Fribourg–Farvagny trolleybus system

Fribourg–Farvagny
trolleybus system

Trolleybus 1 in front of the old Fribourg station.
Operation
Locale	Fribourg–Farvagny, Switzerland
Open	1911–1912 (1911–1912)
Close	1932 (1932)
Status	Closed
Routes	1
Operator(s)	Compagnie des omnibus électriques Fribourg–Farvagny (F–F) (1911–1929) Chemins de fer électriques de la Gruyère (CEG) (1929–1932)
Infrastructure
Electrification	550 V DC
Statistics
Route length	12.5 km (7.8 mi)
Overview km elev 0.0 Fribourg 627 m 0.1 Lausanne–Bern railway 1.0 Pérolles(Request stop) 1.8 Daillettes 667 m 2.4 CFF level crossing(Request stop) 2.4 Lausanne–Bern railway 3.0 La Glâne 616 m 3.1 propopsed branch to Sainte-Apolline 3.2 Glâne River 4.0 Froideville Moulin-Neuf(Request stop) 4.9 Hauterive 639 m 7.4 Posieux 681 m 9.8 Magnedens (Es Bous) 694 m 11.5 Farvagny-le-Petit 695 m 12.5 Farvagny-le-Grand 700 m This diagram:

The Fribourg–Farvagny trolleybus system (French: Train sans voie de Fribourg–Farvagny) was a pioneering interurban trolleybus line in the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland between 1911 and 1932.

The 12.5 km (7.8 mi) long line was operated for most of its life by the Compagnie des omnibus électriques Fribourg–Farvagny, and linked the old Fribourg railway station with Farvagny-le-Grand. It was the first trolleybus system in Switzerland, although a 200-metre-long experimental trolleybus line had operated on a demonstration basis near the Château de Chillon and the Hotel Byron in 1900.

At the start of the 20th century, the Comité de l'initiative Fribourg–Daillettes was founded, with the goal of obtaining a concession for, and constructing, a metre gauge tramway from Fribourg to Les Daillettes, a neighborhood of Villars-sur-Glâne. It was also intended that the tramway be capable of extension to Bulle. Subsequently, however, the committee learned of the achievements of a new "trackless railway" in Austria, and in 1908 sent a delegation to inspect it.

The "trackless railway" was the Gmünd Electric Catenary-Automobile Line (German: Elektrischen Oberleitungs-Automobillinie Gmünd), which had been opened in July 1907 as the first network based on the Mercédès-Électrique-Stoll system. As a consequence of the inspection, the committee decided in 1909 to pass up the tramway concession in favour of trolleybuses. Calculations had shown that construction costs for a trolleybus system were likely to be only a third of those of a tramway.