The future TRAM of Lugano! The Lugano Ponte Tresa railway

The Lugano-Ponte Tresa Railway, Italian: Ferrovia Lugano–Ponte Tresa, abbreviated FLP, officially Ferrovie Luganesi, is a narrow-gauge private railway in the Swiss canton of Ticino. Opened on June 5, 1912, under the name Società Ferrovie Luganesi (FL), the railway runs from Lugano to Ponte Tresa. Since the timetable change of December 9, 2007, trains run every 15 minutes, and every 30 minutes in the evenings, on weekends, and on public holidays. The line is integrated into the Ticino S-Bahn network as line S60. There were once four narrow-gauge railways in the Lugano region. Besides the FLP, these were the Lugano-Cadro-Dino Railway (LCD), the Lugano-Tesserete Railway (LT), and the Lugano tramway. With the exception of the FLP, all lines have been shut down and replaced by buses. The FLP (Lugano Light Rail) station in Lugano is located approximately 50 meters below the SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) Lugano station, on a hillside below. It passes under the SBB's Gotthard line and the western districts of Lugano via two short tunnels. After the Sorengo stop, the line runs along the southern shore of the Laghetto di Muzzano (Muzzano Lake). West of the Cappella d'Agnuzzo (Agnuzzo Chapel), the railway runs parallel to the A2 motorway as far as Bioggio Molinazzo, bypassing Lugano Airport in a wide arc. Via Bioggio and Agno (where the depot is located), the railway reaches the western arm of Lake Lugano. Between Magliaso and Caslano, it crosses a golf course. The line terminates in Ponte Tresa, near the Italian border. The entrance to the Agno depot is via one of the rare symmetrical double switches. In order to offer a 15-minute interval during peak times, the FLP undertook a number of major construction projects in 2004 and 2005 (double track at Cappella–Agnuzzo, between Bioggio and Agno and between Magliaso and Caslano). In 2018, FLP ordered nine low-floor Tramlink vehicles from Stadler Rail at a cost of 47 million francs. These replaced the Be 4/8 and Be 4/12 units, which dated back to 1978. The move also allowed for an increase in capacity—a necessity following a roughly 70% rise in ridership over ten years to 2.5 million passengers annually. The first new vehicle was delivered on March 11, 2021. The first Tramlinks entered service on August 7, 2021 and the Be 4/8 and Be 4/12 units made their final runs in March 2022. The narrow-gauge railway is being gradually transformed into a regional light rail system (Tram-Treno). In addition to the Tramlink, the project includes a tunnel to the city center, a branch line to Manno, and, as an expansion option, light rail lines extending north and south from Lugano's city center. Construction on the 2.2 km long double-track tunnel is scheduled to begin in 2027, allowing the line between the SBB train station and Bioggio to be replaced by 2034. Two lines, operating every 10 minutes from Ponte Tresa and Manno respectively, will overlap to create a five-minute interval. #trainspotting #tram #future #switzerland #ticino #viral #fyp