Thun train station

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Tuna
The station building
The station building
Data
Location in the network Separation station
Platform tracks 7th
abbreviation TH
opening 1859 (old station)
1923 (new station)
Conveyance 1923 (old train station)
Architectural data
architect Ludwig Rudolf Maring (old train station)

Hans Wilhelm Auer
(based on the second train station)

location
City / municipality Tuna
Canton Bern
Country Switzerland
Coordinates 614 598  /  178208 coordinates: 46 ° 45 '18 "  N , 7 ° 37' 47"  O ; CH1903:  six hundred and fourteen thousand five hundred and ninety-eight  /  178208
Height ( SO ) 560  m
Railway lines
List of train stations in Switzerland
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The tuna station is the station of the Swiss city of Thun in the canton of Bern . The station is owned by the SBB and is served by their trains as well as those of the BLS .

history

Before building

After the Swiss Central Railway (SCB) had already received the concession for the construction of a connection between Bern and Thun from the Bern government council in 1852 , differences of opinion developed between the SCB and the city of Thun about the station location. In order to save the construction and costs of a bridge across the Aare , the SCB wanted to build the train station in the Bleichematte area on the left bank of the Aare so that a later extension to the lake bank could be built without any problems. The city of Thun, however, favored the location at the Bern gate on the right bank of the Aare, in order to then guide the ship travelers towards Interlaken through the streets to the Thun-Hofstetten shipping area. A possible extension of the route to the Bernese Oberland was out of the question for the city . In 1857, the city abandoned plans for a train station at Berntor and proposed a compromise. She agreed to build the station on the left side of the Aare, but it should be as close as possible to the Allmendbrücke. In 1858 the government council approved the request for an extension of the route to the lake shore in Scherzligen and approved the Bleichmatte station as proposed by the SCB. The Thun community in turn filed an appeal against this decision with the Grand Council , on the grounds that the entire traffic connection between the train station and the hotels and the Thun-Freienhof and Thun-Hofstetten boat stations should have been routed over the narrow Scherzliger Bridge. She also feared the prevention of district developments, which would have been possible with a train station on the Allmendbrücke. In addition, the construction of a planned Swiss Army barracks at a train station in Bleichenmatte would have been in danger, as the latter in turn had intended the Bleichenmatte as the location for the barracks yards, stables and arsenals. On November 19, 1858, the Grand Council approved the complaint and decided on the location on the Allmend Bridge.

Swiss Central Railway

On July 1, 1859, the SCB opened the railway line from Bern - Wylerfeld to Thun. In 1861, the 1.34 kilometer long continuation followed from Thun train station to the lakeshore in Scherzligen , which at the time was still an independent neighboring municipality of Thun. In Scherzligen, the travelers had to change to the steamboats on Lake Thun to continue their journey . Scherzligen was initially only built as a gravel loading point; travelers had to walk through the city from Thun train station to get to the ship stations. Against the resistance of the city of Thun, which fought vehemently for tourism, the SCB and the steam shipping company converted the loading station into a terminal station with passenger traffic in order to obtain a direct transfer point between rail and ship.

Thunerseebahn and Burgdorf – Thun-Bahn

In 1890, the Thunerseebahn company was granted the concession for a right bank connection between Thun and the Bödelibahn in Interlaken, via Spiez and Faulensee . The line went into operation in 1893 and, together with the Spiez-Frutigen Railway that followed in 1901, was the forerunner of the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon Railway (BLS) founded in 1913 . In the same year, the Burgdorf-Thun-Bahn received the concession for a railway line from Konolfingen to Thun in order to reduce the distance between Thun and Burgdorf with a direct line from 53 kilometers (via Bern) to 40. It went into operation on July 21, 1899 as the first full electric railway in Europe.

Gürbetalbahn and the SBB

Three years later, in 1902, the Gürbetalbahn, the second connection between Thun and Bern, went into operation. In contrast to the Centralbahn line, which runs via Münsingen , the Gürbetalbahn runs via Belp . In the same year, the Thun train station became the property of the newly founded SBB when the Central Railway was merged with the Nordostbahn and the United Swiss Railways to form the new Swiss State Railway.

Planned station relocations around the turn of the century

Entrance building of the old train station, around 1905

Lindtner engineering office

After the Freienhof ship station, which is closest to Thun train station, could no longer be operated due to the size of the new steamers and the feared expansion of the Scherzligen train station to the detriment of Thun train station, the Munich engineering office Lindtner prepared an expert opinion in which it stated that a new transfer point was The ship could only be built in the protected Weidenau area because of the strong currents in the Aare. The connection to the hotels in Hofstetten should be guaranteed by a bridge. However, the SCB opposed the project, as it had already made preparations in 1898 for the expansion of the Thun train station area as part of the Gürbetalbahn and the Burgdorf – Thun Railway.

