Montreux railway station

Montreux
Montreux
	The station building in 2012
Location	Avenue des Alpes 74; Montreux; Switzerland
Coordinates	46°26′9.1500″N 6°54′37.5631″E
Elevation	395 m (1,296 ft)
Owned by	Swiss Federal Railways
Line(s)	Montreux–Glion–Rochers-de-Naye line; Montreux–Lenk im Simmental line; Simplon line;
Platforms	7
Train operators	Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway; Swiss Federal Railways; Transports Montreux–Vevey–Riviera;
Connections	Postauto and Vevey–Montreux–Chillon–Villeneuve buses
History
Opened	1861
Services
Location
	Montreux Location within Switzerland

Montreux railway station (French: Gare de Montreux) is the largest of the railway stations serving the municipality of Montreux, in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland.

All of the SBB-CFF-FFS standard gauge passenger trains operating on the Simplon Railway Line call at this station, which is also the western terminus of the GoldenPass Line narrow gauge railway lines to Zweisimmen and to Rochers de Naye.

History

Montreux railway station was opened in 1861, when the then Jura–Simplon Railway (JS) opened the Lausanne–Villeneuve section of its standard gauge Simplon railway line to Sion. This line is now owned and operated by SBB-CFF-FFS.

In 1901, the station became a junction station upon the opening of the first section of the metre gauge Montreux-Oberland Bernois railway (MOB), between Montreux and its higher altitude suburb of Les Avants. In 1903, the MOB was extended to Montbovon.

In 1909, the Glion–Montreux section of the Montreux–Glion–Rochers-de-Naye rack railway was opened, as an extension of the 800 mm (2 ft 7 ¹⁄₂ in) Glion–Rochers-de-Naye railway, opened in 1892. It is now operated by Transports Montreux–Vevey–Riviera.

Location

The station is on a hillside above the lake.

Access to and from Montreux's main street, Grand Rue, is by escalators, elevators and stairs. The Rue de la Gare provides access to and from the old town, which is divided from the lake shore by the standard gauge railway tracks.

Layout

The station complex is in many ways a rarity. Montreux is most distinctive for being one of the few stations in the world (and the only station in Switzerland) served by three different track gauges:[1] SBB-CFF-FFS 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in), MOB 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) and MVR 800 mm (2 ft 7 ¹⁄₂ in). Its having three gauges is something shared by Gare de Latour-de-Carol-Enveitg in the French Pyrénées.

Second, access from the station building to the railway platforms is from the second floor, not the ground floor, due to the slope of the city, while the service facilities are at ground floor level, and access to the underpass can be found on the first floor.

Apart from these unusual features, the station also lacks a track 2. In the past, the designation track 2 was allocated to a passing loop not equipped with a platform. However, in 2006, as part of work done to increase the height of the platforms to 55 centimetres (22 in), this track was provided with a platform and renamed track 1, and the former platform 1 was removed.[2]

The SBB-CFF-FFS serves the main platform with track 1, and also operates track 3, which, together with the MOB tracks 4 (east half) and 5 (western half), serves a centre platform. Track 4 partially divides that platform in two.

Tracks 6, 7 and 8 serve a further central platform, which is similarly partially divided in two by track 7. Track 8, operated by the MVR, is situated underneath both a hotel and the MOB/MVR headquarters, known as the GoldenPass Centre.

Whereas tracks 4 and 7 are used by regional traffic to and from Fontanivent, Sonzier and Les Avants, tracks 5 and 6 are for trains to and from Zweisimmen.

Services

The following services call at Montreux:[3]

Swiss Federal Railways

InterRegio: half-hourly service between Geneva Airport and Brig.
RegioExpress:
- hourly service between Annemasse and St-Maurice.
- single daily round-trip between Renens VD and St-Maurice.

RER Vaud

RER Vaud:
- S2: hourly service between Vallorbe and Villeneuve; one daily round-trip continues from Villeneuve to St-Maurice.
- S3: hourly service between Allaman and Villeneuve; one daily round-trip continues from Villeneuve to St-Maurice.

Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway

Panorama Express/Regio: hourly service to Zweisimmen.
Regio:
- hourly service to Sonzier, with some trains continuing to Les Avants.
- hourly service to Fontanivent.

Transports Montreux–Vevey–Riviera

Regio: hourly service to Rochers-de-Naye.

Bus traffic

A total of three VMCV bus stops serve the station:

Vernex-Dessus on motor bus lines 4,5 and 6;
Montreux Gare on motor bus lines 4,5 and 6;
Escalier de la Gare on trolleybus line 1, access via escalators to Grand Boulevard.

References

Stefan Dringenberg. "Montreux-Oberland Bernois-Bahn - Beschreibung" [Montreux-Oberland Bernois-Bahn - Description]. Rail-Info Schweiz (in German). Manfred Luckmann, Stefan Dringenberg. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
"MOB - Plan de la gare de Montreux et de Rochers de Naye" [MOB - Map of Montreux railway station and Rochers de Naye]. Forum du Rail en Suisse (in French). Retrieved 9 November 2010.
"Départ: Gare de Montreux" (PDF). Swiss Federal Railways (in French). 15 December 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2020.

External links

Media related to Montreux railway station at Wikimedia Commons

This article is based upon a translation of the German language version as at November 2010.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[rail-info-1] Stefan Dringenberg. "Montreux-Oberland Bernois-Bahn - Beschreibung" [Montreux-Oberland Bernois-Bahn - Description]. Rail-Info Schweiz (in German). Manfred Luckmann, Stefan Dringenberg. Retrieved 9 November 2010.

[forum-2] "MOB - Plan de la gare de Montreux et de Rochers de Naye" [MOB - Map of Montreux railway station and Rochers de Naye]. Forum du Rail en Suisse (in French). Retrieved 9 November 2010.

[depart-3] "Départ: Gare de Montreux" (PDF). Swiss Federal Railways (in French). 15 December 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2020.