Gäubahn (Switzerland)

Railway line Olten-Solothurn (Gäubahn)
Timetable field :	410
Route length:	34.35 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	15 kV 16 2/3 Hz  ~
Maximum slope :	13  ‰
Olten-Solothurn
Legend from Basel from Aarau 39.3 Olten 396  m above sea level M. to Bern via Aarburg and to Lucerne to Bern via Bornlinie Aare (135 m) 40.6 Olten Hammer 403  m above sea level M. 43.0 Wangen near Olten 417  m above sea level M. 45.3 Hägendorf 428  m above sea level M. 49.1 Egerkingen 435  m above sea level M. 51.4 Oberbuchsiten 442  m above sea level M. Langenthal-Jura Railway from Oensingen Schoolhouse (until 1928) from Balsthal 56.6 Oensingen 462  m above sea level M. 58.6 Niederbipp 468  m above sea level M. Three- rail track to Oberbipp to Langenthal ASm to Solothurn Aare (69 m) 64.3 Cheeks on the Aare 423  m above sea level M. 67.6 Deitingen 429  m above sea level M. 70.4 Luterbach - Attisholz 430  m above sea level M. Emme (80 m) from Herzogenbuchsee RBS from Bern 73.8 80.3 Solothurn 432  m above sea level M. ASm from Niederbipp to Biel / Bienne , Busswil and Burgdorf

The Gäubahn connects the Swiss cities of Solothurn and Olten in the canton of Solothurn and also runs through the canton of Bern in the middle section . It was built by the Swiss Central Railway (SCB) and opened on December 4, 1876. It got its name from the Solothurn district of Gäu , which it crosses.

Occasionally, at the same time opened railway Solothurn- is Busswil - ( Lyss ) to be counted, but this is inappropriate, since this route rather than extending the Broyelinie Palézieux is to be regarded -Lyss.

The Gäubahn has been owned by the Swiss Federal Railways since 1902 and is part of the Jura foot line .

history

The new line connected the second Neu-Solothurn station, opened in 1876, with the railway junction at Olten station , after only the indirect connection via Herzogenbuchsee had existed since 1857 . For this purpose, between Wangen an der Aare and Niederbipp, a height difference of a good 40 meters had to be overcome from the Aare valley to the Gäu through which the Dünnern flows, which made a winding route necessary. A route from Wangen an der Aare along the Aare towards Olten would have led to the old route coming from Herzogenbuchsee near Murgenthal and the villages in the Gäu and in the Thal district with the important iron industry still not have a railway line would have been developed.

The first concession for the construction of a railway line through the Gäu was granted to the SCB on November 13, 1845, but expired without construction having started. In November 1850, the Compagnie du chemin de fer de l'Ouest (Western Railway) received a concession to link the city of Solothurn on the left bank of the Aare with Olten and with Aarau on the right bank of the Aare by a railway line. The SCB, which was already planning another route, immediately entered into negotiations with the Westbahn. The Westbahn waived the concession on December 5, 1850, but only on the condition that the SCB had to build the Solothurn-Herzogenbuchsee line as a replacement at the request of the canton of Solothurn and within two years - if requested by the canton - also the Solothurn – Biel line in order to connect to their planned routes. As a result, the SCB spoke again with the Canton of Solothurn about possible routes. This led to the Solothurn concession for the construction of the Hauenstein line from Basel to Olten, the Olten-Herzogenbuchsee- Bern line and the Herzogenbuchsee-Solothurn-Biel railway line.

With a view to building the line, the intercantonal Gäu Railway Committee was formed in mid-1870 and initially wanted the railway to be built by the Swiss National Railway (SNB). This would have resulted in a route without a common course with the SCB. The cantons of Solothurn and Bern finally awarded the concession to the SCB, as the national railway had already failed with its project in the Broyetal . However, a clause had been inserted from the Solothurn side: The SCB should actually have built the Wasserfallenbahn and the Solothurn- Schönbühl railway. Although the railway company accepted these plans, it failed to meet its obligations in the construction of the other two lines, which led to lengthy legal proceedings.

According to the initial planning, the Gäubahn was to be looped around the city of Olten to the Olten train station at its eastern end point . As a result, like the Hauenstein line, it would have reached the station area from the north and the city would have received a second station in the northwest. But the SCB wanted to make operations easier (because the trains from Solothurn in the direction of Aarau would otherwise have had to turn in Olten) to bring them south to Olten. The SCB was able to implement this concept, but in return was obliged to build a road bridge over the Aare in front of the station building. The previously four-track station facility had to be expanded to accommodate additional train traffic on the Gäubahn line. This was done by building additional tracks northwest of the station building, on the former station square, giving the station its current island location .

