Montreux railway station

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.

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
Distance	24.5 km (15.2 mi) from Lausanne[1]
Platforms	7
Train operators	Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway Swiss Federal Railways Transports Montreux–Vevey–Riviera
Connections	VMCA buses and trolleybuses[2]
Other information
Fare zone	73 (mobilis)[3]
History
Opened	1861
Passengers
2018	16,500 per weekday[4]
Services
Preceding station Swiss Federal Railways Following station Vevey towards Geneva Airport InterRegio IR 90 Aigle towards Brig Vevey towards Annemasse RegioExpress Veytaux-Chillon towards St-Maurice Clarens towards Renens VD RegioExpress Limited service Villeneuve towards St-Maurice Preceding station RER Vaud Following station Clarens towards Vallorbe S2 Villeneuve towards Aigle, Bex or St-Maurice Clarens towards Grandson S5 Territet towards Aigle, Bex or St-Maurice Preceding station Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway Following station Terminus Panorama Express Chernex towards Zweisimmen Regio Montreux-Collège towards Zweisimmen Regio Montreux-Collège towards Les Avants Preceding station Transports Montreux–Vevey–Riviera Following station Terminus Regio Montreux to Les Rochers-de-Naye Montreux-Les Planches towards Les Rochers-de-Naye
Location

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.[1]

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:[5] 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.[6]

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

As of the December 2020 timetable change, the following services call at Montreux:[7]

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/S5: half-hourly service to Aigle and hourly service to Vallorbe and Grandson; limited service from Aigle 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.

See also

• Montreux
• SBB-CFF-FFS
• Montreux-Oberland Bernois
• Transports Montreux–Vevey–Riviera

References

1. Eisenbahnatlas Schweiz. Cologne: Schweers + Wall. 2012. p. 72. ISBN 978-3-89494-130-7.
2. "Plan de réseau VMCV" (PDF) (in French). Transports publics Vevey-Montreux-Chillon-Villeneuve. 13 December 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
3. "Plan Mobilis". Mobilis Vaud. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
4. "Passagierfrequenz". Swiss Federal Railways. September 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
5. 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.
6. "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.
7. "Départ: Gare de Montreux" (PDF). Swiss Federal Railways (in French). 13 December 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.

External links

• Montreux railway station – SBB
• Goldenpass Services - official site
• Interactive station plan (Montreux)