Biel/Bienne–La Chaux-de-Fonds railway
GTW multiple unit waiting for passengers in La Chaux-de-Fonds
Overview
Owner	Swiss Federal Railways
Line number	225
Termini	Biel/Bienne La Chaux-de-Fonds
Technical
Line length	44 km (27 mi)
Number of tracks	1
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Electrification	15 kV  16.7 Hz AC overhead catenary
Maximum incline	2.8%
Route map km elev SBB line from Bern SBB line from Olten ASm line to Ins 33.83 Biel/Bienne 437 m SBB line to Neuchâtel Pasquart (52 m) 37.27 Mahlenwald 509 m Taubenloch (41 m) Taubenloch I (239 m) Taubenloch II (320 m) 39.11 Frinvillier-Taubenloch 555 m Taubenloch III (220 m) Taubenloch IV (163 m) Taubenloch V (164 m) 42.04 Reuchenette-Péry 596 m 43.68 La Heutte 607 m Tournedos VI (126 m) 48.28 Sonceboz-Sombeval 653 m SBB line to Moutier 50.22 Corgémont 660 m 53.12 Cortébert 677 m 56.47 Courtelary 701 m 57.64 Cormoret 710 m 60.63 Villeret 763 m 62.38 St-Imier 793 m Fourchaux (73 m) 65.17 Sonvilier 836 m 69.02 Renan BE 907 m 74.24 Le Creux 1013 m Le Creux–Convers until 1895 Creux (152 m) SBB line from Neuchâtel ≈76.2 25.85 Convers Keilbahnhof 1047 m Crosettes (1618 m) 75.86 summit of the line 1038 m Mont-Sagne (1354 m) Combe (230 m) / La Combe (254 m) transN line from Les Ponts-de-Martel La Chaux-de-Fonds-Grenier CJ line from Saignelégier 77.83 29.49 La Chaux-de-Fonds 994 m SBB line to Le Locle Source: Swiss railway atlas[1]

The Biel/Bienne–La Chaux-de-Fonds railway is a single-track standard-gauge railway line of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB).

History

A train that has left La Chaux-de-Fonds is travelling through Convers to Neuchatel. The last cars are uncoupled and taken over by the locomotive waiting on the right. Photo from around 1885

The 42-kilometer route from Biel/Bienne via Sonceboz-Sombeval to Convers together with a branch from Sonceboz-Sombeval to Tavannes was built by the Jura bernois (JB) and opened on 30 April 1874. In Convers, the carriages were attached to the trains to La Chaux-de-Fonds for the short remaining section to Neuchâtel. This avoided, for the time being, a second tunnel to La Chaux-de-Fonds through a higher part of the range. A request by the city of Biel to avoid building a zig zag in Vingelz delayed the construction.

The Jura bernois changed its name to the Jura–Bern–Luzern (JBL) in 1884. The 1618-metre-long Crosettes Tunnel, which provided a direct connection to La Chaux-de-Fonds, was opened on 17 December 1888. Thus, the difficult attaching and detaching of carriages in Convers could be avoided and the timing of JBL services was independent of the timetable of the now independent Jura neuchâtelois (JN). For military reasons, the section from Le Creux to Convers was not closed until 1895.

The JBL merged with the Western Switzerland–Simplon Company (Compagnie de la Suisse Occidentale et du Simplon, SOS) on 1 January 1890 to form the Jura–Simplon Railway (Compagnie des Chemins de Fer Jura–Simplon, JS). The JS was one of the five major private railway companies in Switzerland, which were nationalised and integrated to form the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) on 1 May 1903. Electrical operations commenced on the Biel/Bienne–Sonceboz-Sombeval section on 15 May 1934 and on the remaining section to La Chaux-de-Fonds on 15 July 1934.

Route description

Passenger train with a three-axle 3rd class passenger car on the Taubenloch bridge between Biel and Frinvilier-Taubenloch in 1936

After the exit in Biel, trains quickly gain altitude, giving travellers a view of Biel and the Three Lake country (Drei-Seen-Land/Pays des Trois-Lacs). After crossing the Taubenloch gorge, trains arrive at Reuchenette-Péry, where a large concrete factory provides goods traffic. The line runs along the Suze river and the Transjurane motorway to Sonceboz-Sombeval, where the line branches off to Tavannes and Moutier. The line passes through Courtelary to Saint-Imier, the main town of the vallon of Saint-Imier. The line continues up the valley to the former halt of Le Creux, where trains enter the Crosettes tunnel. The line then run next to the line from Neuchâtel to La Chaux-de-Fonds station.

Operations

Originally, the Biel/Bienne–Sonceboz-Sombeval section was part of the Moutier–Delémont–Delle–Belfort international route. The opening of the Grenchenberg tunnel in 1915 reduced the route via Sonceboz-Sombeval to Moutier to a branch line.

Now every hour a RegioExpress services takes 40 minutes and a Regio service takes 57 minutes to run from Biel/Bienne to La Chaux-de-Fonds and in the opposite direction.^[2] The Regio is split or joined in Sonceboz-Sombeval, with one part running to La Chaux-de-Fonds and the other to Solothurn via Moutier. The SBB took over 13 GTW sets from the BLS for the service in 2014.^[3]

References