Huttwil-Wolhusen Railway

Huttwil – Wolhusen
HWB train with LHB locomotive No. 2 in Wolhusen
Timetable field :	440
Route length:	25.23 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	15 kV 16.7 Hz  ~
Maximum slope :	25  ‰
Legend BLS (ex LHB ) from Langenthal , starting point S 7 ETB (ex RSHB ) from Ramsei 0.00 Huttwil 638  m above sea level M. ex VHB ( HEB ) to Eriswil 1.80 Vertex 663  m above sea level M. 3.94 Gondiswil repealed in 2009 620  m above sea level M. 3.96 Canton border Bern - Lucerne 5.72 Hüswil 613  m above sea level M. 7.60 Cell 588  m above sea level M. 08/11 Gettnau 545  m above sea level M. 12.21 Gettnau freight facility 535  m above sea level M. 14.66 Willisau starting point S 6 554  m above sea level M. 06/18 Daiwil repealed in 2004 577  m above sea level M. 19.57 Menznau West 586  m above sea level M. 20.59 Menznau 596  m above sea level M. 23.62 Wolhusen Weid 601  m above sea level M. SBB from (Bern–) Langnau S 6 25.23 Wolhusen wing S 6 , end point S 7 565  m above sea level M. SBB to Lucerne , end point S 6

The Huttwil-Wolhusen-Bahn (HWB) was a railway company in Switzerland based in Willisau . The normal-gauge line Huttwil - Wolhusen , opened on May 9, 1895, was operated by the Langenthal-Huttwil Railway (LHB). On January 1, 1944, the HWB merged into part of the United Huttwil-Bahnen (VHB), which is now part of BLS AG .

history

Train of the HWB with Ed 3/4 16 around 1920 in Menznau

The initiators of the Huttwil-Wolhusen-Bahn, mainly politicians from the Willisau office , saw their project in the 1870s as part of a transit axis that ran from Delle via Delémont , Balsthal , Langenthal , Huttwil, Wolhusen, Lucerne and France Stans should connect to the Gotthard Railway (GB) near Altdorf by the shortest route . This Jura-Gotthard Railway project did not materialize, however.

Shortly after the opening of the Langenthal-Huttwil Railway (LHB), a new initiative committee received the concession for the Huttwil – Wolhusen line on April 10, 1890. The main investor in the railway company founded on March 29, 1893 was the canton of Lucerne . The canton of Bern and various municipalities also took part in the railway. The HWB broadcast on 23/24. June 1894 with a contract for the operation and maintenance of their Huttwil – Wolhusen line of the LHB, so that the rolling stock of the two railway companies could be used continuously on the entire Langenthal –Wolhusen line. Construction work began in the summer of 1893. The opening, originally planned for March 1, 1895, was delayed and operations could not begin until May 9, 1895.

Railway accident in Willisau on March 20, 1923 with locomotive Ed 3/4 22 of the RSBH and second / third class car BC 6 of the HWB

The Eb 3/4 steam locomotive, which was taken over by the Bern-Neuchâtel railway in 1930 , was given number 4 at the HWB. However, it proved unsuitable and was scrapped in 1937. In 1936 a steam locomotive Ec 3/3 5, built as a box locomotive , was put into operation. This powerful machine, known as the "motor locomotive", was operated by one man and enabled very economical operation. After electrification, it came to the Sulzer company , where it was used as a works locomotive. Today it is owned by SBB Historic .

In order for the HWB to receive federal aid for electrification, it merged with the LHB and the Ramsei-Sumiswald-Huttwil-Bahn (RSHB) on January 1, 1944 to form the United Huttwil-Bahnen (VHB), which immediately became the Emmental-Burgdorf -Thun-Bahn (EBT) and the Solothurn-Münster-Bahn (SMB) formed a joint operation with the name EBT-Gruppe. On August 6, 1945, electrical operations could begin on the Huttwil – Hüswil section . Since December 7, 1945, the trains have been running electrically on the entire route to Wolhusen.

Accidents on the Huttwil – Wolhusen route

On March 20, 1923, a passenger train leaving Willisau in the direction of Wolhusen drove onto an industrial track because of incorrect switch positions, ran over the buffer stop and fell down the embankment. The engine driver was killed and nine passengers were injured.

On June 6, 2000, joined in Hüswil because of a wrong questions Soft RBDe 4/4 II - commuter train in a Schotterzug. The accident cost a railroad worker his life. The driver of the shuttle train and three other people were injured. The Hüswil station was only equipped with manual switches without signal-dependent routes . Thus, after the entry signal was opened, the points could still be switched.

business

Makies gravel train with BDe 576 057 and 056. The railcars are of the same design as the BDe 4/4 251 and 252 procured by VHB in 1966, but (in some cases) have a different front.

Since the 2013 timetable change, the Wolhusen – Huttwil route has been served hourly by three-part NINA trains . It is part of the S 6 of the Lucerne S-Bahn , which runs between Lucerne and Langenthal as part of a wing train. The other part of the train runs from Wolhusen to Langnau . On the Wolhusen – Willisau section, the timetable is compressed every half hour by the S 7 , which runs to Langenthal at peak times. The same rolling stock is used as on the S 6 .

Freight traffic still plays an important role. The Makies company transports gravel from Zell to the gravel works in Gettnau . For this purpose it had taken over four BDe 4/4 railcars from the Südostbahn (SOB), one of which served as a spare part donor. Since December 8, 2006, the Gettnau – Gettnau freight facility has been making operations easier. The double lane is part of the Gettnau train station.

swell

• Paul Schneeberger: How Willisau and the Lucerne hinterland were opened up by a railway . In: Swiss Railway Review . No. 5/1995 . Minirex, ISSN  1022-7113 , p. 195-209 .
• Hans G. Wägli: Swiss rail network and Swiss rail profile CH + . AS Verlag, Zurich 2010, ISBN 978-3-909111-74-9 .
• Huttwil-Wolhusen Railway. In: Via Storia, Center for Transport History. University of Bern, accessed on December 23, 2013 . 

References and comments

1. ↑ Lots of news on Emmental train and bus routes. BLS AG press release, December 3, 2009, accessed on December 23, 2013 . 
2. ^ Line 350 Wolhusen - Langenthal (S7): Changes in regional rail traffic as of December 12, 2004. (No longer available online.) Building, Environment and Economic Department of the Canton of Lucerne, January 31, 2004, p. 1 , archived from the original on December 6, 2004 ; Retrieved December 23, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Historical heritage, vehicles, steam traction. Ec 3/3 "HWB 5". (No longer available online.) SBB Historic website, archived from the original on October 26, 2013 ; Retrieved October 20, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ^ I. Report of the Federal Council to the Federal Assembly on pardon requests (summer session 1925). (PDF, 2.1 MB) May 1, 1925, p. 341 , accessed October 20, 2013 . 
5. ↑ Collision in Hüswil . In: Swiss Railway Review . No. 7/2000 . Minirex, ISSN  1022-7113 , p. 324 .
6. ^ Walter von Andrian: Modern operating regulations and manual switch stations . In: Swiss Railway Review . No. 10/2000 . Minirex, ISSN  1022-7113 , p. 476-478 .
7. ↑ Status: timetable year 2014
8. ^ S-Bahn Luzern West. BLS website, accessed on December 23, 2013 . 
9. ↑ Range of services. Rail transport. (No longer available online.) Internet site of Marti Betriebe Zell, archived from the original on December 25, 2013 ; Retrieved December 23, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.