Spiez-Erlenbach Railway
The Spiez-Erlenbach-Bahn ( SEB ) is a former Swiss railway company that ran through the Simmental from Spiez to Erlenbach in the Simmental . Today the line is part of the BLS AG network .
In 1893 the Thunerseebahn reached the town of Spiez and it was only natural to build a standard-gauge railway to the market town of Erlenbach to enable the lively cattle traffic in this valley to be connected to the European network. Four years later, on August 16, 1897, the first train steamed from Spiez to Erlenbach.
Originally it was planned to build a standard gauge connection from Lucerne via the Brünig , Interlaken and through the Simmental to Bulle , but with the construction of the Brünigbahn in narrow gauge the interest in this continuation of the line waned.
The continuation of the unprofitable line from Erlenbach to Zweisimmen was built by the Erlenbach-Zweisimmen Railway (EZB), which opened the line on October 31, 1902.
From Montreux the meter-gauge Montreux-Berner-Oberland-Bahn (MOB) reached Zweisimmen on July 6, 1905.
With the opening of the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon-Bahn (BLS) in 1913, the management of the SEB and the ECB was transferred to the BLS.
In 1920 electrical operation was introduced on the Spiez-Erlenbach-Bahn and the Erlenbach-Zweisimmen-Bahn , as well as on the BLS line Spiez – Interlaken – Bönigen .
On January 1, 1942, the two railways SEB and EZB merged to form the Spiez-Erlenbach-Zweisimmen-Bahn (SEZ).