Jura foot railway line

[v · d · e]Jura Foot Railway Line

Legend To Zurich To Basel 39.2 Olten (396 m MSL) To Lucerne Aare bridge at Olten Hammer 135 m 40.6 Olten Hammer 403m MSL 43.0 Wangen bei Olten 417 m MSL 45.3 Hägendorf 427m MSL 49.1 Egerkingen 435 m MSL 51.4 Oberbuchsiten 442 m MSL Balsthal (OeBB) Thalbrücke Klus 56.6 Oensingen 462 m MSL 58.8 Niederbipp 468 m MSL ASm to Langenthal and Melchnau Aarebrücke Wangen 96 m 64.3 Wangen an der Aare 422 m MSL 67.6 Deitingen 429 m MSL To Bern 70.3 Luterbach-Attisholz 429 m MSL 73.8 Solothurn 431 m MSL RBS to Bern To Burgdorf Closed line to Lyss Aare bridge at Solothurn 104 m 74.7 Solothurn West 432 m MSL BLS to Moutier 77.6 Bellach 429 m MSL 80.6 Selzach 438 m MSL 82.8 Bettlach 440 m MSL 85.3 Grenchen Süd 440 m MSL 88.0 Jura line to Basel 88.0 Lengnau BE 439 m MSL 90.2 Pieterlen 435 m MSL 95.8 Biel Mett 443 m MSL 98.0 To Bern ASm to Ins 99.4 104.5 Biel/Bienne 437 m MSL To La Chaux-de-Fonds Vingelz Tunnel 2,432 m 99.8 Tüscherz 434 m MSL 96.0 Twann 433 m MSL 94.0 Ligerz 434 m MSL 90.0 La Neuveville 433 m MSL 87.7 Le Landeron 437 m MSL 85.5 Cressier 436 m MSL 83.6 Cornaux 435 m MSL St-Blaise Tunnel 155 m 85.5 Saint-Blaise SFR 464 m MSL BLS To Bern 75.3 Neuchâtel 479 m MSL 73.6 To Le Locle Route-de-France Tunnel 58 m 72.3 Neuchâtel-Serrières 437 m MSL 70.3 Auvernier 492 m MSL To Pontarlier 67.6 Colombier NE 490 m MSL 66.3 Boudry 491 m MSL 62.3 Bevaix 489 m MSL 58.1 Gorgier-St-Aubin 451 m MSL Sauges Tunnel 2,252 m 54.8 Vaumarcus 447 m MSL Fin-de-Lance Tunnel 286 m Raise Tunnel 1245 m 50.7 Concise 435 m MSL 47.5 Onnens-Bonvillars 435 m MSL 42.7 Grandson 437 m MSL La Thièle bridge at Yverdon 79 m To Sainte Croix 39.1 Yverdon-les-Bains 434 m MSL To Payerne 32.7 Ependes 440 m MSL 29.6 Essert-Pittet 438 m MSL OC to Orbe 27.4 Chavornay 447 m MSL 24.9 Bavois 442 m MSL Mormont Tunnel north 182 m Mormont Tunnel south 302 m Industrial siding 21.4 Eclépens 455 m MSL 19.3 To Vallorbe 19.3 Daillens 445 m MSL 19.0 Swiss Post depot 19.0 14.4 Cossonay 428 m MSL 11.0 Vufflens-la-Ville 406 m MSL 10.0 Industrial siding 6.9 14.9 Bussigny 407 m MSL Poimboeuf bridge right/left: 64/71 m Poudrière bridge III 216 m 13.2 7.3 Lécheires Service station Larges-Pièces bridge 106 m 4.5 Renens 416 m MSL 0.0 Lausanne 447 m MSL To Bern and Brig 8.3 Denges-Echandens 397 m MSL 10.1 Lonay-Préverenges 388 m MSL 11.2 Morges-St-Jean 380 m MSL 12.5 Morges 381 m MSL BAM line to Apples 14.7 Tolochenaz 392 m MSL 16.9 St-Prex 395 m MSL 19.3 Etoy 406 m MSL Aubonne bridge 130 m Former interurban tram AAG 21.5 Allaman 422 m MSL 24.4 Perroy 26.7 Rolle 402 m MSL Former interurban tram RG 29.7 Gilly-Bursinel 33.8 Gland 415 m MSL 37.0 Prangins 38.5 Nyon 381 m MSL NStCM line to St-Cergue 41.9 Crans-près-Céligny 43.4 Céligny 44.8 Founex 47.0 Coppet 394 m MSL 48.2 Tannay 392 m MSL 49.5 Mies 394 m MSL 51.1 Pont-Céard 393 m MSL 52.0 Versoix 388 m MSL 53.8 Creux-de-Genthod 386 m MSL 54.7 Genthod-Bellevue 384 m MSL 55.8 Les Tuileries 389 m MSL 56.6 Chambésy 390 m MSL 56.6 Genève-Sécheron 390 m MSL 60.3 Genève-Cornavin 392 m MSL Genève-Aéroport To Lancy - Pont-Rouge and la Praille Cointrin Vernier-Meyrin Zimeysa Satigny Russin La Plaine Swiss/French border To Bellegarde (F)

