Railway line Olten – Bern

Olten – Bern
Timetable field :	450
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	15 kV 16 2/3 Hz  ~
Legend from Basel and from Aarau – Zurich 39.3 Olten to Solothurn Aarburg bypass (Bornlinie) Borntunnel 809 m Aarburg tunnel 87 m 43.0 Aarburg - Oftringen from / to Lucerne 46.2 Rothrist New Mattstetten – Rothrist line 49.1 Rank 52.2 Murgenthal New Mattstetten – Rothrist line 54.5 Roggwil - Wynau from Melchnau from Niederbipp 59.2 Langenthal to Huttwil old route; today partly siding New Mattstetten – Rothrist line Thunstetten Tunnel 887 m 62.5 Bützberg from Solothurn 66.8 Herzogenbuchsee 72.3 Riedtwil 76.9 Wynigen Burgdorf tunnel 510 m Emme 55 m 83.4 Burgdorf to Thun / Langnau to Solothurn 86.5 Lyssach 87.2 Sandacher 89.7 Hindelbank 91.7 Hardfeld junction New Mattstetten – Rothrist line 92.0 13.0 Mattstetten Ost junction Gray wood tunnel 6,295 m 93.2 Mattstetten 94.9 Schönbühl from Biel from Solothurn 98.8 Zollikofen after Worblaufen Worb Dorf – Worblaufen railway line 101.3 4.8 Abzw. Lochligut to Thun and Lucerne Bern Wankdorf from Thun / Lucerne 103.3 Bern Wylerfeld from Thun Lorraine Viaduct 1,080 m from Worblaufen – Zollikofen / Worb 106.1 Bern to Thun , to Schwarzenburg , to Lausanne and Kerzers – Neuchâtel

The Olten – Bern line is an electrified main line in Switzerland . It is part of the Zurich - Geneva main line .

history

While the core of its planned route network, the Hauenstein route from Basel to Olten, was still under construction, the Swiss Central Railway ( SCB ) was already starting to build the routes from Olten. On June 9, 1856, the Olten – Aarburg section was opened as part of the connection from Olten to Lucerne .

Bern railway station from 1860

From Aarburg, the first section of the route to Bern was opened on March 16, 1857, the section to Herzogenbuchsee . In Herzogenbuchsee , the line to Solothurn, opened by the SCB in 1857, follows . The extension of the Olten line from Herzogenbuchsee to Bern was put into operation on June 16, 1857. The route ended before the gates of the city in the Wylerfeld. Only with the construction of the "Red Bridge" could the route be extended to the location on the other side of the Aare . At first, however, the new station was also a temporary solution, before the Bern station could be put into operation as a terminus on May 1, 1860 .

On January 1, 1890, the Niederwil station was renamed Rothrist like the municipality .

When the SCB was nationalized in 1902, the Olten – Bern line also became part of the Swiss Federal Railways .

Over time, the "Red Bridge" in Bern was no longer able to cope with the increased loads and was replaced in 1941 by the Lorraine Viaduct .

The Bornlinie was built to relieve the Olten train station and the Olten – Aarburg line, which also had to commence traffic in the direction of Lucerne . This opened on April 2, 1981. It connects the train stations in Olten and Rothrist and bypasses the train station in Aarburg-Oftringen. The Bornlinie is usually only used by long-distance traffic. The regional trains still use the old route via Aarburg.

The Bützberg station was canceled in the spring of 1983 when the timetable changed. From this point on, the village was developed with a bus route between Herzogenbuchsee and Langenthal.

The gray wood tunnel was opened in 1995. This bypasses the Zollikofen train station.

The new Mattstetten – Rothrist (NBS) line opened in 2004 required some adjustments. While the continuation to the NBS was already planned for the construction of the Grauholz tunnel, it required a number of adjustments to the track systems on the Rothrist side. A short single-lane tunnel was also built, which serves as an underpass under the Born line on the route to Aarburg. The existing route between Roggwil and Langenthal was also stretched in the Wassermatte and a short stretch laid parallel to the NBS. The route between Langenthal and Herzogenbuchsee was also laid parallel to the NBS. Here the route now leads through the Thunstetten Tunnel. The old route over Bützberg was shut down and broken off.

Accidents

On February 12, 1980, a regional train coming from Biel drove between Bern Wylerfeld and Bern Löchligut in a single locomotive. Both drivers were killed and 18 passengers injured.

On October 5, 1994, a Brig – Basel express train ran onto a rail tractor at Herzogenbuchsee station . The tractor driver was taken to hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

business

Olten train station

As part of the connection from Basel and Zurich to Lausanne-Geneva or Thun (-Interlaken, Lötschberg), the Olten – Bern railway is an important part of the Swiss railway network. It has therefore always served long-distance passenger and freight transport as well as local transport.

In 1981 was the Born line a first discharge path for the section Olten- Rothrist opened; with the gray wood line 1995 another for the Mattstetten –Bern section . In 2004 the Born and Grauholz lines were connected by the new Mattstetten – Rothrist line. This means that another route is available parallel to the old line. Since this new line is designed for 200 kilometers per hour, the travel time is shortened by 13 minutes compared to that on the main line. The main line continues to be used for long-distance freight transport and local transport.

Freight transport

For a long time, goods in transit from Basel and Zurich in the direction of western Switzerland and Löschberg were almost exclusively routed via the Gäubahn and thus via Biel for capacity reasons . Combined transport trains that transport vehicles with a corner height of four meters (Simplon-Inter-Modal) must continue to run via Biel, as only this route has been expanded for these trains.

passenger traffic

InterRegio or RegioExpress passenger trains run every half hour on the Olten – Bern route . The InterRegios stop in Langenthal , Herzogenbuchsee and Burgdorf , the RegioExpresse make an additional stop in Wynigen every hour . From Olten to Langenthal, the route is part of the S23 line. From Burgdorf to Bern, the route is used by the S4 and S44 lines of the Bern S-Bahn .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Georg Boner and Robert Oehler Rothrist my village Published by the Rothrist community in 1959 (no ISBN) Page 150
2. ↑ Railway Amateur 2/83 page 80
3. ↑ Marcel Manhart: List of the most serious rail accidents in Switzerland up to May 2006 from SBB Historic. Retrieved October 26, 2013 . 
4. ↑ Collision in Herzogenbuchsee . In: Swiss Railway Review . No. 11/1994 . Minirex, ISSN  1022-7113 , p. 503 .