Jura foot railway line
Encyclopedia
The Jura foot line 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.
(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. 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).
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.
Olten
Olten is a town in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland and capital of the district of the same name.Olten's railway station is within 30 minutes of Zurich, Bern, Basel, and Lucerne by train, and is a rail hub of Switzerland.-History:...
along the foot of the southern Jura
Jura mountains
The Jura Mountains are a small mountain range located north of the Alps, separating the Rhine and Rhone rivers and forming part of the watershed of each...
range through Solothurn
Solothurn
The city of Solothurn is the capital of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. The city also comprises the only municipality of the district of the same name.-Pre-roman settlement:...
, Grenchen
Grenchen
Grenchen is a municipality in the district of Lebern in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.It is located at the foot of the Jura mountains between Solothurn and Biel. With over 16,000 inhabitants, it is one of the larger towns of the canton of Solothurn...
, Biel/Bienne
Biel/Bienne
Biel/Bienne is a city in the district of the Biel/Bienne administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.It is located on the language boundary and is throughout bilingual. Biel is the German name for the town, Bienne its French counterpart. The town is often referred to in both...
, Neuchâtel Yverdon-les-Bains
Yverdon-les-Bains
Yverdon-les-Bains is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district...
and Morges
Morges
Morges is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud, located in the district of Morges and is also the seat of the district.-History:...
to Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
. It is one of two routes used by intercity
Inter-city rail
Inter-city rail services are express passenger train services that cover longer distances than commuter or regional trains.There is no precise definition of inter-city rail. Its meaning may vary from country to country...
trains between Geneva and Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
. The other is the Midland line (German: Mittellandlinie) which connects Olten via Langenthal
Langenthal, Switzerland
Langenthal is a municipality in the district of Oberaargau in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2010 the municipality of Untersteckholz merged into the Langenthal....
, Burgdorf, Bern, Fribourg
Fribourg
Fribourg is the capital of the Swiss canton of Fribourg and the district of Sarine. It is located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss plateau, and is an important economic, administrative and educational center on the cultural border between German and French Switzerland...
, Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
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
Volt
The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...
16.7 Hz
Hertz
The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....
AC
AC power
Power in an electric circuit is the rate of flow of energy past a given point of the circuit. In alternating current circuits, energy storage elements such as inductance and capacitance may result in periodic reversals of the direction of energy flow...
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 CompanyWest Switzerland Company
The West Switzerland Company was a railway company in Switzerland, formed 1854 and absorbed into the Western Swiss Railway in 1872. The OS built a railway network in western Switzerland and connected with France via Geneva in 1858, although Switzerland's first railway was the French...
(French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
: Compagnie de l'Ouest-Suisse, OS) in May 1855 from Yverdon-les-Bains
Yverdon-les-Bains
Yverdon-les-Bains is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district...
to Bussigny-près-Lausanne
Bussigny-près-Lausanne
Bussigny-près-Lausanne is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud, located in the district of Ouest Lausannois.-Geography:Bussigny-près-Lausanne has an area, , of . Of this area, or 33.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 17.2% is forested...
and in July 1855 from Bussigny to Morges
Morges
Morges is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud, located in the district of Morges and is also the seat of the district.-History:...
via Renens
Renens
Renens is a municipality in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. It is located in the district of Ouest lausannois, and is a suburb of the city of Lausanne. It is the fourth largest city in the canton. It is considered a very multiethnic town, as more than 50% of the inhabitants are resident foreign...
. 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
Coppet
Coppet is a municipality in the district of Nyon in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.-History:Coppet is first mentioned in 1294 as Copetum. In 1347 it was mentioned as Copet.-Geography:...
on 14 April 1858 and a line from Coppet to Versoix
Versoix
Versoix is a municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland, which sits on the right bank of Lac Léman. It is the last town of the Canton of Geneva on the road northeast towards Lausanne, before the Canton of Vaud starts. It is a train stop on the SBB-CFF-FFS railway line running between...
on the following 21 April. On 25 June 1858 the OS connected with Geneva with the opening of the Versoix–Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
route of the Geneva–Versoix Railway
Geneva–Versoix Railway
The Geneva–Versoix Railway is a former Swiss railway company that existed officially for only six days in 1858....
