Update with artist’s drawings, video link

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva’s Cornavin station begins a major renovation programme next Tuesday, 18 January. Work will begin on the west entry hall and the ground floor of the station. Access from the west end of the station to tracks 1 and 2 will be changed and new access to the building will be provided from the Montbrillant passage.

Ed. note: the Montbrillant passage will provide the only access to the building from the west side during the construction period, from January to August 2010, with the main area closed for renovation. A number of shops and other businesses in the station wil close for part of the renovation.

The first phase of the three-year project, the west wing, will be ready by May 2011 and the east wing in autumn 2013. The project is designed to improve traffic flows, but also t0 make the station brighter, livelier and more comfortable, says the CFF.

The area around the station will be particularly disrupted during the summer of 2010, with work going on inside the station and the nearby Place-des-Vingt-Deux-Cantons, next to the Notre Dame church, torn up to make way for the new Bernex tram line terminus.

The tram line work is planned for two months and will be done during the summer holidays, when road traffic in the city is lower. The line will connect dozens of outlying villages with the city centre far more rapidly than the current public transport service, limited to buses.

The renovations and modernization of Cornavin station are needed since the approval in late 2009 of the Ceva regional train system. It will place the  Cornavin station at the centre of a network stretching from Annemasse in France to Nyon in canton Vaud, Switzerland. Some 115,000 passengers use the station daily and the number will increase sharply.

CFF short film visualizing the renovated station

Links to other sites: bahnonline (Fre), CFF rail company’s Cornavin and Cornavin project pages (Fre), TSR (fre)