The Jura foot line (German: Jurafusslinie) or Jura south foot line (German: Jurasüdfusslinie), also called the Swiss railway line, runs from Olten along the foot of the southern Jura range through Solothurn, Grenchen, Biel/Bienne, Neuchâtel Yverdon-les-Bains and Morges to Geneva. It is one of two routes used by intercity trains between Geneva and Zürich. The other is the Midland line (German: Mittellandlinie) which connects Olten via Langenthal, Burgdorf, Bern, Fribourg, Lausanne to Morges. The line was built by five railway companies, which after several mergers were absorbed into the Swiss Federal Railways in 1903.

The line is electified as 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC and is two track almost throughout.

History

The Jura foot line was built in several stages. The oldest part are the sections opened by the West Switzerland Company (French: Compagnie de l'Ouest-Suisse, OS) in May 1855 from Yverdon-les-Bains to Bussigny-près-Lausanne and in July 1855 from Bussigny to Morges via Renens. On 5 May 1856, the company opened two new sections, Renens to Lausanne and the connecing curve from Morges to Bussigny. The OS opened a line from Morges to Coppet on 14 April 1858 and a line from Coppet to Versoix on the following 21 April. On 25 June 1858 the OS connected with Geneva with the opening of the Versoix–Geneva route of the Geneva–Versoix Railway (French: Chemin de fer Genève–Versoix, GM). In 1859 it opened the section from Yverdon to Vaumarcus.^[1][2] On 7 November 1859 the Franco–Swiss Company (French: Compagnie Franco-Suisse, LFB) opened an extension from Vaumarcus to the village of Frienisberg, near Le Landeron on Lake Biel. A temporary station was established at a pier in Frienisberg for a link by boat across Lake Biel to a station at Nidau near Biel built by the Swiss Central Railway (German: Schweizerische Centralbahn, SCB).^[1][2][3]

From the other direction in 1857 the SCB opened the line from Olten via Herzogenbuchsee to Solothurn and along the current route to Biel south of Solothurn. This route avoided having to cross the Aare river between Olten and Solothurn, but is longer than the route opened in 1876. In 1858 the SCB built a short line from Biel station to Nidau on Lake Biel, from where a connection by ship over Lake Biel was opened in 1859 to the temporary station at Frienisberg. The gap along the northern shore of Lake Biel from Biel to Landeron was closed on 3 December 1860 by the Swiss East–West Railway (German: Schweizerische Ostwestbahn, OWB). As a result the short line from Biel to Nidau closed on 10 December 1860. It was now possible for the first time to travel from the east of Switzerland at St. Margrethen to its west at Geneva by train, although the different railway companies involved meant that several changes of train were necessary.

The last section of the Jura foot line to be completed was the section from Olten to Solothurn via Oensingen opened on 4 December 1876 by the SCB, also called the Gäu railway (German: Gäubahn). This was originally planned as part of the Swiss National Railway's proposed line from Lake Constance to Lake Geneva. The line from Herzogenbuchsee to Solothurn became a local railway after it was bypassed by the Gäu railway. As part of Rail 2000, the line and its stations at Derendingen, Subingen, Etziken and Inkwil were closed in 1992 and most of it was rebuilt as a connecting line without stations for high-speed passenger trains from Solothurn to the Mattstetten–Rothrist new line, connecting at a junction at Wanzwil and opened on 12 December 2004. Under the Rail 2000 program, a windy single-track section along the shore of Lake Neuchâtel between Gorgier-St-Aubin and Concise was replaced by a double track section mostly in tunnel, which was opened in 2000.

Pictures

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  ICN above Lake Neuchâtel, near Vaumarcus

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  ICN near Essert-Pittet

References

1. ^ ^{a b} (in German) Ein Jahrhundert Schweizer Bahnen (A century of Swiss railways) 1847–1947. I. Frauenfeld: Verlag Huber & Co. AG. 1947. pp. 79–80. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Wägli, Hans G. (1980) (in German). Schienennetz Schweiz (Swiss rail network). Bern: Swiss Federal Railways. 
3. ^ (in German) 3 x 50 Jahre - Schweizer Eisenbahnen in Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft (3 x 50 years: Swiss railways in the past, present and future). Basel: Pharos-Verlag. 1997. pp. 71–73.