Lausanne Railway Station Expansion

Lausanne railway station expansion will meet the increasing passenger numbers on the route between Lausanne and Geneva. Image courtesy of Basler & Hofmann.

The station expansion includes widening and extending the platforms. Image courtesy of Pöyry PLC.

The historic protected hall roof will be shifted as part of the proejct. Image courtesy of jynus.

The expansion will double the seating capacity of services running between Lausanne and Geneva. Image courtesy of SBB.

The station expansion is expected to be completed by 2025. Image courtesy of SBB.

The Lausanne intercity and regional railway station is located in the city of Lausanne in Canton of Vaud, Switzerland.

The passenger traffic between Lausanne and Geneva route has doubled from 25,000 a day in 2010, to 50,000 a day currently. The traffic is estimated to further increase to approximately 100,000 passengers a day by 2030.

In order to meet the projected rise in passenger traffic, the Lausanne station expansion is being carried out as part of the Geneva 2030 rail expansion project, which is aimed at improving rail services in the cantons of Vaud and Geneva.

The station expansion will involve performing modifications to the structures, installing extra tracks and extending the existing platforms. The expansion is scheduled to be completed by 2025.

Lausanne railway station expansion details

The project involves replacing interlocking systems to enable travel in both directions on the same track, as well as construction of additional roofs for the platforms and an underpass below the listed station building.

It also includes improving the management of centralised computer operations at the operations centre west of the station and creation of technical facilities to the east of the station.

Three new passages including service areas below the tracks will be constructed, the platforms will be widened and extended, and the historical station roof will be repositioned and elevated.

The station expansion will improve the national and regional rail services. It will double the seating capacity of services between Lausanne and Geneva and provide quarter-hourly Vaud and France-Vaud-Geneva RER services by 2030.

Construction on the Lausanne railway station expansion

Construction of the safety and traffic management infrastructure began with the replacement of interlocking systems in June 2016. It involves construction of a new technical building and a new underground tunnel for cables, and redevelopment of the Lausanne hub.

By 2020, the signalling equipment and rail installations will be modified to help operate an RER Vaud service between Cossonay and Cully every 15 minutes.

The renewal of infrastructure at Lausanne station is essential to carry forward the station expansion project, which is expected to be completed by 2019.

The planning work for the station expansion will begin in September 2016 and main construction works on the expansion of station building will begin in 2018. The newly expanded station is expected to be commissioned by 2025.

Construction of the Galette – Bâtiment Voyageur lot (passenger building) will involve moving the hall roof. The construction crews will adopt building information modelling (BIM) for the construction of the station building.

Contractors involved

Lausanne railway station expansion was designed by Merlini Rivier architects. Pöyry, a part of the engineering consortium 4G, was awarded engineering services contract for ‘Galette – Bâtiment Voyageur’ (passenger building) main lot at Lausanne station.

The engineering consortium 4G, led by Basler & Hofmann, was awarded overall project management contract for the central lot of the large-scale project, which includes the entire present railway station.

Financing

The Lausanne station expansion is a part of the CHF3bn ($3.13bn) Geneva 2030 rail project. The cost for the expansion of the Lausanne station is estimated to be CHF89m ($92.99m), which is being funded under the SBB, Swiss Confederation service agreement.