern consists of 30 articulated and 29 double articulated vehicles.

	Numbers	piece	Manufacturer	Electrics	Type	Art	low-floor	Years of construction	Remarks
	201-210	10	Hess	Vossloh Kiepe	BGT-N2C	joint	Yes	2004/2006
	211-226	16	Hess	Vossloh Kiepe	BGT-N2C	joint	Yes	2009	No. 226 Driving School Car
	227-230	04th	Hess	Vossloh Kiepe	BGT-N2D	joint	Yes	2016
	231-233	03	Hess	Vossloh Kiepe	BGGT-N2C	Double joint	Yes	2006
	234-242	09	Hess	Vossloh Kiepe	BGGT-N2D	Double joint	Yes	2014	No. 242 Driving School Car
	401-409 410-417 418-422	22nd0	Hess	Vossloh Kiepe	BGGT-N2D	Double joint	Yes	2016 2017 2019

All 33 double articulated cars are used on the RBus lines 1, 2 and 8, although the three cars 231–233 from 2006 do not have the RBus design introduced in 2014.

The two driving school cars No. 226 and 242 are also used for regular passenger use, the seat, the pedals and the instruments for the driving instructor can be installed and removed as required. The Gelenktrolleybus no. 226 also advertises since November 2017 by a full advertising for vbl-driving school.

Service vehicles

	number	Type	Construction year	purpose
	007th	Volvo FL6 Turbo	1992	Tower car
	010	Volvo FS7 intercooler	1996	Tower car
		VW Crafter	2015	De-icing vehicle

literature

• H Siegwart: The trolleybus operation in Lucerne. In: Verkehrstechnik , Volume 23, Issue 20 (October 20, 1942), pp. 294–297.
• Paul F. Schneeberger: Lucerne City Transport Company . Minirex publishing house, ISBN 3-907014-12-X
• Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years of the trolleybus in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016

Web links

Commons : Trolleybuses in Lucerne  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of the Lucerne Transport Authority
• Website of the association vbl-historic , which takes care of the maintenance and care of the oldtimers of the Lucerne transport company and their predecessors
• Information on the Lucerne trolleybus at trolleymotion.eu
• Picture gallery on railfaneurope.net

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} History of the Lucerne trolleybus ( Memento of the original from November 16, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on trolleymotion.eu 
2. ↑ Key figures on www.vvl.ch
3. ↑ Final report of the AggloMobil public transport concept, Lucerne transport association, 23 October 2015 (PDF; 16.6 MB)
4. ↑ Economy package slows expansion of express bus ( memento of the original from October 29, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Article from November 4, 2016 on www.luzernerzeitung.ch 
5. ↑ Ebikoners give up resistance to contact lines , article from November 11, 2016 on www.luzernerzeitung.ch
6. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years trolleybus in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, p. 6f
7. ↑ ^{a b} Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years of trolleybuses in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, pp. 8–12
8. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 Years of Trolleybus in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, pp. 13-16
9. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 Years of Trolleybus in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, pp. 16-18
10. ^ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years of trolleybuses in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, pp. 20-25
11. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years trolleybus in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, pp. 22-27
12. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 Years of Trolleybus in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, pp. 26–29
13. ^ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years of trolleybuses in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, p. 32f
14. ^ Paul F. Schneeberger: Verkehrsbetriebe der Stadt Luzern, 100 years of trams, buses and trolley buses. Minirex, Luzern 1999, ISBN 3-907014-12-X , p. 139
15. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years of trolleybuses in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, pp. 30–32
16. ^ Paul F. Schneeberger: Verkehrsbetriebe der Stadt Luzern, 100 years of trams, buses and trolley buses. Minirex, Luzern 1999, ISBN 3-907014-12-X , pp. 208f
17. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years of trolleybuses in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, p. 36
18. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years of trolleybuses in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, p. 67
19. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years trolleybus in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, p. 44f
20. ^ Paul F. Schneeberger: Verkehrsbetriebe der Stadt Luzern, 100 years of trams, buses and trolley buses. Minirex, Luzern 1999, ISBN 3-907014-12-X , p. 164f
21. ^ Paul F. Schneeberger: Verkehrsbetriebe der Stadt Luzern, 100 years of trams, buses and trolley buses. Minirex, Luzern 1999, ISBN 3-907014-12-X , p. 234
22. ↑ ^{a b} Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years of trolleybuses in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, p. 40
23. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years of trolleybuses in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, p. 45
24. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years of trolleybuses in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, p. 48
25. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years of trolleybuses in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, p. 49
26. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years trolleybus in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, pp. 49–51
27. ^ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 Years of Trolleybus in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, pp. 52–54
28. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years of trolleybuses in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, p. 54
29. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years trolleybus in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, p. 54f
30. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years trolleybus in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, p. 51f
31. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 Years of Trolleybus in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, p. 55f
32. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years of trolleybuses in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, p. 58f
33. ↑ Lucerne inaugurates new double articulated trolleybuses (news item from June 12, 2014) on www.trolleybus.ch
34. ↑ This is a small step for a person ... ( Memento of the original from December 22nd, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on trolleymotion.eu 
35. ↑ Line 8 temporarily receives double articulated trolleybuses from the vbl media release of June 14, 2016
36. ↑ ^{a b} 13 new articulated buses for your comfort ( Memento of the original from December 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) In: vbl-Zeitung , 57, November 2013, p. 12 
37. ↑ 33 new buses for Zug - 13 for Lucerne . Neue Luzerner Zeitung Online, June 25, 2013
38. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years of trolleybuses in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, p. 63
39. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years of trolleybuses in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, p. 75
40. ↑ Press release of the Lucerne Transport Authority of December 9, 2019
41. ↑ Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years trolleybus in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, p. 13
42. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Sandro Flückiger, Roman Zai: 1941-2016: 75 years of trolleybuses in Lucerne , vbl-historic 2016, p. 71
43. ^ Paul F. Schneeberger: Verkehrsbetriebe der Stadt Luzern, 100 years of trams, buses and trolley buses. Minirex, Luzern 1999, ISBN 3-907014-12-X , p. 204
44. ↑ Tram N ° 79 / 09. – 11.2004, ISSN  1422-5344 , p. 54
45. ↑ Tram N ° 100 / 11.2009–01.2010, ISSN  1422-5344 , p. 32 and Tram N ° 112 / 11.2012–01.2013, ISSN  1422-5344 , p. 41
46. ↑ Tram N ° 100 / 11.2009–01.2010, ISSN  1422-5344 , p. 32
47. ↑ The NAW trolleybus says goodbye to Lucerne, media release from vbl dated September 6, 2017.
48. ^ British Trolleybus Society: Trolleybus, December 2017, issue 677