Regionalverkehr Bern-Solothurn
Encyclopedia
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:...
) is a Swiss public transport
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
company. It operates train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
, tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
, and bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
lines between Bern, 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:...
and Worb
Worb
Worb is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-Geography:Worb has an area of . Of this area, 64.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 21.1% is forested...
.
RBS was founded as the Bern-Worb-Bahn in 1898, which grew to RBS in 1984 through a series of mergers. 94% of its shares are owned by federal, cantonal and local authorities.
As of 2006, the company has 361 employees and owns 185 vehicles. It operates on 57 km of track
Rail tracks
The track on a railway or railroad, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers and ballast , plus the underlying subgrade...
and 61 km of bus lines. 23.5 million passengers are being transported each year by RBS. The subterranean RBS train station in Bern is the country's eighth-largest in terms of passenger usage, with 49,000 people using it on peak days. This heavy usage leads to overcrowding during peak hours. To increase the station's passenger handling capacity and reduce overcrowding, strict rules have been put into place to govern passenger flow.
Planning has already started to increase the size and capacity of the station in terms of passenger flow and number of trains it can handle. In 2009, a 15 minute interval for all lines is planned, thus saturating the station.
New 120 km/h train sets have been ordered for the RE line (Bern - Solothurn) to enable the 15 minute interval. These sets will be made by Stadler Rail
Stadler Rail
Stadler Rail AG , based in Bussnang, Switzerland, is a Swiss manufacturer of rail passenger cars.In 1942 Ernst Stadler founded the Stadler Engineering Office which later became Stadler Rail.- Factories :...
AG.