The concessionaire had to build two other non-rail structures: an 18-foot (4.8-meter) wide bridge over the Aare between Flumenthal and Attisholz (this bridge became the property of the Canton of Solothurn) and a footbridge at the Gäubahn Bridge in Olten.

The new line was initially built with only one lane; however, the SCB had already acquired the land for a two-lane expansion. The total construction costs were initially estimated at 12 million. The cost estimate could not be kept, however, the final invoice showed 15 million francs in construction costs.

On December 23, 1927, electric train transport was introduced on the Gäu Railway.

The expansion to a double-lane line took place in the period from 1950 to 1996:

August 28, 1950: Oberbuchsiten - Oensingen

December 5, 1950: Egerkingen - Oberbuchsiten

May 20, 1951: Hägendorf - Egerkingen

October 20, 1951: Wangen near Olten - Hägendorf

May 14, 1952: Olten Hammer - Wangen near Olten

January 7, 1954: Luterbach-Attisholz - Solothurn

May 29, 1954: Deitingen - Luterbach-Attisholz

December 13, 1954: Wangen an der Aare - Deitingen

December 13, 1955: Niederbipp - Wangen on the Aare

June 1, 1996: Commissioning of the second Gäubahn bridge in Olten. (The old bridge was then renovated. This is why the Olten – Olten Hammer line was only really accessible in two lanes from mid-1997.)

The station Oensingen had since the opening of Oensingen-Balsthal-Bahn in 1899 a Keilbahnhof . From 1907 to 1928 and again since 2012, a narrow-gauge track runs from Niederbipp to Oensingen.

The Niederbipp Station is a touch station since 1907, since this year, the narrow- Langenthal-Jura railway was opened. The Solothurn-Niederbipp-Bahn has also ended here since 1918 . These two railways have both belonged to the Aare Seeland mobil since 1999 . A three-rail track leads from Niederbipp to Oberbipp due to the shunting traffic to the industrial area and tank farm near Oberbipp.

For the Gäubahn, the mileage starts in Basel . The network zero point in Olten was still in effect before the conversion from the linear measure of distance hours to kilometers in 1877. The zero point stone can be seen in Olten station at platform 12 as a memorial behind a protective screen.

Operational

classification

The Gäubahn line is listed in the Swiss course book under the timetable field 410.

Train traffic

An hourly InterCity 5 runs on the route with ICN multiple units from Lausanne to Zurich HB and on to St. Gallen, which stops in Solothurn, Oensingen and Olten. The InterCity 5, which also runs hourly between Geneva and Zurich HB, does not run between Solothurn and Olten via the Gäubahn, but via the upgraded Solothurn – Wanzwil line .

Regional trains continue to run every half hour (slightly limping 25/35). They stop at all stations. The hourly region is tied through to Biel, the half-hourly regions are partly tied through Solothurn West to Langendorf or Lommiswil , and on Sundays even to Oberdorf on the Solothurn – Moutier railway line .

There are many freight trains on the route, because it is the main axis of long-distance freight trains between the Limmattal marshalling yard and Lausanne Triage and, as the main access axis to the Lötschberg, it is also a SIM (Simplon-Inter-Modal) route. In addition, a number of industrial and logistics companies have settled in the Gäu, which have their own busy rail connection . In Härkingen, for example, Swiss Post operates both a parcel and letter post distribution center, which are connected to the other distribution centers by rail. The Hägendorf SBB rail technology center is located in Hägendorf, which emerged from the former superstructure workshop, which carries out a large part of its transports by rail.

Until the end of 2015, the route was served by the hourly IR Biel / Bienne - Konstanz with EW IV. Occasionally, ICN multiple units were also used.

Development of travel times

• Colludation trip 1876: fast return trip from Olten to Solothurn with only one stop; 65 minutes.
• Express train 1976: with only one stop (Oensingen); 24 minutes
• ICN 2008: with only one stop in Oensingen; 23 minutes (via the upgraded route, i.e. not via the Gäubahn, non-stop Olten-Solothurn 16 minutes)

literature

• Heinrich Kissling: Anniversary publication 125 Years of the Gäubahn, 1876–2001 . Luterbach 2001.
• Article by Paul Stäuble, 100 years of the Gäubahn , in SBB newsletter 1/1977, pages 12 + 13.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ SBB newsletter 1/1977 page 8
2. ↑ Zero point of the Olten railway ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ Information on the 2019 timetable period
4. ↑ Information on the 2019 timetable period