Hermann Sommer

In March 1903, Hermann Sommer, an engineer from St. Gallen, published a new variant on the concentration of rail and ship. He suggested creating a traffic and service hub at the station in Bleichmatte, which was planned by the SCB in 1852, which, in addition to the station and boat station , should also house branches of the post office and the Bern Cantonal Bank . In order to enable shipping up the Aare to the Bleichmatte, Sommer suggested demolishing the Upper Locks and building a weir system including a river crossing at the Scherzliger Bridge, where part of the river should also be channeled into a municipal power station.

Emil Auer

The director of the Thunerseebahn, Emil Auer, published a counter-proposal in the autumn of the same year, which also provided for the station in the Bleichmatte, but planned the ship connection in the form of a canal from Scherzligen. This idea was favored by numerous people in Thun.

After the integration of the SCB into the SBB in 1902, the Federal Council commissioned them to plan their own project on the location of the future Thun central train station, although the situation after the future north-south connection through the Bernese Alps had not yet been clarified. Since the steam shipping company did not have sufficient financial means to build a canal into the Bleichmatte, it became clear to the SBB that only Scherzligen station would be the new transfer point. The city of Thun was appalled by this decision, as it feared that Thun station would be downgraded to a normal through station. In 1906 the SBB, the GTB, the Thunerseebahn, the BTB and the Dampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft together with the federal government, the canton and the city agreed on a station project in the Bleichmatte with the ships connected via a canal. Once again, the Lucerne train station was the basis of the project, this time the second station building with the distinctive dome, planned by the Federal Palace architect Hans Wilhelm Auer and completed in 1896, which fell victim to a major fire in 1971. After the city of Thun raised resistance, various more or less serious projects alternated, some of which had planned serious cuts in nature. In 1911 the SBB decided on the project of a central station between Seefeldstrasse and Frutigerstrasse with a canal to Scherzligen. The Thun municipal assembly rejected this project in 1912 and 1913, but agreed to an approach from the Weidenau. Although the importance of Thun station increased again after the opening of the Lötschberg tunnel in 1913, the SBB put the project on hold until ship access was regulated. In 1914, the BLS agreed to take over the access project and, due to lack of financial resources, proposed a temporary arrangement for a shipping pier on the Lower Inseli, which was approved in 1916. The SBB immediately re-entered the project for the central station, which was approved so that work could begin in 1920. In 1922, the BLS surprisingly submitted a new project idea for the Scherzligen Canal. After the city of Thun suspended the project due to safety deficiencies and continued to stick to the Inseli project, the BLS replied by letter that if the canal to Scherzligen could not be built, it would no longer be able to resume the deficit shipping operations the Thunersee. The BLS project was approved by the Thun electorate in 1924 and construction of the canal began immediately.

Merging of the two Thun train stations

After Scherzligen was incorporated into the city of Thun in 1920, the two train stations were concentrated on the site of the old Thun train station in 1923 and the new central train station opened on June 1, 1923. The Scherzligen train station was closed. After the transfer point between the railway and the Thunersee ships in Scherzligen no longer existed, the BLS, which operate the shipping on Lake Thun and Lake Brienz , created the Thun Shipping Canal in 1925 , which allowed shipping traffic to be connected to the station.

From 1930

In 1943 the Gürbetalbahn became part of the Gürbetal-Bern-Schwarzenburg-Bahn (GBS), which in turn merged in 1996 with the BLS, the Bern-Neuenburg-Bahn and the Spiez-Erlenbach-Zweisimmen-Bahn to form the BLS Lötschbergbahn . The year before, in 1942, the BTB had merged with the Emmentalbahn to form the Emmental-Burgdorf-Thun-Bahn , which in 1997 merged with the United Huttwil-Bahnen and the Solothurn-Münster-Bahn to form the Mittelland regional transport , so that three railway companies now operate the station Thun served.

Bern S-Bahn

In 1987, the station was connected to the newly created system of the Bern S-Bahn , when the S1 cross-city line from Thun via Bern station to Laupen or Friborg was put into operation. In 2004, BLS took over the lines of the S-Bahn Bern from SBB, thereby expanding its position at the train station, which again increased when BLS acquired Regionalverkehr Mittelland in 2006.

investment

train

The station has seven tracks, two head and five through tracks. The head tracks end from the northwest at the station building. Most of the time, traffic is handled according to the following scheme:

