Gürbetalbahn

Gürbetalbahn
Shuttle train with RBDe 565 and intermediate car Jumbo in the Gürbetal.
Timetable field :	303 (previously 298)
Route length:	34.35 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	15 kV 16.7 Hz  ~
Maximum slope :	22  ‰
Bern – Belp – Thun
Legend from Thun - Münsingen , Langnau and Olten 0.12 Bern 540  m above sea level M. S 1 S 2 S 3 S 31 S 4 S 5 S 6 S 44 S 51 S 52 Donnerbühl (401 m) 2.18 Bern Weyermannshaus Spw. 551  m above sea level M. to Lausanne S 1 S 2 2.54 Holligen 551  m above sea level M. 2.54 BLS - BN to Kerzers - Neuchâtel S 5 S 51 S 52 3.12 Bern Europaplatz 546  m above sea level M. 3.52 Bern Fischermätteli 551  m above sea level M. 3.52 BLS - BSB to Schwarzenburg S 6 5.09 Bern Weissenbühl 550  m above sea level M. 6.57 Wabern near Bern 560  m above sea level M. 8.77 Kehrsatz North 567  m above sea level M. State road (40 m) 9.67 Sweeping 570  m above sea level M. 10.87 Falcon house 551  m above sea level M. 11.92 Belp Steinbach 526  m above sea level M. 12.70 Belp end point S 3 S 31 523  m above sea level M. 16.13 Toff 528  m above sea level M. 18.47 Kaufdorf 535  m above sea level M. 21.34 Thurnen 550  m above sea level M. 24.20 Burgistein 567  m above sea level M. 25.72 Juicy 578  m above sea level M. 26.56 Culminating point 588  m above sea level M. 29.30 Uetendorf 554  m above sea level M. 30.99 Uetendorf Allmend 555  m above sea level M. 08/32 Lerchenfeld (until December 2006) 557  m above sea level M. SBB from Bern - Münsingen S 1 and BLS - BTB from Burgdorf - Konolfingen 34.47 Thun end point S 1 S 4 S 44 560  m above sea level M. BLS - TSB to Spiez - Interlaken

The Gürbetalbahn ( GTB ) is a former railway company in Switzerland . It was founded for the construction and operation of the railway line from Bern via Belp to Thun , which was gradually opened from August 14, 1901 . The name Gürbetalbahn for the railway line through the Gürbetal is still in use today.

history

Share for 500 francs in the Gürbethal Railway from September 26, 1902

The opening of the first section of the Gürbetalbahn between Bern Weissenbühl and Burgistein-Wattenwil took place on August 14, 1901, the section from today's Holligen service station to Bern Weissenbühl followed on November 9 of the same year. Around a year later, on November 1, 1902, the section from Burgistein-Wattenwil (now Burgistein) to Thun was finally opened.

From August 16, 1920, the line was operated electrically - by decree of the Bern government. These railways were therefore referred to as “decree railways” and the Ce 4/6 locomotives procured for electrification as “decree mills”.

The railway company merged on January 1, 1944 with the Bern-Schwarzenburg-Bahn (BSB) - also a decree railway - to form the Gürbetal-Bern-Schwarzenburg-Bahn (GBS).

The GTB as well as the BSB and then the GBS were part of the BLS group under the leadership of the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon-Bahn (BLS) and until 1912 the Thunerseebahn (TSB). The four group companies BLS, GBS, SEZ and BN merged in 1997 to form BLS Lötschbergbahn , which in turn merged with Regionalverkehr Mittelland AG (RM) to form BLS AG in 2006 . The infrastructure has belonged to BLS Netz AG since 2009 .

Rolling stock

BLS MUTZ double-decker multiple unit in the Belp station .

The vehicle fleet was always integrated into the operating community of the TSB and subsequently the BLS (and their numbering scheme). Within this operating community, the vehicles were often used on other routes as required. Care was only taken to ensure that each company owned approximately as many vehicles as were required to operate their route. In the car park of a Gürbetalbahn was Ce 4.6 - locomotive that at the 1995 Club del San Gottardo passed.

Accidents on the belt line

On May 2, 1923, a passenger train derailed in Wabern due to a point set too early. The accident left three dead and 13 injured.

On November 1, 1999, a young woman and a toddler were killed in a collision between two Bern S-Bahn trains at the Bern Weissenbühl station. 42 people were injured, some seriously. A traveling to Belp NPZ the SBB disobeyed the Gruppenausfahrsignal , drove off too early and bounced into the middle cars of the oncoming express train of the BLS (BLS). After the accident, the BLS decided to equip 200 signals with the ZUB train protection system , which prevents starting against closed signals.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bern Chronicle: from November 1, 1922 to October 31, 1923. (PDF 18.6 MB) Neues Berner Taschenbuch, Volume 29 (1923), p. 292 , accessed on November 21, 2013 . 
2. ^ Walter von Andrian: The collision of two S-Bahn trains in Bern Weissenbühl . In: Swiss Railway Review . No. 12/1999 . Minirex, ISSN  1022-7113 , p. 554 .