Fribourg/Freiburg railway station (french: Gare de Fribourg; german: Bahnhof Freiburg im

Üechtland The Üechtland (, ), alternatively spelled Üchtland and Uechtland, is a region in western Switzerland, where the cities of Bern and Fribourg are located. The French name ''Nuithonie'' is rarely used. The name for the region is obsolete; today ...

) serves the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne , twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France) , website = www.ville-fribourg.ch , Location of , Location of () () o ...

, capital of the canton of

, Switzerland. Opened in 1862, it is owned and operated by

SBB-CFF-FFS Swiss Federal Railways (german: link=no, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen, ''SBB''; french: link=no, Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses, ''CFF''; it, Ferrovie federali svizzere, ''FFS'') is the national railway company of Switzerland. It is usuall ...

. The station forms part of the

Lausanne–Bern railway The Lausanne–Bern railway is a mainline railway in Switzerland. The first part of the line was opened in 1860 and the original line was completed on 4 September 1862. The line was built by the Swiss Central Railway and the Lausanne–Frib ...

, which is the original portion of the

Olten–Lausanne railway line The Mittellandlinie ("Midland line") is a railway route in Switzerland. It runs from Olten via Bern and Fribourg to Lausanne. The Olten–Bern railway was completed in 1858 and two years later the Lausanne–Bern railway The Lausanne–Bern ...

(french: Ligne du Plateau suisse, links=no; german: Mittellandlinie, links=no). It is also the

junction Junction may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Junction'' (film), a 2012 American film * Jjunction, a 2002 Indian film * Junction (album), a 1976 album by Andrew Cyrille * Junction (EP), by Basement Jaxx, 2002 * Junction (manga), or ''Hot ...

for the Yverdon-les-Bains–Payerne–Fribourg railway, and the Fribourg–Ins railway.

Location

Fribourg railway station is right in the heart of the city centre, which has shifted from the Old City to the railway station quarter since the station's construction.

History

The station was opened on 20 August 1862 by the Western Swiss Railways (french: Société des chemins de Fer Ouest-Suisse, links=no), upon completion of the Fribourg–Bern section of the Lausanne–Bern railway. Completion of that section had been delayed for two years, due to the need to construct the long

Grandfey Viaduct The Grandfey-Viaduct is on the railway line from Bern to Fribourg and is one of the largest bridges in Switzerland. Location The viaduct crosses the deep and wide Saane/Sarine valley, which is cut into Molasse rock, in the hamlet of Grandfey i ...

over the

Saane/Sarine The Sarine (; frp, Sarena ) or Saane () is a major river of Switzerland.6th longest, 7th largest basin, see List of rivers of Switzerland It is long and has a drainage area of . It is a tributary of the Aare. The Sarine rises in the Bernese Al ...

river, just to the north of the station. On 2 September 1862, the remaining section of the line was opened between Lausanne and Fribourg. The first

station building A station building, also known as a head house, is the main building of a passenger railway station. It is typically used principally to provide services to passengers. A station building is a component of a station, which can include tracks, p ...

at Fribourg was a simple wooden hut. Between 1872 and 1873, a more substantial replacement building was constructed adjacent to the hut. The new building's design had been entrusted to the architect Adolphe Fraisse. Initially, the army had not wanted the Lausanne–Bern railway to pass through Fribourg. The military had believed that the line would be too "vulnerable" in case of conflict. The government and the city had to fight for the route and the station. By 1905, the authorities wanted a new station building, which was completed in 1928. On 7 September 2007, the 1872 station building became a cultural centre, incorporating a café, an entertainment hall and two festival theatres, for $4.5 million

Swiss francs The Swiss franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issues banknotes and the f ...

. A Swiss heritage site of regional significance (class B), the building houses the Nouveau Monde and its theatre, the International Film Festival of Fribourg and Belluard Bollwerk International.

Services

the following services stop at Fribourg: *

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

: hourly service between and . * InterRegio: hourly service between Geneva Airport and . *

RER Fribourg RER Fribourg or RER Fribourg , Freiburg (french: Réseau express régional fribourgeois, german: S-Bahn Freiburg) is an S-Bahn network in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. The network has two hubs, Bulle and Fribourg, and began operating in ...

: ** / : half-hourly service between and and hourly service from Düdingen to . ** / : *** Weekdays: half-hourly service between and ; S20 trains continue to . *** Weekends: half-hourly service to Ins; S21 trains continue to Romont. ** : half-hourly service to . *

Bern S-Bahn The Bern S-Bahn (german: S-Bahn Bern; french: RER Berne) is an S-Bahn commuter rail network focused on Bern, the capital city of Switzerland. The network is roughly coterminous with Bern's urban agglomeration. With approximately 9 million train ...

: half-hourly service to .

Interchange

Seven urban bus lines operated by the

Transports publics fribourgeois The Transports Publics Fribourgeois (TPF) is a renaming of the former Chemins de fer Fribourgeois Gruyère-Fribourg-Morat when the municipal Transport en commun de Fribourg (TF) was absorbed in 2000. Lines The company is a railway operator w ...

call at the station, including TPF trolleybus lines.

References

External links