Zollikofen–Bern railway
Overview
Line number	309
Termini	Zollikofen Bern
Service
Operator(s)	Regionalverkehr Bern-Solothurn
Technical
Line length	5.35 km (3.32 mi)
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in)
Electrification	1250 V DC overhead catenary
Maximum incline	4.5%
Route map km elev from Solothurn SBB standard gauge lines from Olten and Biel 0.00 Zollikofen SBB line to Bern Oberzollikofen 1.16 Unterzollikofen 544 m 1.98 Steinibach 528 m old / new lines from Worb Dorf 2.60 Worblaufen (Keilbahnhof) 520 m Tiefenau bridge (200 m) / Aare Worblaufen bridge link from 1965 to 1974 3.63 Bern Tiefenau 523 m 4.21 siding from Felsenau brewery 4.21 Bern Felsenau 529 m link from 1965 to 1974 5.25 Wildpark (since 1965) 529 m Schanzen tunnel (1318 m) Bern Tierspital 540 m link to Bern tramways SBB line from Zollikofen SBB lines from Lucerne and Thun 6.51 Bern RBS 534 m SBB standard gauge lines to Fribourg and Neuchâtel Source: Swiss railway atlas[1]

The Zollikofen–Bern railway is a metre-gauge and electrified railway line in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

History

An RBS train in Unterzollikofen

The originally approximately eight-kilometer-long railway line was opened by the former Bern-Zollikofen-Bahn on 13 July 1912. The Solothurn-Zollikofen-Bern Bahn (Solothurn-Zollikofen-Bern Railway, SZB) was responsible for its operation from 1 January 1922.

It is now 5.35 kilometres (3.32 mi) long as a result of the line being rebuilt in the city of Bern in 1965 and the closure of the 1.16 kilometres (0.72 mi)-long Zollikofen–Unterzollikofen section in 1974. It is shared by the trains of the Solothurn–Worblaufen railway and the trains of the Worb Dorf–Worblaufen railway between Worblaufen and Bern.

All three routes have been operated since 1 January 1984 by Regionalverkehr Bern-Solothurn (RBS) and are integrated into the Bern S-Bahn. The line to Unterzollikofen is served by line S9. Worblaufen is its operating centre and is also the location of a depot and a workshop. By contrast, the current terminus at Unterzollikofen has only one dead-end track with a single platform edge.

References