It will be finish in 2008
http://www.gpi-vaud.ch/manif/M2/Pont%20St-Martin/034.jpg
http://www.railnet.ch/p_t_infra/20258/pictures/20258~00032.jpg
http://www.t-l.ch/m2/photo/vennes_archive/vennes_05/vennes_01_05/vennes_01055.jpg
http://www.gpi-vaud.ch/manif/M2/Pont%20St-Martin/011.jpg

http://www.24heures.ch/vqhome/le_journal/nos_dossiers/m2/m2110405.body.0001.paragraphe.0001.Image.jpg

http://www.24heures.ch/vqhome/le_journal/nos_dossiers/m2/m2_station_flon_300405.body.0001.paragraphe.0001.Image.jpg
http://www.t-l.ch/images/content/trace_m2_1200.jpg
http://www.t-l.ch/images/content/m2_1.jpg
http://icmbcu001.epfl.ch/yazyev/photo/Lausanne/Lausanne.jpg
http://www.cip.physik.uni-muenchen.de/~wwieser/tmp/lausanne/Lausanne-Stadt-3.jpg
http://www.swisscastles.ch/aviation/Vaud/lausanne/photos/lausanne903_9.jpg
http://www.lausanne-tourisme.ch/Tools/GetImage.asp?Id=7770&RetDesc=N&Type=DocObj
http://www.gpi-vaud.ch/manif/M2/Pont%20St-Martin/018.jpg
http://www.gpi-vaud.ch/manif/M2/Pont%20St-Martin/024.jpg

Wow, awesome, how many people are living in Lausanne??
Also I see that the trains are running with rubber-tyres, right??

There are 300'000 people with the agglomeration..Lausanne is the fifth bigger city of the switzerland.. Yes you are right about the tyres.and it cans have a speed of 60km/h you can have more information on this web page http://www.t-l.ch/m2. (it's in french)

Really only 300,000?? Thats pretty impressive that it will have a subway.

Man, I'd wish that my city with 700.000 inhabitants would have a subwqay, probably the roads in Lausanne ar too busy for buses or something.

It's seems same as LA, subway was under construction in LA since 1990 and completed in 1993 for one phase then two phase is completed in 1996 then three phase is completed in 1999 and four phase is completed in 2000. Next five phase will come soon for longer miles on subway. The subway will reaching Santa Monica and UCLA when six phase is complete.

Just check at http://www.mta.net/riding_metro/metro_rail/red_line.htm so u will enjoying with beautiful art deco and modern.

looks great :)

It is wonderful news that progress is being made after the earlier setback with the tunnel collapse:

http://www.tunnelsonline.info/story.asp?sC=32730

http://www.tunnelsonline.info/Journals/Tunnels/Tunnels_and_Tunnelling/April_2005/photos/pg6_lead_lausanne_2_of_2.jpg
Lausanne collapse surface view
Extent of the cavity with shotcrete applied to the walls to stabilise them

http://www.tunnelsonline.info/Journals/Tunnels/Tunnels_and_Tunnelling/April_2005/photos/pg6_lead_lausanne_1_of_2.jpg
Lausanne collapse tunnel view
View of the conditions at the face

Lausanne metro tunnel collapse
13 April 2005

On 22 February a tunnel collapse on Lot 1200 of Switzerland's M2 Project in Lausanne (T&TI, November 2004, p7) displaced 50m3 of material into the tunnel and caused extensive damage as it cratered towards the surface in the busy St. Laurent's commercial district.

The incident took place at around 6pm, at a depth of approximately 12m below the surface. Thankfully no-one was injured, although two buildings, a supermarket and a takeaway food outlet, were evacuated when their cellars collapsed. Reports said that no work was being carried out in the tunnel at the time of the incident, which is believed to be due to the sudden inrush of groundwater from a pocket in the glacial moraine the tunnel was being driven through.

Contractor for Lot 1200, the Ouchy – Croisette JV, had been using an Eickhoff ET 380-L roadheader to cut the tunnels within its scope, but at the time of the incident, investigation works were said to be underway following an earlier inrush.

Following an overnight assessment of the void, owner Metro Lausanne-Ouchy SA, moved equipment to the location on surface and began breaking the overlying flagstones in order to access the cavity for further investigation and remedial works. Within 44 hours of the original collapse, Metro Lausanne-Ouchy SA said the critical phase had passed and allowed some building works to recommence on the subway, although retrieval of the collapsed area was ongoing.

