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Montreux–Lenk im Simmental line
Montreux–Lenk im Simmental line
	The GoldenPass Panoramic near Gstaad
Overview
Native name	German: Bahnstrecke Montreux-Gstaad-Zweisimmen–Lenk i.S., French: Ligne Montreux-Gstaad-Zweisimmen-Lenk i.S.
Status	operating hourly services
Owner	Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway (MOB)
Locale	Vaud and Bernese Highlands
Termini	Montreux; Lenk i.S.;
Stations	36
Website	MOB line
Service
Services	1
Operator(s)	Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway (MOB)
History
Opened	1901–1912
Technical
Line length	75.03 km (46.62 mi)
Number of tracks	1
Character	commuter and touristic services
Rack system	None
Track gauge	1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge
Electrification	900 V DC overhead line
Highest elevation	1,275 m (4,183 ft)
Maximum incline	73‰
Route map
Route map
	Legend
	from Clarens (until 1955)
	tunnel (82m)
	from Blonay (until 1955)
	Les Avants
	Sonloup funicular
	Vaud
	Bern
	Vanel (473 m)
	(opened 9 June 1991)
	aerial cablecar Saanenwald
	-Saanerslochgrat
	aerial cablecar to
	Eggweid-Rinderberg
	This diagram: view; talk; edit;

The Montreux–Lenk im Simmental line is a metre-gauge electric railway line in Switzerland run by the Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway (MOB) and links Montreux on Lake Geneva by way of Les Avants, Montbovon, Rossinière, Château-d'Œx, Rougemont, Saanen, Gstaad and Zweisimmen with Lenk im Simmental. It leads through the cantons of Vaud, Fribourg and Bern. Running along the section between Montreux and Zweisimmen is the GoldenPass Line. The Montreux–Lenk line is one of the oldest electric railways in the country. Its main line, 75.1 km (46.7 mi) in length, is built to the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) gauge. At Zweisimmen, passengers may transfer to the Spiez–Erlenbach–Zweisimmen line, a standard gauge line owned by BLS AG. A 12.9 km (8.0 mi) branch line also connects Zweisimmen to Lenk.

History

The first section of line opened on 18 December 1901, between Montreux and Les Avants. The line was further extended from Les Avants to Montbovon on 1 October 1903,^[3] Chateau d'Œx on 19 August 1904, Gstaad on 20 December 1904, and Zweisimmen on 6 July 1905.^[4] The extension between Zweisimmen and Lenk im Simmental opened on 8 June 1912.^[5] Passenger service on the Lenk–Zweisimmen section was suspended between 1975–1979.^[6]

Operations

Besides the GoldenPass Express, various regional trains run on the Montreux–Lenk im Simmental line:

Panorama Express (PE) GoldenPass Express Montreux–Zweisimmen with stops in Montbovon, Château-d'Œx, Gstaad, Schönried and Saanenmöser.
PE GoldenPass Panoramic and GoldenPass Belle Époque Montreux–Zweisimmen, between Fontanivent and Zweisimmen with stops (or request stops) at almost all stations
Regio Montreux–Les Avants
Regio Gstaad–Zweisimmen
Regio Zweisimmen–Lenk im Simmental^[7]

Connecting lines

In Chamby, the former Chemins de fer électriques Veveysans (CEV) line to Blonay branches off the Montreux–Lenk im Simmental line. Since the 1966 suspension of passenger services on this line, the Blonay–Chamby Museum Railway has been running scheduled nostalgic trips on summer weekends. The line still belongs to Transports Montreux–Vevey–Riviera, the successor company to the CEV.

At Montbovon station, there is a connection with the Transports publics fribourgeois (TPF) network to Bulle, formerly the Chemins de fer fribourgeois Gruyère–Fribourg–Morat (GFM), and earlier still the Chemins de fer électriques de la Gruyère (CEG), to which the workshop in Montbovon belongs, and which also shares rolling stock with the MOB now and then.

