Lausanne – Ouchy cog railway

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Lausanne – Ouchy cog railway
Lausanne – Ouchy cog railway
Lausanne – Ouchy cog railway
Route length: 1.482 km
Gauge : 1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Maximum slope : 116  ‰
Rack system : Strub
Height difference: 106 m
Legend
   
 Ouchy 373  m above sea level M.
   
 Jordils 392  m above sea level M.
   
 Montriond 420  m above sea level M.
   
   
 Gare CFF 451  m above sea level M.
   
 Flon 473  m above sea level M.

The cogwheel railway Lausanne – Ouchy originally cable car Lausanne – Ouchy , abbreviated LO , French Funiculaire Lausanne – Ouchy , was a rack railway and previously a funicular in the Swiss city ​​of Lausanne . It connected the Flon station, not far from the elevated city center, with the SBB train station and the Ouchy district on the shores of Lake Geneva . It was discontinued on January 22nd, 2006 and expanded to a fully automatic subway by September 2008 . The company Métro Lausanne-Ouchy SA was wholly owned by the city, the operation was carried out by the transport company Transports publics de la région Lausannoise (TL).

route

Funicular at the siding at Montriond station

The standard gauge railway was built according to the Strub system . The 1482 meter long line had five stations and was single-track with a switch at the Montriond station. It overcame a height difference of 106 meters, with the maximum incline being 11.6%. The Flon and Gare CFF (main train station) stations are in the tunnel. The train ran every eight minutes during the day.

The Lausanne-Gare cog railway , abbreviated LG , ran on the railway line between Flon and the SBB train station. It ran on a second track parallel to the Lausanne – Ouchy rack railway and was completely in the tunnel. The length was 318 meters, the height difference was 37 meters and the maximum incline was 12%. A single car constantly shuttled back and forth between the two stations without a fixed timetable.

history

At the beginning of the 1870s, the need for transport between the centrally located Flon industrial estate, the train station and the shipping pier in Ouchy had increased so much that horse-drawn vehicles were nowhere near enough. Due to the great difference in altitude, it was decided to build a funicular . For this purpose, the Chemin de fer Lausanne-Ouchy company was founded on March 12, 1874 . The Flon – Ouchy line was opened on March 16, 1877. Originally (1873), pneumatic traction was planned for the short connection station-Flon, parallel to the Ouchy-Flon cable car. However, the corresponding attempts did not lead to useful results and the company decided to build a second funicular, which was opened on December 4, 1879. The railways soon received the nickname la ficelle ( French for "the cord").

Both funiculars were powered by Girard water turbines and also had a steam drive, which was used when the water turbines were overhauled or when there was a lack of water. On the route there was also freight traffic to Flon and Ouchy (Quai). There was a connection to the railway network by means of a turntable and a track running across the station forecourt . The siding was replaced in 1953 due to the strong increase in automobile traffic and the ever increasing wheelbase of the freight wagons (limited to 5.5 m due to the turntable) by a line electrified with 15 kV alternating current from the then new freight station Sébeillon to Flon. The wagons were still distributed here by means of transfer platforms.

At the same time, the funicular was converted into a more powerful rack railway with overhead lines . The Flon − Ouchy line was changed on April 14, 1958, the Flon − Bahnhof commuter line on February 25, 1959. The ficelle had now become the métro . The siding to the freight yard was shut down again in 1979 and then demolished. A little south of it now runs the M1 light rail to Renens .

The rack railway was given the line designation M2 in 2000. It was expanded into a rack -and- pinion -free underground line with rubber-tyred vehicles and extended north to Epalinges . The Métro Lausanne opened on September 18, 2008. To facilitate the construction work, the cog railway was finally shut down on January 22, 2006.

Between 1899 and 1948 there was a third funicular railway. The Chemin de fer Lausanne-Signal ran from Place du Vallon on the northern edge of the old town to the 637-meter-high Signal de Sauvabelin mountain . The length was 468 meters, the difference in altitude 106 meters. The railway had a track width of 1000 mm and overcame a maximum incline of 28%.

Rolling stock rack railway

After the cessation of operations, the entire vehicle fleet was initially stored and was later to be delivered to Villard-de-Lans in France and used on a new six-kilometer rack railway. However, this solution was rejected by the municipal authorities of Villard-de-Lans.

model series Manufacturer Construction year origin number of pieces Discarded Remarks
series Numbers total The End
Locomotives
He 2/2 121-123 SLM / MFO 1958 3 0 2006
Railcar
Bra 2/2 101-102 SIG / MFO 1958 2 0 1964 Scrapped in 1975
Bra 2/2 111-112 SLM / SIG / MFO 1964 2 0 2006
Control car
Bt 1-5 1958 5 0 2006
Tractors
Te 1/2 152 IEG 1905 unknown (Ex?)0 2 0 1979 Freight transport Flon
153 1907
Ub = takeover from outside stock (used vehicle); Um = conversion from our own stock

Railcar Bhe 2/2 101 and 102

The two rack-and-pinion railcars were built in 1954 by the Swiss Industrial Company (SIG) and Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon (MFO) for the Lausanne – Gare rack railway. The vehicles had a length of 7.9 meters. They had 16 seats and 48 standing places. They were replaced by Bhe 2/2 111 and 112 in 1964 and scrapped in the summer of 1975.

Railcar Bhe 2/2 111 and 112

The rack-and-pinion railcars built in 1964 are 11.9 meters long and have a total weight of 18.5 tonnes and replaced Bhe 2/2 101 and 102. They had an hourly output of 464  kW and reached a top speed of 32  km / h . The box was built by the Swiss Industrial Company (SIG), while the mechanical part comes from the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Factory (SLM) in Winterthur and the electrical part from Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon (MFO). One railcar always shuttled between Gare CFF and Flon, while the other was in reserve. The vehicles had the doors on the left in the direction of Flon and could therefore not be used to transport people on the Lausanne – Ouchy cog railway.

Locomotives He 2/2 121 to 123

The cogwheel locomotives built in 1958 are 6.25 meters long and weigh 18.1 tonnes in total. They had an hourly output of 464 kW and reached a top speed of 32 km / h. The mechanical part comes from the Swiss locomotive factory in Winterthur, while the electrical part comes from the machine factory in Oerlikon. Two of these vehicles, together with two passenger cars, always commuted between Flon and Ouchy, while the third locomotive and another passenger car were in reserve.

Control cars Bt 1 to 5

There were five control cars Bt 1 to 5 for the He 2/2 . They had doors on the right-hand side of the vehicle in the direction of travel Flon, and were always used in pairs in front of a He 2/2 on the Flon – Ouchy line, while the fifth car was in reserve .

Company car

There were two flat cars that still came from the cable car era.

literature

  • Paillard Jean et al., La compagnie du chemin de fer Lausanne-Ouchy, epopée lausannoise. BVA, Lausanne 1987, ISBN 2-88125-005-X

Web links

Commons : Lausanne-Ouchy cog railway  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

swell

  1. ↑ Funimag: LO - Lausanne Ouchy (English)
  2. ↑ Funimag: LO - Lausanne Gare (English)
  3. ^ Walter Hefti: Rail cable cars all over the world. Inclined cable levels, funiculars, cable cars. Birkhäuser, Basel 1975, ISBN 3-7643-0726-9 , p. 54
  4. ↑ Funimag: Lausanne – Signal (English)
  5. ↑ notification of scrapping; EA 12/75