A curtain of 11 piles was drilled and concreted ahead of the collapsed face to consolidate the ground and limit the flow of further material into the tunnel, in conjunction with grouting. By 3 March, backfilling of the void with sand from crushed glass got underway. T&TI learnt roughly 800m3 of glass-sand is estimated to be required for backfill to the height of the bases of the damaged buildings. The material was selected as it is cheap and has good compaction properties. It is obtained by crushing the glass collected by the town for recycling.

An independent expert is due to be appointed to head an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident. In addition, a compensation fund was set up with Zurich Insurance for any injury or property damage claims. A source told T&TI that Metro Lausanne–Ouchy SA could not comment further on the incident, as it did not wish to prejudice the inquiry.

Two senior officials, one representing the canton and the other the town, released a statement showing continued confidence in the project teams and said: "The questions which currently arise on the knowledge of the ground are legitimate. On the other hand, it is premature to imply that the experts elected for the Project M2 did not hold account of essential information in their possession."

Costing US$472M, Lausanne's 6km long metro system is expected to take four years to complete. Underground works only commenced late last year, with tunnel profiles varying from 9.94m wide x 6.74m high to 11.7m wide x 7.61m high.

the first picture looks like a model city

Is it "full metro" or "light metro"?
It seems full metro on the pics, like Paris line 1.
:?

Plans for the near future include the construction of a fully automated metro line which will actually be an extension of the M2 Métro-Ouchy. It will connect Ouchy and the central railway station to Croisettes in the north-east and 85% of its alignment will be underground through the city centre. At Flon it will provide transfer to M1 (Métro-Ouest) and the new underground terminus, opened on 28 May 2000, of the LEB-Railway S1 (a suburban railway serving the north-western parts of Lausanne and its surrounding towns). The entire rubber-tyred line will have double track and 8 new stations. At the same time the original Métro-Ouchy will be upgraded and double-tracked to be connected to the new section scheduled to open in 2006/2007. After a referendum held in Nov. 2002, construction began in late 2003.

http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/lau/lausanne-map.gif

http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/16711/lausanne_1.jpg

http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/4217/lausanne_by_night1.jpg

http://m2-lausanne.fabric.ch/axis_p/large.jpg

http://m2-lausanne.fabric.ch/axis_g/large.jpg

The interesting is that part of this line already exists, as a rack line connecting the lake to the station and city center. This rack line will be converted to metro line, which will then of course be quite steep for a rack line.

Current line:
http://mikeaz.free.fr/suisse/LausanneOuchy02.jpg

The new line will indeed be rubber-tyred, rolling stock will be very similar to the newest metro line in Paris.

Thread in french :
http://fr.groups.yahoo.com/group/TransportsIDF/message/1451

Vertigo:

Do you have more pics of that line??? Looks very cool indeed ... Please :))

Would this be Switzerlands first "full" metro? If I am not mistaken, usually Swiss cities have trams and S-bahn type suburban trains, but no dedicated metro.

What is happening in the first photo? are they building a bridge under a bridge?

double post

Would this be Switzerlands first "full" metro? If I am not mistaken, usually Swiss cities have trams and S-bahn type suburban trains, but no dedicated metro.


Yes I think it will!

I will be sad to see the present line close but I understand that it dates from about 1953 and the trains / other equipment are becoming life-expired (ie: old, worn out, etc)

Simon

Yes you are right, in Switzerland, Lausanne is the only city to have a "full metro".. Public transport are very dense but especially buses and tram..subway are unsualll..too bad...Fortunately we will have one in Lausanne in few years..

And yeah,,the new subway will be under a very old bridge...the operation to built this bridge was dangerous ( old foundation...) but it was a successfull!

