Lausanne station will be adapted to future needs
The SBB commissioners are making adjustments to the project to ensure safe rail operations and take better account of future customer needs. In consultation with the BAV, this includes solutions for the anchorages, statics and passenger flows. According to the new planning, work on the basement of the station square will begin in April 2024, the anchoring work in the south of the station in July 2024. The start of the reconstruction of the platforms is scheduled for 2026. The work will be completed around 4.5 years later than originally planned. Thanks to these solutions, Lausanne station can be used for longer and will have wider platforms.
Together with its agents, SBB intensively sought solutions for the elements that had prevented the start of several construction sites in December 2022. In addition, the FOT had requested clarification regarding the statics in October and issued a partial plan approval order for passenger flows where questions were still open. Over the past six months, numerous technical and political consultations have taken place to find sustainable solutions.
Solutions for the anchorages in the south of the station
Additional information was requested for the new anchorages that reinforce the retaining wall and the statics of the south façade of the station. Test anchorages were built to check the geological conditions of the site. Now the dossier will be revised accordingly and submitted to the BAV for review in spring 2024.
Solutions for the basement of Bahnhofplatz
The FOT has requested additional information on the structural analysis of the basement of Bahnhofplatz. The structural analysis and the dossier will be revised by the end of the year so that the FOT can examine them in 2024.
Solutions for the platforms and subways
Aspects relating to the platforms and subways were objected to in the partial planning approval ruling. For this, the SBB project teams looked for improvements. In view of the increasing passenger volumes and services at Lausanne station, congestion-free and safe passenger flows represent a major challenge. In order to avoid the demolition of further buildings south of the station, perrons were defined for the project in 2012 that were narrower than ideal. Now SBB is planning wider platforms with more space for customers, partly due to the development of rail operations and the standards for track spacing in the station. At the same time, the new track geometry also provides the additional information required by the BAV with regard to structural engineering. Thanks to these improvements, Lausanne station can be used for longer without causing congestion.
The new project requires over 1000 new plans, technical reports and calculation documents. The entire track and platform geometry of the station must be revised. The SBB and its agents need 2.5 years to prepare the documents, the FOT 12 months to review and approve this partial dossier. First, the consistency of the overall planning is assessed, then the various sub-projects are continuously checked and approved, provided they meet the technical and legal requirements. With the approximately 12 months delay that the project already has today, the work should be completed in 2037, i.e. 4.5 years later than originally planned. The additional costs for the new planning will be analysed in the coming months.
New staging of the construction site
The release of the planning approval dossiers in three phases leads to a new staging of the construction site. The planners tried to keep the burden on the customers as low as possible. The new planning also minimised the dependence on the metro project. Services at Lausanne station will be maintained during the work.