Fribourg/Freiburg railway station

Fribourg/Freiburg railway station (French: Gare de Fribourg; German: Bahnhof Freiburg im Üechtland) serves the municipality of Fribourg, capital of the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland. Opened in 1862, it is owned and operated by SBB-CFF-FFS.

Fribourg/Freiburg
Fribourg railway station, 2013
General information
Location	Avenue de la Gare Fribourg Switzerland
Coordinates	46°48′11.77″N 7°9′3.71″E
Elevation	629 m (2,064 ft)
Owned by	Swiss Federal Railways
Line(s)	Fribourg–Ins line Fribourg–Yverdon line Mittellandlinie
Platforms	5 2 island platforms 1 side platform
Tracks	5
Train operators	BLS AG Swiss Federal Railways Transports publics Fribourgeois
Connections	TPF buses TPF trolleybuses [1]
Construction
Parking	Yes (69 spaces)
Bicycle facilities	Yes (225 spaces)
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	8504100 (FRI)
IATA code	ZHF
Fare zone	10 (frimobil [de])[2]
History
Opened	20 August 1862 (1862-08-20)
Rebuilt	1872–1873, 1928
Previous names	Fribourg (until 2012)
Passengers
2023	33'400 per weekday [3] (BLS, RegionAlps, SBB, TPF)
Services
Preceding station SBB CFF FFS Following station Lausanne towards Geneva Airport IC 1 Bern towards St. Gallen Romont FR towards Geneva Airport IR 15 Bern towards Lucerne Romont FR towards Le Châble VS VosAlpes Express Terminus Preceding station RER Fribourg Following station Romont FR towards Broc-Chocolaterie RE2 Düdingen towards Bern RE3 Düdingen Terminus Terminus S20 Givisiez towards Neuchâtel S21 through to S40 S30 Givisiez towards Yverdon-les-Bains through to S41 S30 Villars-sur-Glâne towards Lausanne S40 through to S30 S41 Preceding station Bern S-Bahn Following station Terminus S1 Fribourg/Freiburg Poya towards Thun
Location

The station forms part of the Lausanne–Bern railway, which is the original portion of the Olten–Lausanne railway line (French: Ligne du Plateau suisse; German: Mittellandlinie). It is also the junction for the Yverdon-les-Bains–Payerne–Fribourg railway, and the Fribourg–Ins railway.^[4]

Location

Fribourg railway station is right in the heart of the city centre, which has shifted from the Old City to the railway station quarter since the station's construction.

History

The station was opened on 20 August 1862 by the Western Swiss Railways (French: Société des chemins de Fer Ouest-Suisse), upon completion of the Fribourg–Bern section of the Lausanne–Bern railway.^[5]

Completion of that section had been delayed for two years, due to the need to construct the 352 m (1,155 ft) long Grandfey Viaduct over the Saane/Sarine river, just to the north of the station. On 2 September 1862, the remaining section of the line was opened between Lausanne and Fribourg.^[5]

The first station building at Fribourg was a simple wooden hut. Between 1872 and 1873, a more substantial replacement building was constructed adjacent to the hut. The new building's design had been entrusted to the architect Adolphe Fraisse.

Initially, the army had not wanted the Lausanne–Bern railway to pass through Fribourg. The military had believed that the line would be too "vulnerable" in case of conflict. The government and the city had to fight for the route and the station. By 1905, the authorities wanted a new station building, which was completed in 1928.

On 7 September 2007, the 1872 station building became a cultural centre, incorporating a café, an entertainment hall and two festival theatres, for $4.5 million Swiss francs.^[6] A Swiss heritage site of regional significance (class B),^[7] the building houses the Nouveau Monde and its theatre, the International Film Festival of Fribourg and Belluard Bollwerk International.

Services

As of the December 2024 timetable change,^[update] the following services stop at Fribourg/Freiburg:^[8]

• InterCity: hourly service between Geneva Airport and St. Gallen.
• InterRegio: hourly service between Geneva Airport and Lucerne.
• VosAlpes Express: daily direct service to Le Châble VS on weekends between December and April.
• RER Fribourg:
  • RE2 / RE3: half-hourly service between Düdingen and Broc-Chocolaterie and hourly service from Düdingen to Bern.
  • S20 / S21: half-hourly service to Neuchâtel.
  • S30 S30: half-hourly service to Yverdon-les-Bains.
  • S40 / S41: half-hourly service to Lausanne.
• Bern S-Bahn S1: half-hourly service to Thun.

Interchange

Seven urban bus lines operated by the Transports publics fribourgeois call at the station, including TPF trolleybus lines.

See also

• Trains portal
• Architecture portal
• Switzerland portal

• History of rail transport in Switzerland
• Rail transport in Switzerland