The Lausanne–Bercher line is a

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

railway line in the

canton of Vaud Vaud ( ; , ), more formally Canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts; its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms bears the motto "Liberté et patrie" on a white-green bicolou ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. The line connects the city of

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

with

Bercher Bercher is a municipality in the district of Gros-de-Vaud in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. History Bercher is first mentioned in 1154 as ''de Berchiaco''. Geography Bercher has an area, , of . Of this area, or 56.7% is used for agric ...

via Echallens, and is long. It is owned and operated by the (LEB).

History

After an initial test train ran between Lausanne-Chauderon station and Prilly-Chasseur on 3 October 1873, the first section of line came into service from Lausanne to Cheseaux on 4 November. The line through to Échallens opened in June 1874. Under a legally separate entity, the route to Bercher was completed and opened on 28 November 1889. At the Lausanne end of the line, developments came later. Chauderon station was moved underground and the original station razed in 1995. Trains continued to terminate at Chauderon until 2000, when an extension to

Lausanne-Flon station Lausanne-Flon is a railway and metro station in the Flon district of central Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the hub of the Lausanne Metro system. The station's initial building was also the first in the city to use electricity. A station ...

opened, permitting interchange with the

Lausanne Métro The Lausanne Métro () system is a two-line urban rail transport system in Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland. Around a quarter of the system has been used for urban rail transport since 1877, when the route between the city centre and Ouchy opened as ...

Future

Together, the railway company, the canton, and the city of Lausanne have plans to upgrade the line to permit more frequent trains. Building of a new

double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most li ...

tunnel between Chauderon and Montétan stations is expected to take place by 2022, permitting up to 8 trains to run per hour in each direction on the urban section as far as Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne.

References

External links

*
Official web site of the LEB
(in French) Metre-gauge railways in Switzerland Railway lines in Switzerland Transport in the canton of Vaud 1500 V DC railway electrification Underground commuter rail {{Switzerland-transport-stub