  • Track 1: Long-distance trains to Interlaken and RegioExpress trains to Zweisimmen and over the Lötschberg mountain route
  • Platform 2: Trains from / to Brig to Basel SBB , Zurich HB
  • Track 3: Trains from Interlaken to Basel and Berlin
  • Track 4: S-Bahn trains via Münsingen to Bern and on to Laupen and Friborg
  • Track 5: S-Bahn trains through the Gürbetal to Bern
  • Track 16 (head track): Trains on the BTB line to Konolfingen , Burgdorf and Solothurn
  • Track 18 (head track): Trains on the BTB line to Konolfingen, Burgdorf and Solothurn

Bus

The local public transport company STI operate a total of twelve bus platforms in the immediate vicinity of the train station. Most of them are located opposite the reception building. Thun train station is the main hub of the STI, which serves the station with a total of 20 lines. From 1913 to 1958 the Steffisburg – Thun – Interlaken tram stopped at Thun train station, which was partially replaced by the Thun – Beatenbucht trolleybus from 1952 to 1982 .

Reception building

Thun train station

First station building from 1861

After the dispute over the location of the train station, the Bernese canton parliament and the city of Thun decided on the location at the Allmendbrücke. The project for the reception building , designed by SCB in-house architect Rudolf Ludwig Maring , is a takeover of that of the old Lucerne train station , which was also used in 1864 for the first reception building of the Biel train station . It provided for a long, half-timbered building with a gable roof . The entrance portal consisted of a right-angled aisle, also with a gable roof.

Second station building from 1923

The second station, made of masonry, consists of a total of four parts. The entrance portal referring to Auer's Lucerne train station with high windows and the three side wings with hipped roofs and mansards. In total (including the ground floor and mansards) the station has three floors. The station buffet is located in the outermost wing.

Services

Thun train station is one of the 23 train stations marketed by the SBB under the slogan Mehr Bahnhof and houses service facilities. In addition to a branch of the Swiss pharmacy chain Amavita , Thun also has a branch of the Aperto retail chain , a post office, a Raiffeisen bank branch , a flower shop and a welcome center of the local tourist association.

business

In addition to long-distance trains of the SBB, regional trains of the BLS-operated railway line to Burgdorf, the Lötschberg mountain line and the Bern S-Bahn stop at the station.

Long-distance transport

Regional traffic

Bern S-Bahn
Other regional traffic

Accidents

  • April 28, 2006 near the railway station Thun collided an ICE one of Deutsche Bahn on the way from Interlaken to Berlin with two BLS Re 465 . The power end of the ICE was badly damaged, the engine driver of the ICE and seven passengers were slightly injured.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ursula Maurer, Daniel Wolf: Thun . In: Society for Swiss Art History (Hrsg.): Inventory of the newer Swiss architecture . tape 9 . Cities of Sion, Solothurn, Stans, Thun, Vevey. Orell Füssli, 2003, p. 323 ( e-periodica.ch ).
  2. ↑ a b c Ursula Maurer, Daniel Wolf: Thun . In: Society for Swiss Art History (Hrsg.): Inventory of the newer Swiss architecture . tape 9 . Cities of Sion, Solothurn, Stans, Thun, Vevey. Orell Füssli, 2003, p. 324 ( e-periodica.ch ).
  3. ^ Lötschberglinie Bern - Brig. In: schienenverkehr-schweiz.ch. Retrieved April 30, 2011 .
  4. ↑ http://thunensis.braindesign.ch/index.php?option=com_ponygallery&Itemid=26&func=detail&id=315 (link not available)
  5. ↑ http://www.loetschberger.ch/zug---strecke/geschichte/bern-thun-spiez
  6. ↑ Ursula Maurer, Daniel Wolf: Thun . In: Society for Swiss Art History (Hrsg.): Inventory of the newer Swiss architecture . tape 9 . Cities of Sion, Solothurn, Stans, Thun, Vevey. Orell Füssli, 2003, p. 325 ( e-periodica.ch ).
  7. ↑ a b Chronicle ( Memento from May 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ^ Railway line Bern - Belp - Thun. In: schienenverkehr-schweiz.ch. Retrieved April 30, 2011 .
  9. ↑ Ursula Maurer, Daniel Wolf: Thun . In: Society for Swiss Art History (Hrsg.): Inventory of the newer Swiss architecture . tape 9 . Cities of Sion, Solothurn, Stans, Thun, Vevey. Orell Füssli, 2003, p. 328 ( e-periodica.ch ).
  10. ↑ http://www.bls.ch/d/schifffahrt/wissen-geschichte.php
  11. ↑ General plan ( Memento from September 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ Route plan ( Memento from August 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ^ Thun train station: shops. In: sbb.ch. Retrieved October 4, 2015 .
  14. ^ ICE accident in Thun. Guardian angel on board. In: focus.de. April 28, 2006, accessed April 30, 2011 .