At the time when both lines were being built, there arose a genuine fight between the Fribourg railway project initiators and the Vaud-Bern-governed MOB. The former submitted a request for a concession to build a railway to Zweisimmen, wanting, as they did, to run through trains from Bulle, and perhaps even from Vevey through Montbovon to Zweisimmen, and in so doing take along through-running stock from Montreux. In response, the Swiss Railway Department implemented on 23 June 1899 negotiations whose goal was to reach an agreement or compromise between the two initiative committees, and with the cantonal governments that were affected.

Since the Bern and Vaud cantonal governments supported the Montreux committee, the project initiators from Fribourg agreed to forgo the concession, but at the same time were given the right to build the station at Montbovon (which to this day belongs to the TPF). Still left open by the Federal representatives, though, was the question of who should get ownership of the short stretch of the line from Montbovon to the cantonal boundary just before La Tine (a hamlet in Rossinière).^[8] The Fribourg project initiators' concession request foresaw a tramway, whereas the one submitted by the group from Vaud foresaw a railway running on its own right-of-way. The Swiss Federal Council proposed to the Federal Assembly that the concession "from Montbovon or from the cantonal boundary" to Zweisimmen be granted so that both parties involved would have to agree contractually on whether one line or the other was to be built. Whatever they chose to do, however, the concession would also obligate the MOB to build the line so that the CEG's rolling stock could also run on it. The two parties were thereby obligated to apply the same standards.^[9] In the end, an agreement on 12 March 1907 regulating the unification of the MOB's and the CEG's lines laid out terms putting the ownership boundary 117 m from the arrival points at Château-d'Œx, and the CEG gave up its concession for the adjoining stretch of line.

Meeting the line at Zweisimmen station is the standard-gauge Spiez–Zweisimmen railway, run by BLS AG. It affords links with Interlaken, Lucerne, Brig and Bern.

Since the 11 December 2022 timetable changes there has been a direct connection from Interlaken by way of Zweisimmen to Montreux. Acquired for this purpose, for the first time, were trains whose bogies can automatically be adjusted from standard gauge to narrow gauge.^[10] From a tourism point of view, an onward trip to Lucerne on these trains would be desirable, but nevertheless not yet possible, as trains on the Brünig railway line not only need to be able to use metre gauge like the Montreux–Lenk im Simmental line, but also have to be equipped with cogs to engage the racks.^[10]

Notes

^ Electrification voltage
^ Eisenbahnatlas Schweiz. Cologne: Schweers + Wall. 2012. pp. 31, 42–44, 72–73. ISBN 978-3-89494-130-7.
^ Wägli & Jacobi 2010, p. 23.
^ Wägli & Jacobi 2010, p. 25.
^ Wägli & Jacobi 2010, p. 27.
^ Wägli & Jacobi 2010, p. 27, ff. 248.
^ 120 Montreux – Château-d'Œx – Gstaad – Zweisimmen – Lenk im Simmental. In: Offizielles Kursbuch, Fahrplanjahr 2023
^ Michel Grandguillaume et al.: MOB, du Léman au Pays-d'Enhaut *. BVA, Lausanne 1992, ISBN 2-88125-008-4, p. 51
^ Message from the Federal Council to the Federal Assembly about concession for an electric railway from Montbovon, or from the cantonal boundary itself as the case may be, by way of Château-d'Œx and Saanen to Zweisimmen (from 7 December 1899). Source: Bundesblatt Nr. 50 vom 13. Dezember 1899
^ ^a ^b "Interlaken – Montreux - Nach 100 Jahren wird die direkte Bahnverbindung Wirklichkeit" (in German). 2022-12-12. Retrieved 2022-12-13.

References

Wägli, Hans G.; Jacobi, Sébastien (2010). Schienennetz Schweiz - Bahnprofil Schweiz CH+ [Swiss rail network] (in German) (3rd ed.). Zürich: AS Verlag. ISBN 978-3-909111-74-9.