(French: Chemin de fer Genève–Versoix, GM). In 1859 it opened the section from Yverdon to Vaumarcus. On 7 November 1859 the Franco–Swiss Company (French: Compagnie Franco-Suisse, LFB) opened an extension from Vaumarcus
Vaumarcus
Vaumarcus is a municipality in the district of Boudry in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.-History:Vaumarcus is first mentioned in 1227 as Valmarcuel....
to the village of Frienisberg, near Le Landeron
Le Landeron
Le Landeron is a municipality in the district of Neuchâtel in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel.-History:Le Landeron is first mentioned about 1209 as Landiron.-Prehistory:...
on Lake Biel
Lake Biel
Lake Biel or Lake Bienne is a lake in the west of Switzerland. Together with Lake Morat and Lake Neuchâtel, it is one of the three large lakes in the Jura region of Switzerland. It lies approximately at , at the language boundary between German & French speaking areas.The lake is 15 km long and up...
. A temporary station was established at a pier in Frienisberg for a link by boat across Lake Biel to a station at Nidau
Nidau
Nidau is a municipality in the Biel/Bienne administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.- Population :Nidau, located at the language boundary, although the official language is German, a high minority of French speakers live in the city, which has since long been offering them the...
near Biel built by the Swiss Central Railway
Swiss Central Railway
The Swiss Central Railway was a Swiss railway company from 1853 to 1902.In 2005 the name Centralbahn was revived for new railway company created by the merger of the Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn and the Brünigbahn...
(German: Schweizerische Centralbahn, SCB).
From the other direction in 1857 the SCB opened the line from Olten via Herzogenbuchsee
Herzogenbuchsee
Herzogenbuchsee is a municipality in the Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.The population is 6,646 , counting the villages in the Oberaargau. The traditional name was Buchsi.- History :...
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
Swiss East–West Railway
The Swiss East–West Railway was a former Swiss rail company, which planned to build a line to compete with the network of the Swiss Central Railway in central Switzerland on which construction commenced in 1857.Jakob Stämpfli, a federal politician, established the company to build a line between...
(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
St. Margrethen
St. Margrethen is a municipality in the Wahlkreis of Rheintal in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.-Geography:...
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
Oensingen
Oensingen is a municipality in the district of Gäu in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.-Geography:Oensingen has an area, , of . Of this area, or 39.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 37.2% is forested...
opened on 4 December 1876 by the SCB, also called the Gäu
Gäu (district)
Gäu District is one of the ten districts of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland, situated in the centre of the canton. It has a population of...
railway (German: Gäubahn). This was originally planned as part of the Swiss National Railway
Swiss National Railway
The Swiss National Railway was a railway company in Switzerland.The Swiss National Railway was created in 1875 from the merger of the two companies, the Winterthur–Zofingen Railway and the Zofingen–Singen–Kreuzlingen Railway...
's proposed line from Lake Constance
Lake Constance
Lake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...
to Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva or Lake Léman is a lake in Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe. 59.53 % of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland , and 40.47 % under France...
. The line from Herzogenbuchsee to Solothurn became a local railway after it was bypassed by the Gäu railway. As part of Rail 2000
Rail 2000
Rail 2000 is a large-scale project of the Swiss Federal Railways established in 1987 to improve the quality of the Swiss rail network. It includes measures to accelerate a number of existing connections and the modernisation of rolling stock...
, the line and its stations at Derendingen
Derendingen, Switzerland
Derendingen is a municipality in the district of Wasseramt in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.-History:Derendingen is first mentioned in 1291 as in Therendingen. In 1294 it was mentioned as de Teradingen....
, Subingen
Subingen
Subingen is a municipality in the district of Wasseramt in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.-Geography:Subingen has an area, , of . Of this area, or 48.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 29.9% is forested...
, Etziken
Etziken
Etziken is a municipality in the district of Wasseramt in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.-History:Etziken is first mentioned in 1252 as Ezzinchon. In 1342 it was mentioned as Ertzenkon.-Geography:...
and Inkwil
Inkwil
Inkwil is a municipality in the Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-Geography:Inkwil has an area, , of . Of this area, or 49.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 36.0% is forested...
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
Lake Neuchâtel
Lake Neuchâtel is a lake in Romandy, Switzerland . The lake lies mainly in the canton of Neuchâtel, but is also shared by the cantons of Vaud, of Fribourg, and of Bern....
between Gorgier
Gorgier
Gorgier is a municipality in the district of Boudry in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.-Geography:Gorgier has an area, , of . Of this area, or 33.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 56.2% is forested...
-St-Aubin
Saint-Aubin-Sauges
Saint-Aubin-Sauges is a municipality in the district of Boudry in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.-History:Saint-Aubin-Sauges is first mentioned in 1176 as Sancti Albini. In 1340 it was mentioned as villa de Sauges.-Geography:...
and Concise
Concise
Concise is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.-Geography:Concise has an area, , of . Of this area, or 24.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 66.3% is forested...
was replaced by a double track section mostly in tunnel, which was opened in 2000.