en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Swiss Federal Council has granted the infrastructure concession required for the construction and operation of the new M3 metro line in Lausanne, a project that will expand the city's public transport network to meet continuously growing passenger demand.

The new line will connect Lausanne's central railway station with the Blécherette district, helping to improve mobility conditions in the city's northwestern area, which is experiencing rapid urban development.

The M3 line will run entirely underground and be fully automated. It will be 3.5 kilometers long, with six stations between the central station and Blécherette. The project is part of the Lausanne-Morges Urban Area Plan (PALM), through which the Canton of Vaud is developing major urban public transport corridors to support population growth and increasing travel demand.

The new line is not an isolated project but part of a comprehensive plan to modernize Lausanne's public transport system. Alongside the construction of the M3 line, authorities are also modernizing the existing M2 line. Opened in 2008, the M2 line has long exceeded its design capacity. Originally designed for an annual ridership of 25 million passengers, it carried over 36 million passengers by 2024. To eliminate existing bottlenecks, a second tunnel will be built between Lausanne station and Flon, and the M2 line's automation system will be replaced with state-of-the-art technology, thereby increasing train frequency and transport capacity.

The new M3 line will feature stations at Lausanne-Gare, Chauderon, Beaulieu, Casernes, Plaines-du-Loup, and Blécherette, and will serve the newly built eco-friendly Plaines-du-Loup district (planned with approximately 8,000 housing units and 3,000 jobs), as well as the Tuilière stadium and the sports complex in the area. Chauderon station will become a major intermodal hub, offering connections with the Lausanne-Echallens-Bercher Railway (LEB), a future tram line, and the high-capacity bus network.

With both the M2 and M3 lines in operation, transport capacity between the central station and the city center will be significantly enhanced. The M2 line will continue to serve the route via Flon, while the M3 line will handle passenger flows via Chauderon, helping to distribute passengers more efficiently and reduce congestion on the current network.

The federal government is providing CHF 144 million (EUR 156.5 million) in funding for the project through its urban transport program, with the remaining investment estimated at approximately CHF 1.3 billion (EUR 1.41 billion), primarily borne by the Canton of Vaud.