While the number of passengers has doubled on the Lausanne-Genève axis between 2010 and 2030, the construction of a new double-movement on the entire route is far from materializing. On more than half of the route, the project is just its infancy.
According to SBB forecasts, the number of travelers on the Geneva-Lausanne axis will double between 2010 and 2030, going from 50,000 to 100,000 per day. Will the line manage to absorb this new increase? “There is still a bit of margin on this line, but it is not far from saturation,” said SBB spokesperson Jean-Philippe Schmidt, interviewed at the end of December by RTS.
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The program Léman 2030 The aim is to respond to this sharp increase in demand and increase the capacity of the line. Certain developments are completed (fourth lausanne-renens track, jump-out between Renens and Prilly-Malley in particular), while others will be in the coming years. “The need for catching up is admitted by everyone. Thus, more than 7 billion francs are invested in the Geneva-Lausanne region alone,” said the Federal Transport Office.
“Need for catching up”: the admission is there. Because the idea of improving the line is not new, far from it. In 2007, the French -speaking cantons put pressure for the construction of a third way to be part of the second “package” linked to the Rail 2000 project, endowed with 5 billion francs. But the Federal Council does not hear it from this ear and buries the idea, which it considers non -priority. At that time, the Zurichois Moritz Leuenberger runs the Federal Transport Department.
>> Review the analysis of the 7:30 p.m. of the time:
Tunnel morges-perroy to horizon 2035-2040
Already approved by Parliament, various partial arrangements are nevertheless in progress or in preparation, in particular the modernization of Lausanne station, the underground extension of Geneva station and the new double track between Morges and Perroy partially in tunnel , List of oft. This last project is estimated at just over two billion francs.
>> More details: The Federal Council unlocks 2.6 billion for rail, 9 km tunnel planned between Morges and Perroy
-Still, even after the inauguration of the Morges-Perroy section, which will not be done before 2035 or 2040, a good half of the line, towards Geneva, will still not be 2×2 lanes. Preliminary studies with SBB have been launched for the missing portion, which could be built along the highway, but no start -up date can still be articulated, the project was not yet funded.
>> Read in particular: SBBs study a new route along the A1 between Geneva and Lausanne
10 billion francs
“According to the prospective study mandated by the OFT and completed in 2023, such a new line on the whole of the Lausanne-Genève axis would cost around 10 billion francs, on the economic conditions of 2023. This is a first estimate Summary, an order of magnitude which, from experience, tends to increase over time “, sheds light on the OFT.
In his eyes, “a construction of this magnitude, given the considerable means required, can only be done in stages, via several rail planning programs”. And for each step, the last word returns to Parliament.
Vincent Cherpillod
