Jura foot railway line

Jura Foot Railway Line

Legend To Zurich To Basel 39.2 Olten(396 m MSL) To Lucerne Aare bridge at Olten Hammer135 m 40.6 Olten Hammer403m MSL 43.0 Wangen bei Olten417 m MSL 45.3 Hägendorf427m MSL 49.1 Egerkingen435 m MSL 51.4 Oberbuchsiten442 m MSL Balsthal (OeBB) Thalbrücke Klus 56.6 Oensingen462 m MSL 58.8 Niederbipp468 m MSL ASm to Langenthal and Melchnau Aarebrücke Wangen96 m 64.3 Wangen an der Aare422 m MSL 67.6 Deitingen429 m MSL To Bern 70.3 Luterbach-Attisholz429 m MSL 73.8 Solothurn431 m MSL RBS to Bern To Burgdorf Closed line to Lyss Aare bridge at Solothurn104 m 74.7 Solothurn West432 m MSL BLS to Moutier 77.6 Bellach429 m MSL 80.6 Selzach438 m MSL 82.8 Bettlach440 m MSL 85.3 Grenchen Süd440 m MSL 88.0 Jura line to Basel 88.0 Lengnau BE439 m MSL 90.2 Pieterlen435 m MSL 95.8 Biel Mett443 m MSL 98.0 To Bern ASm to Ins 99.4 104.5 Biel/Bienne437 m MSL To La Chaux-de-Fonds Vingelz Tunnel2,432 m 99.8 Tüscherz434 m MSL 96.0 Twann433 m MSL 94.0 Ligerz434 m MSL 90.0 La Neuveville433 m MSL 87.7 Le Landeron437 m MSL 85.5 Cressier436 m MSL 83.6 Cornaux435 m MSL St-Blaise Tunnel155 m 85.5 Saint-Blaise SFR464 m MSL BLS To Bern 75.3 Neuchâtel479 m MSL 73.6 To Le Locle and Besancon Route-de-France Tunnel58 m 72.3 Neuchâtel-Serrières437 m MSL 70.3 Auvernier492 m MSL To Pontarlier 67.6 Colombier NE490 m MSL 66.3 Boudry491 m MSL 62.3 Bevaix489 m MSL 58.1 Gorgier-St-Aubin451 m MSL Sauges Tunnel2,252 m 54.8 Vaumarcus447 m MSL Fin-de-Lance Tunnel286 m Raise Tunnel1245 m 50.7 Concise435 m MSL 47.5 Onnens-Bonvillars435 m MSL 42.7 Grandson437 m MSL La Thièle bridge at Yverdon79 m YSteC to Sainte Croix 39.1 Yverdon-les-Bains434 m MSL To Payerne 32.7 Épendes440 m MSL 29.6 Essert-Pittet438 m MSL OC to Orbe 27.4 Chavornay447 m MSL 24.9 Bavois442 m MSL Mormont Tunnel north182 m Mormont Tunnel south302 m Industrial siding 21.4 Éclépens455 m MSL 19.3 To Vallorbe and Dijon 19.3 Daillens445 m MSL 19.0 Swiss Post depot 19.0 14.4 Cossonay428 m MSL 11.0 Vufflens-la-Ville406 m MSL 10.0 Industrial siding 6.9 14.9 Bussigny407 m MSL Poimboeuf bridgeright/left: 64/71 m Poudrière bridge III216 m 13.2 7.3 LécheiresService station Larges-Pièces bridge106 m 4.5 Renens416 m MSL 0.0 Lausanne447 m MSL To Bern and Brig 8.3 Denges-Échandens397 m MSL 10.1 Lonay-Préverenges388 m MSL 11.2 Morges-St-Jean380 m MSL 12.5 Morges381 m MSL BAM line to Apples 14.7 Tolochenaz392 m MSL 16.9 St-Prex395 m MSL 19.3 Etoy406 m MSL Aubonne bridge130 m Former interurban tram AAG 21.5 Allaman422 m MSL 24.4 Perroy 26.7 Rolle402 m MSL Former interurban tram RG 29.7 Gilly-Bursinel 33.8 Gland415 m MSL 37.0 Prangins 38.5 Nyon381 m MSL NStCM line to St-Cergue 41.9 Crans-près-Céligny 43.4 Céligny 44.8 Founex 47.0 Coppet394 m MSL 48.2 Tannay392 m MSL 49.5 Mies394 m MSL 51.1 Pont-Céard393 m MSL 52.0 Versoix388 m MSL 53.8 Creux-de-Genthod386 m MSL 54.7 Genthod-Bellevue384 m MSL 55.8 Les Tuileries389 m MSL 56.6 Chambésy390 m MSL 56.6 Genève-Sécheron390 m MSL 60.3 Genève-Cornavin392 m MSL Genève-Aéroport To Lancy - Pont-Rouge and Annemasse Cointrin Template:BSbis Vernier-Meyrin Zimeysa Satigny Russin La Plaine Swiss/French border To Lyon (F)

The Jura foot railway line (French: ligne du Pied-du-Jura, German: Jurafusslinie) or Jura south foot line in Switzerland 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 electrified at 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 connecting 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. Ein Jahrhundert Schweizer Bahnen (A century of Swiss railways) 1847–1947 (in German) I. Frauenfeld: Verlag Huber & Co. AG. 1947. pp. 79–80.
2. Wägli, Hans G. (1980). Schienennetz Schweiz (Swiss rail network) (in German). Bern: Swiss Federal Railways.
3. 3 x 50 Jahre - Schweizer Eisenbahnen in Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft (3 x 50 years: Swiss railways in the past, present and future) (in German). Basel: Pharos-Verlag. 1997. pp. 71–73.