basic picture of this project
http://images.google.ch/imgres?imgurl=http://www.architecture-design.ch/images/vignettes/images%2520de%2520synth%25E8se/2001/Metro/St-Martin-bas_ico.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.architecture-design.ch/pages%2520html/images/2001/metro/index_metro.htm&h=34&w=45&sz=15&tbnid=TidMBNjieB8J:&tbnh=34&tbnw=45&hl=fr&start=38&prev=/images%3Fq%3DM2%2Blausanne%26start%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Dfr%26lr%3D%26rls%3DGGLD,GGLD:2004-52,GGLD:en%26sa%3DN

http://images.google.ch/imgres?imgurl=http://www.architecture-design.ch/images/vignettes/images%2520de%2520synth%25E8se/2001/Metro/St-Martin-bas_ico.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.architecture-design.ch/pages%2520html/images/2001/metro/index_metro.htm&h=34&w=45&sz=15&tbnid=TidMBNjieB8J:&tbnh=34&tbnw=45&hl=fr&start=38&prev=/images%3Fq%3DM2%2Blausanne%26start%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Dfr%26lr%3D%26rls%3DGGLD,GGLD:2004-52,GGLD:en%26sa%3DN

http://www.gpi-vaud.ch/manif/M2/Pont%20St-Martin/037.jpg

Wow, Lausanne is going to get a subway? My city has 300.000 within the city limits, 600.000 within the close metro and 3,6 million in the metro region - and we barely have commuter trains! :(

Our bus system is pretty good though. ;)

Congratulations, the project looks quite interesting

The trains look like a moderate-capacity system. Looks very nice, a useful addition to public transport.

http://www.24heures.ch/vqhome/le_journal/nos_dossiers/m2/m2_280705.body.0001.Image.jpg


http://www.24heures.ch/vqhome/le_journal/nos_dossiers/m2/m2_070905.body.0001.Image.jpg

http://www.t-l.ch/images/content/m2_ours_virt_2_197.jpg

nice.

The station which is next to the Highway ("Vennes"). With a big parking and a bio center (Aquaecopole + hotel)

http://www.rdr.ch/imagesJob/news_projet_aquaecopole_01.jpg

http://www.24heures.ch/vqhome/edition/ls/musee_aquarium_251205.body.0001.Image.jpg

http://www.24heures.ch/vqhome/edition/ls/aquariums_241205.body.0001.Image.jpg

Riponne's Station

Now

http://www.t-l.ch/images/content/riponne_130.jpg

After

http://www.t-l.ch/images/content/riponne_250.jpg

The demolition of the old line:

http://img454.imageshack.us/img454/6482/dsc034595pf.th.jpg (http://img454.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc034595pf.jpg) http://img470.imageshack.us/img470/6021/DSC03536.th.jpg (http://img470.imageshack.us/my.php?image=DSC03536.jpg) http://img470.imageshack.us/img470/2688/DSC03485.th.jpg (http://img470.imageshack.us/my.php?image=DSC03485.jpg) http://img470.imageshack.us/img470/1232/DSC03402.th.jpg (http://img470.imageshack.us/my.php?image=DSC03402.jpg) http://img470.imageshack.us/img470/2950/DSC03564.th.jpg (http://img470.imageshack.us/my.php?image=DSC03564.jpg)

Before Friday all vehicles will have leaved the line, except two or three engines wich will be used to reove the rails.

All photos taken yesterday.

Thread in french :
http://www.lyon-en-lignes.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1674

Great for such a small city!
:okay:

very nice :)

Looks great! Its amazing how such a small city is getting a metro!

Great news! It looks like it'll be quite nice. Which other cities have subway in Switzerland? Just Zürich?

^^ None.

Zürich (and Berne I think) have suburban rails called S-Bahn.

^^^ Zürich has a tram tunnel eith three stops built for the projected metro. When a referendum choose the development of the tram network instead of the metro, the tunnel was used for trams.

Oh well...

I really like Lausanne's project. It shows that cities below 500.000 inhabitants (usually the minimum number of inhabitants transport planners and politicians would think of to consider the construction of a full metro line) can sustain a metro line as well. Rennes is another example: the city itself has only 215.000 inh., but has a full, underground metro line. They're even planning a second line...

Oh well...

I really like Lausanne's project. It shows that cities below 500.000 inhabitants (usually the minimum number of inhabitants transport planners and politicians would think of to consider the construction of a full metro line) can sustain a metro line as well. Rennes is another example: the city itself has only 215.000 inh., but has a full, underground metro line. They're even planning a second line...

True, but I think density also comes into play here. A city of 500,000 and dense has more chance of a successful metro system than a city of 1million and spread out low density sprawl.

You're right. Low density cities simply couldn't sustain a heavy rail line, simply because most people (and potential riders) would be living too far from a station. The length of the feeder lines would probably be just as great as a 'normal' network of bus- or tram lines going directly into the center.

Gosh all this time and I had never seen this thread!

