Langenthal – Melchnau railway line

Langenthal – Melchnau
Timetable field :	414
Route length:	12.14 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system :	1200 volts  =
Maximum slope :	45  ‰
Legend 0.00 Langenthal 472  m above sea level M. 1.10 Langenthal gasworks 465  m above sea level M. to Niederbipp 2.70 Mumenthal 461  m above sea level M. Railway line Olten – Bern 3.18 Kaltenherberg 454  m above sea level M. 4.44 Schmitten 456  m above sea level M. 5.04 Roggwil village 452  m above sea level M. 5.90 Buchägerten 452  m above sea level M. 6.47 St. Urban 447  m above sea level M. 6.98 St. Urban brick factory 450  m above sea level M. Sängi 9.28 Undercutting wood 492  m above sea level M. Gjuch 12.14 Melchnau 524  m above sea level M.

Stadler STAR articulated multiple unit Be 4/8 112 Venus between St. Urban and St. Urban Ziegelei.

The Langenthal – Melchnau line is a meter- gauge narrow - gauge railway from Langenthal to St. Urban ; originally it led to Melchnau . The route runs through the Swiss cantons of Bern and Lucerne and is now operated on a mobile basis by the Aare Seeland .

history

Construction work began on December 6, 1915, but not from Langenthal, but from the Langenthal gasworks connection point to the Langenthal – Oensingen line of the Langenthal-Jura Railway , abbreviated LJB. This was opened on October 26, 1912. Both the Langental-Melchnau-Bahn and the Langenthal-Jura-Bahn ran on this short section. The Langenthal – St. Urban – Melchnau was opened continuously on October 6, 1917 by what was then the Langenthal-Melchnau Railway , LMB for short, and operated electrically from the start.

→ Main article : Langenthal-Melchnau Railway

Since the railway line as well as the vehicle fleet of the Langenthal-Melchnau-Bahn corresponded to the standard components of the Langenthal-Jura-Bahn, the corresponding vehicle fleet could be used freely. Roller bolsters were also used for freight transport from the start . This made it possible to transport goods to standard gauge without laborious reloading.

The management as well as the operational management was from the beginning with the Langenthal-Jura-Bahn. As a result of mergers and the company's name change, the railway line was subsequently operated by the following companies: Oberaargau-Jura-Bahnen , OJB for short; this company was created in 1958 through the merger of the Langenthal-Jura-Bahn with the Langental-Melchnau-Bahn. In 1990 the company was renamed Regionalverkehr Oberaargau , or RVO for short. This in turn merged in 1999 with the Biel-Täuffelen-Ins-Bahn , BTI abbreviated, and Oberaargauischen automotive courses , OAK abbreviated, for carriers of public transport Aare Seeland mobil asm abbreviated. Aare Seeland mobil has owned and operated the route since 1999. Between Langenthal and St. Urban Ziegelei there is passenger traffic every half hour.

Partial conversion to bus operation

Under the then Oberaargau-Jura-Bahnen, passenger traffic between St. Urban in the canton of Lucerne and Melchnau in the canton of Bern was switched to bus operation on May 22, 1982 . A new bus line from Roggwil via St. Urban now opened up Melchnau via Untersteckholz , on the other hand, another new bus line opened up Langenthal with Melchnau directly via Obersteckholz , i.e. without a time-consuming detour via Roggwil and St. Urban.

The bus line from Roggwil via St. Urban and Untersteckholz to Melchnau was only operated for a short time. As a result, Untersteckholz was cut off from public transport. On May 28, 1989, the short section from St. Urban to St. Urban Ziegelei was reactivated for passenger traffic.

Closure of the St. Urban – Melchnau section

The station building in Melchnau including the remise and the bus stop building in Untersteckholz have meanwhile been sold to private individuals. The only major freight customer on the St. Urban – Melchnau section was the Landi branch in Melchnau, before the line was finally closed in 2012.

The St. Urban-Melchnau section was dismantled from 2015 to 2016. The dismantling was financed through the sale of the route and demolition material. The largest buyer in Melchnau was the municipality of Melchnau , which will swap the acquired land as real replacement for the future flood protection project.

Planned museum railway

Starting in 1999, the Friends of Swiss Narrow Gauge Railways, FSS for short, revised the Ce 2/2 14 motor vehicle originally procured by the Langenthal-Melchnau Railway in the Melchnau depot with the aim of operating it on a future St. Urban – Melchnau museum railway. Due to the slow progress of the revision work, due to the lack of financial and human resources of the association, Aare-Seeland terminated the association's lease for the remise in Melchnau. The shutdown also means that the museum railway project is no longer applicable.

Web links

Commons : Langenthal – Melchnau railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Aare Seeland mobile

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Paul Schneeberger: The branch line: A search for traces in Oberaargau In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of January 7, 2017
2. ↑ www.uvek.admin.ch, Federal Department for the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication, Article Federal Council cancels concession for railway line to Melchnau . Retrieved September 10, 2012.
3. ↑ ASM transports over 6 million passengers. In: bernerzeitung.ch/. Retrieved June 28, 2016 . 
4. ↑ The course is set for a consensus. Retrieved June 28, 2016 .