The Palézieux–Bulle–Montbovon railway line is a railway line in the

canton of Fribourg The canton of Fribourg, also canton of Freiburg, is located in western Switzerland. The canton is bilingual, with French spoken by more than two thirds of the citizens and German by a little more than a quarter. Both are official languages in th ...

, Switzerland. It runs from to . The line is owned and operated by

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 ...

(TPF).

History

The first section between and opened on 29 April 1901. It was built by the Chemin de fer Châtel-St-Denis–Palézieux (CP). The Chemins de fer électriques de la Gruyère (CEG) built another line east from Châtel-St-Denis to

Vuadens Vuadens (; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Gruyère (district), Gruyère in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Fribourg (canton), Fribourg in Switzerland. History Vuadens is first mentioned in 516 as ''cu ...

, opening on 23 July 1903. At the same time, the CEG opened a line north from to

La Tour-de-Trême Bulle (; ) is a municipality in the district of Gruyère in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. In January 2006 Bulle incorporated the formerly independent municipality of La Tour-de-Trême. History Ancient times Bulle is first mentione ...

. The CEG closed the gap in 1904, completing sections between Vaudens and on 14 July and Bulle and La Tour-de-Trême on 21 September. The CEG acquired the CP on 20 December 1907. In 1942, the CEG merged with two other companies to form the Chemins de fer fribourgeois Gruyère–Fribourg–Morat (GFM). The GFM, in turn, became the

(TPF) in 2000.

Route

The line begins in Palézieux, where it terminates across the platform from the standard gauge Lausanne–Bern and Palézieux–Lyss lines of

Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (, SBB; , CFF; , FFS) is the national railway company of Switzerland. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Bern. It used to be a State-owned enterprise, government institution, but since 1999 it has be ...

. From there the line runs east to Châtel-Saint-Denis, where there was an interchange with the

St-Légier–Châtel-St-Denis railway line The St-Légier–Châtel-St-Denis railway line was a railway line in the cantons of Vaud and Fribourg, Switzerland. It ran from a junction with the Vevey–Les Pléiades railway line at to a junction with the Palézieux–Bulle–Montbovon rai ...

from 1904–1969, when it was abandoned. The line then turns northeast, skirting the

Swiss Prealps The Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps, represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main physiograph ...

, to . At Bulle it interchanges with two other TPF lines: the standard gauge

Bulle–Romont railway line The Bulle–Romont railway line is a standard gauge railway line in the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland. It runs from to . The line is owned and operated by Transports publics Fribourgeois (TPF). History The Chemin de fer Bulle–Romont (BR) ...

, and the standard gauge

Bulle–Broc railway line The Bulle–Broc railway line is a railway line in the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland. It runs from to . It was built in 1912 by the Chemins de fer électriques de la Gruyère (CEG) as a branch from the Palézieux–Bulle–Montbovon railway ...

, another former CEG branch that was rebuilt in 2021–2023. From Bulle, the line turns south, and continues to Montbovon, where it meets the

Montreux–Lenk im Simmental line The Montreux–Lenk im Simmental line is a metre-gauge electric railway line in Switzerland run by the Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway (MOB) and links Montreux on Lake Geneva by way of Les Avants, Montbovon, Rossinière, Château-d'Œx, Rou ...

of the

Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway The Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway (, , abbreviated MOB) is a company that operates an electrified railway line, the Montreux–Lenk im Simmental line, in southwest Switzerland, one of the oldest electric railways in the country. Its main lin ...

Notes

References

* Railway lines in Switzerland Metre-gauge railways in Switzerland Transport in the canton of Fribourg Transport in the canton of Vaud Railway lines opened in 1901 900 V DC railway electrification {{DEFAULTSORT:Palézieux-Bulle-Montbovon railway line