Former Lausanne-Ouchy Line
The Lausanne-Ouchy railway was inaugurated in 1877 as a funicular. In 1959 the first overhaul took place by transforming the funicular into a rack railway under the name "métro". At that time, Flon and Gare CFF stations were demolished and replaced by concrete underground equivalents. The line was however always nicknamed "La Ficelle" (The String) by its users due to its funicular past and circulation above ground in the greenery for more than half of its run.
Connected to the Flon facilities, the freight trains from the main station to the storage area of the harbour (in Flon) travelled through this line until the construction of a direct connection between the freight station of Sébeillon and the Flon valley in 1954.
The line was finally closed to all traffic on 21 January 2006. The rolling stock will be sold to the French city of Villard-de-Lans which foresees the construction of a new rack railway, La Patache to ensure a link between the center of Villard and Le Balcon de Villard in 2008.
A bus service was put into operation to replace "La Ficelle" until the opening of the new metro M2. This service was called Métrobus (MB): the south loop linked Ouchy to the CFF station and the north loop linked the station to Montbenon (which is located right above the Flon area).
Read more about this topic: Lausanne Metro
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