Trolleybuses in Fribourg

Fribourg trolleybus system
Fribourg trolleybus system
	Dual-mode bus 519 in service on line 2, 2006.
Operation
Locale	Fribourg, Switzerland
First era: 1912–1932
Status	Closed
Routes	1
Route length	12.5 km (7.8 mi)
Current era: since 1949
Status	Open
Routes	3
Operator(s)	Transports publics fribourgeois (TPF)
Electrification	600 V DC
	Legend
	Schönberg
	Dunant
	Givisiez
	Mont-Carmel
	Fribourg/Freiburg
	station
	Pérolles
	Charmettes
	Villars-sur-Glâne
	Moncor
	Villars-sur-Glâne
	Les Dailles
	This diagram: view; talk; edit;
Website	Transports publics fribourgeois (tpf) (in French)

The Fribourg trolleybus system (French: Réseau trolleybus de Fribourg) forms part of the public transport network in Fribourg, capital of the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland. The system also serves the neighbouring municipalities of Villars-sur-Glâne and Givisiez, using one line in each case.

History

The current system is the second of two trolleybus systems to operate in Fribourg. The first opened on 4 January 1912 and connected the town with Farvagny. The solitary route, 12.5 km (7.8 mi) long, was largely rural, and the fleet comprised just three vehicles.^[1] It closed on 21 May 1932. It was the first trolleybus system in Switzerland and was the country's only such service for its entire 20-year existence.^[1]^[2] The Lausanne trolleybus system opened a few months after closure of the Fribourg–Farvagny line.^[1]

The second Fribourg trolleybus system opened on 31 January 1949^[1] and gradually replaced the Fribourg tramway network, the last line of which closed on 31 March 1965.^[3]

The individual line sections of the Fribourg trolleybus system went into operation as follows:^[4]

31 January 1949	Jura Chassotte–St-Pierre–Gare-CFF (2.92 km)
15 May 1949	Tilleul–St-Pierre und Gare-CFF–Vignettaz-Daler
1 October 1959	Tilleul–Schoenberg Dunant
1 April 1965	Poya–Tilleul und Gare–Pérolles Charmettes
?	Vignettaz-Daler–Villars-sur-Glâne, Moncor
16 June 2005	Villars-sur-Glâne, Moncor–Villars-sur-Glâne, Les Dailles (1.23 km)
18 December 2010	Givisiez, Mont-Carmel–Jura Chassotte

Lines

The present system is made up of the following cross-city routes, including dual-mode line 1:

1	Granges-Paccot, Portes-de-Fribourg–Poya (diesel power) Poya–Pérolles Charmettes (electric power) Pérolles Charmettes–Marly, Gérine (diesel power)	At 10-minute intervals
2	Schönberg Dunant–Villars-sur-Glâne, Les Dailles	At 7.5-minute intervals
3	Givisiez, Mont-Carmel–Pérolles Charmettes	At 15-minute intervals

Fleet

Retired fleet

In the past, at one time or another the trolleybus fleet has included two-axle vehicles made by several different manufacturers, including Vétra-Renault, Vétra-Berliet, Saurer, Henschel and Volvo.^[3] All of these were purchased new except for the four Henschels (nos. 43–46), which came secondhand from the Giessen, Germany, trolleybus system (in whose fleet they had been nos. 19–22). The first articulated vehicles were purchased in 1988–89. Numbered 101–112, they were Hess-bodied Volvos with ABB electrical equipment, and they were also dual-mode. They used their diesel engines to operate unwired extensions – sections not equipped with overhead wires – of trolleybus route 2, beyond Moncor to Les Biches and Les Dailles.^[2] In 2005, the route section to Les Dailles was fitted with trolleybus wiring, allowing trolleybuses to serve route 2 entirely in electric mode, except for certain weekday trips to Les Biches, which section remained unwired.^[5]

Current fleet

A total of 21 vehicles is available to operate trolleybus services in Fribourg, all of them low-floor articulated buses:

Fleet nos	Quantity	Manufacturer	Electrics	Type	Configuration	Built	Serves
513 to 521	9	Hess / MAN	Kiepe	NGT 204 F	Dual-mode bus	2004	Line 1
522 to 533	12	Hess	Vossloh-Kiepe	BGT-N2C	Trolleybus with auxiliary motor	2010	Lines 2 and 3

References

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Murray, Alan (2000). World Trolleybus Encyclopaedia, pp. 21, 73. Yateley, Hampshire, UK: Trolleybooks. ISBN 0-904235-18-1.
^ ^a ^b Dölling, Gerhard (1993). Straßenbahnatlas Schweiz 1993, pp. 48, 49, 112–114. Berlin: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Blickpunkt Straßenbahn e.V. ISBN 3-926524-13-8.
^ ^a ^b Murray, A.G. (March–April 1986). "Trolley Bookshelf" (long, detailed book review of Fribourg en Tram, by S. Jacobi [1985]). Trolleybus Magazine No. 146, pp. 46–47. National Trolleybus Association (UK). ISSN 0266-7452.
^ "Trolleybus city: Fribourg (Switzerland)". Trolleymotion. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
^ Trolleybus Magazine No. 263 (Sep.-Oct. 2005), p. 121.

Books

Schwandl, Robert (2010). Schwandl's Tram Atlas Schweiz & Österreich. Berlin: Robert Schwandl Verlag. ISBN 978 3 936573 27 5. (in German and English)

External links

Media related to Trolleybuses in Fribourg at Wikimedia Commons
"Trolleybus city: Fribourg". Trolleymotion.
Fribourg database / photo gallery and Fribourg trolleybus list at Urban Electric Transit – in various languages, including English.

[murray-1] Murray, Alan (2000). World Trolleybus Encyclopaedia, pp. 21, 73. Yateley, Hampshire, UK: Trolleybooks. ISBN 0-904235-18-1.

[swiss_atlas_1993-2] Dölling, Gerhard (1993). Straßenbahnatlas Schweiz 1993, pp. 48, 49, 112–114. Berlin: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Blickpunkt Straßenbahn e.V. ISBN 3-926524-13-8.

[tm146-3] Murray, A.G. (March–April 1986). "Trolley Bookshelf" (long, detailed book review of Fribourg en Tram, by S. Jacobi [1985]). Trolleybus Magazine No. 146, pp. 46–47. National Trolleybus Association (UK). ISSN 0266-7452.

[trolleymotion-4] "Trolleybus city: Fribourg (Switzerland)". Trolleymotion. Retrieved 26 December 2011.

[tm263-5] Trolleybus Magazine No. 263 (Sep.-Oct. 2005), p. 121.

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