Olten–Bern railway line

Olten–Bern
Burgdorf station
Overview
Line number450
LocaleBern and Solothurn
Termini
Technical
Number of tracks2
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in)
Minimum radius300 m (980 ft)
Electrification15 kV/16.7 Hz AC overhead catenary
Route map

elev (M)
or length (m)
in metres
39.3
Olten
Aarburg bypass (Born line)
Aarburger Tunnel
87 m
Born Tunnel
809 m
43.0
Aarburg-Oftringen
46.2
Rothrist
49.1
Rank
52.2
Murgenthal
54.5
Roggwil-Wynau
59.2
Langenthal
old route; now
partly used as a siding
Thunstetten Tunnel
887 m
62.5
Bützberg
Solothurn–Herzogenbuchsee rly
to Solothurn
66.8
Herzogenbuchsee
72.3
Riedtwil
76.9
Wynigen
Burgdorfer Tunnel
510 m
55 m
83.4
Burgdorf
86.5
Lyssach
87.2
Sandacher
89.7
Hindelbank
91.7
92.0
13.0
Mattstetten Ost junction
Grauholz Tunnel
6,295 m
93.2
Mattstetten
94.9
Schönbühl SBB
98.8
Zollikofen
Oberzollikofen
101.3
4.8
Löchligut junction
Worb Dorf–Worblaufen railway
to Worb Dorf
Bern Wankdorf
103.3
Bern Wylerfeld
to Thun
Lorraine viaduct
across the Aare
1,080 m
106.1
Bern
elev (M)
or length (m)
in metres
Source

The Olten–Bern railway line is one of the major railway lines of Switzerland, running between the major rail hub of Olten—where lines from Zürich, Basel, Bern, Lucerne and Neuchâtel come together—and the Swiss capital of Bern. Together with the Lausanne–Bern railway, it forms the Mittellandlinie ("midland line"), which connects Olten with Lausanne. The first part of the line was opened in 1856 and the original line was completed on 4 September 1858. The line was built by the Swiss Central Railway, which was taken over by the Swiss Federal Railways on its establishment in 1902.

Several important upgrades have been implemented on this line since 1981. The Born line was opened in 1981 to bypass a congested section of line around Aarburg Oftringen station and the longer Grauholz line, including the 6-kilometre-long (3.7 mi) tunnel Grauholz Tunnel, was opened in 1995. This was extended on 12 December 2004, when the first major high-speed Mattstetten–Rothrist line was opened, although it is limited to 200 km/h.