Métro Lausanne-Ouchy

The Métro Lausanne – Ouchy or Métro-Ouchy (LO) was a rack railway which linked the lakeside at Ouchy with Lausanne railway station and the core of the city at Flon. The system also included a parallel line between the railway station and Flon. After closure and modernisation, the line reopened in 2008 as the rubber-tired Line M2 of the Lausanne Metro which included an extension to Épalinges in the north.

The line was opened in 1877 as the first funicular in Switzerland. The line was known as La Ficelle (The String) and used water balance as the means of raising and lowering the cars. In 1958 the funicular was rebuilt into a rack and pinion railway using the Strub system and intermediate stations at Jordils and Montriond were opened. The line became known by the name métro, although to the natives and its many regular users it was always La Ficelle.

Until 1954 there was no direct connection between the freight station of Sébeillon and the Flon valley and this line was used by freight trains from the main station to the storage area of the harbour (in Flon).

The line was sold by the operating company to the town of Lausanne in 1984 and on 22 January 2006 it was closed to be rebuilt as part of the new Line M2 of the Lausanne Metro. The rolling stock was sold to the French city of Villard-de-Lans with the intention of it being used on their new rack railway, La Patache. The Lausanne Metro's M2 line opened in October 2008.

The Métro-Ouchy railway was made up of two parallel lines:

The system consists of two lines, both single-track. The first line ran from Ouchy, through Jordils, Montriond and the SBB-CFF-FFS railway station (Gare CFF) to Flon. This is known as “Metro – Ouchy”. A second line paralleled the Métro-Ouchy from Gare CFF to Flon stations, using its own separate to one side of a double-track tunnel. This service was known as “Metro – Gare”.

The line between Ouchy and Flon is 1482 m. in length, and rises 106 m. at a maximum gradient of 11.6% ( 1 in 8.66 ). This journey is completed in 8 minutes. The system is single track with a passing track at Montriond station to allow trains to meet (See photograph). The second line from the Gare CFF to Flon is just 318 m. in length, rises 37 m. at a maximum gradient of 12% (1 in 8.33 ). The trains were two 2-car units and offered a fast service, with trains every 6 to 10 minutes. The line is now referred to as Métro-Ouchy or M2.

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