I live in the Riponne area and last week they had open doors... unfortunately my camera died so I couln't take pictures.

Animation of one of the stations: http://www.t-l.ch/m2/croisettes.mov

http://snom2.crfpower.ch/
http://www.trolley.ch/galerie.php4
http://forum.trolley.ch/

This station is now quite finish (photos: 24 heures)

http://www.24heures.ch/vqhome/le_journal/nos_dossiers/m2/xx_m2_281106.body.0001.Image.jpg

4th december during the public visit of the subway (photos 24 heures)

http://www.24heures.ch/vqhome/le_journal/nos_dossiers/m2/xx_m2_portes_ouvertes.body.0001.Image.jpg

Vennes (station and workshop) (photos 24 heures)

http://www.24heures.ch/vqhome/le_journal/nos_dossiers/m2/xx_m2_portes_ouvertes.body.0001.paragraphe.0002.Image.jpg

When is this line due for operation?

http://snom2.crfpower.ch/
http://www.trolley.ch/galerie.php4
http://forum.trolley.ch/

Merci, Coccodrillon, pour ces trois sites très intéressants

They could had done better than those trains...

how long are the station platforms?

Nice stations!
:okay:
Trains are similar to some of Paris and Santiago de Chile.
:yes:

It is the same train

But Santiago has better version :) than Paris

Before Friday all vehicles will have leaved the line, except two or three engines wich will be used to reove the rails.

"La Ficelle" is not dead... :banana:


Villard-de-Lans - the town council approved the rack train project!
Villard-de-Lans, Isère, France.

On January 12th, 2006, the town council of Villard-de-Lans approved the project of the new rack train from Villard-de-Lans to the new ski resort, which will be built, end 2008, above Le Balcon de Villard.

The rolling stock of the two cog wheel lines : Lausanne-Ouchy (LO) and Lausanne-Gare (LG) will be give up to the french town after January 22, 2006 which will be the last day of “La Ficelle” !

The rolling stock will be stored by Tensol Rail SA, a Swiss company which will be also in charged for the transfer to Villard-de-Lans when it will be necessary.

Villard-de-Lans will be in charge to remove asbestos from the cars.

http://www.funimag.com/photoblog/20060115-001.jpg

http://www.funimag.com/photoblog/index.php/20060115/villard-de-lans-the-town-council-approved-the-rack-train-project/

http://www.villard-de-lans.fr/

In french:
http://www.villard-de-lans.fr/home/img/temps_fort.pdf
http://www.villard-de-lans.fr/home/img/actualite.pdf

When is this line due for operation?

^^ autumn 2008

First test running have yet started between the depot and Croisettes station (the terminus, and the one finished and presented to the public).

Wow! This line is a real jewel. Great technical devices, nice trains. Overall, a beautiful project.
Are there any chances to see M2 running before autumn 2008? (i.e. route limited to few stations)

Are there any chances to see M2 running before autumn 2008? (i.e. route limited to few stations)
I don't think that will be possible because of all the new techniques. But there will be a 3 month test period without passengers before the line opens.

^^Thanks for smart reply.
Indeed, I'm impressed by this infrastructure. Convert an existing railway into an automated tyre-wheel-based metro, pratically keeping the same gradient.. great job.
A question: is this type of vehicle the best choice for such a type of metro?

Are there any chances to see M2 running before autumn 2008? (i.e. route limited to few stations)

I hope that some test rides will be public, but the main part of the line (railway station-city centre) is far from the depot, and obviously it can't be opened alone.


A question: is this type of vehicle the best choice for such a type of metro?

The only other options available was the VAL. Or a personalized rack system...

It is the same train

But Santiago has better version :) than Paris
And Lausanne has got the most modern version!
:D

so how long are the station platforms?

so how long are the station platforms?
About 30 meters, just as long as one train. The trains can't be coupled and can't be extended in the future.

^^ Yes, but the headway can be reduced up to 2 minutes, that will be probably enough for a lot of time. After Croisettes station, the last one, the urban area continues for about 1 km and after, there are only farms and small isolated villages.

60 (minutes) / 2 (headway) = 30 tpm. Say up to 300 passengers per train is a capacity of 9000 passengers per direction per hour between two stations. Seems more than enough for me for the time being (or Lausanne should accidentally develop into a mega-city after completion of the VAL...;)).

after completion of the VAL

It isn't a VAL.

9000 pphpd, sure it's enough!