The Mittellandlinie ("Midland line") is a railway route in Switzerland. It runs from Olten via Bern and Fribourg to Lausanne.
The Olten–Bern railway was completed in 1858 and two years later the Lausanne–Bern railway was opened. In addition, the Mattstetten–Rothrist new line was opened in 2004, which together with the Born Railway and the Grauholz line, forms a high-speed line between Olten and Bern.
Bern railway station serves the municipality of Bern, the federal city of Switzerland. Opened progressively between 1858 and 1860, and rebuilt several times since then, it lies on the Olten–Bern and the Lausanne–Bern lines and is near the end of the Lötschberg line. The station is owned by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS). Train services to and from the station are operated by the Swiss Federal Railways, the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon railway (BLS) and the metre gauge Regionalverkehr Bern-Solothurn (RBS). Trains calling at the station include ICEs, and international trains to Italy.
The RABDe 500, is a Swiss high speed passenger train which was introduced in 2000, in time for Expo.02 held in western Switzerland in 2002. Its maximum speed is 200 km/h (120 mph), which can be reached on the Mattstetten–Rothrist new line; as of 2018 the RABDe 500 uses the branch to Solothurn only; the ICNs reach 200 km/h in the new Gotthard Base Tunnel. The train sets were a joint development by Bombardier, Swiss Federal Railways and Alstom, with an aerodynamic body designed by Pininfarina, bogies and tilting mechanism designed by the then SIG, Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft.
The Olten–Bern railway is one of the major railway lines of Switzerland, running between the major rail hub of Olten—where lines from Zurich, Basel, Bern, Lucerne and Neuchâtel come together—and the Swiss capital of Bern. Together with the Lausanne–Bern railway, it forms the Mittellandlinie, 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.
Olten railway station is a major hub railway station in the canton of Solothurn, Switzerland, at the junction of lines to Zürich, Bern, Basel, Lucerne and Biel. As a result, Olten is a railway town and was also the site of the main workshop of the Swiss Central Railway, which became a major workshop for the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS). It is the southern terminus of the Basel Regional S-Bahn S3 and S9 lines, the northern terminus of the Lucerne S-Bahn S8 line, and the western terminus of the Aargau S-Bahn S26 line.
The Swiss Central Railway was one of the five major private railway companies of Switzerland. The SCB with a track length of 332 kilometres was integrated into the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) in 1902.
The Jura Foot Line or Jura South Foot Line, is a railway line in Switzerland. It runs from Olten along the foot of the southern Jura range through Solothurn, Grenchen, Biel/Bienne, Neuchâtel, Yverdon-les-Bains and Morges to Lausanne. It is one of two routes used by intercity trains between Geneva and Zürich. The other is the Midland line 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.
Rail 2000 is a large-scale project of the Swiss Federal Railways (SFR) 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 federal government decision to support the project in 1986 was approved by a referendum in 1987. In 2004 the first phase was completed consisting of around 130 projects with a budget of around CHF 5.9 billion.
The construction and operation of Swiss railways during the 19th century was carried out by private railways. The first internal line was a 16 km line opened from Zürich to Baden in 1847. By 1860 railways connected western and northeastern Switzerland. The first Alpine railway to be opened under the Gotthard Pass in 1882. A second alpine line was opened under the Simplon Pass in 1906.
Geneva Airport railway station is a train station located underground next to the terminal building of Geneva International Airport, in Grand-Saconnex, Geneva, Switzerland. It is located at the end of the standard gauge Lausanne–Geneva line of Swiss Federal Railways.
Solothurn railway station serves the municipality of Solothurn, the capital city of the Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland. Solothurn is a major railway junction and is served by six railway lines.
Fribourg railway station serves the municipality of Fribourg, capital of the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland. Opened in 1862, it is owned and operated by SBB-CFF-FFS.
Neuchâtel railway station serves the municipality of Neuchâtel, the capital city of the canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Opened in 1857, it is owned and operated by SBB-CFF-FFS.
The Simplon Railway is a line that links Lausanne in Switzerland and Domodossola in Italy, via Brig. The 20 km (12 mi)-long Simplon Tunnel is a major part of it. The line between Lausanne and Vallorbe is sometimes considered to form part of the line, making it 233 km (145 mi) long.
The Franco-Swiss Company was a former railway company in Switzerland, formed in 1859 and absorbed into the Western Swiss Railways in 1872. It built the Neuchâtel-Pontarlier railway.
The Lausanne–Bern railway is a mainline railway in Switzerland. The first part of the line was opened in 1860 and the original line was completed on 4 September 1862. The line was built by the Swiss Central Railway and the Lausanne–Fribourg–Bern Railway, which were taken over by the Swiss Federal Railways on its establishment in 1902.
Bern Europaplatz railway station is a railway station in the Swiss canton of Bern and city of Bern that is a major public transport interchange. The station has two levels and groups of platforms, with the upper one on the SBB-owned Olten to Lausanne line and the lower one on the BLS-owned Gürbetal line. Until 2014, the two groups of platforms were regarded as separate stations, known as Ausserholligen SBB and Ausserholligen GBS respectively, but in that year they were both renamed after the adjacent Zentrum Europaplatz and are now shown as a single station on public transport maps.
The Biel/Bienne–Bern railway is a railway line in Switzerland and connects the city of Biel/Bienne with Bern. The line is owned by Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), long-distance services are operated by the SBB and regional services are operated by the BLS.
Langenthal railway station is a railway station in the municipality of Langenthal, in the Swiss canton of Bern. It is located at the junction of the standard gauge Langenthal–Huttwil line of BLS AG and Olten–Bern line of Swiss Federal Railways. The station is also the junction of the 1,000 mm gauge Langenthal-Jura and Langenthal–Melchnau lines of Aare Seeland mobil.
Rothrist railway station is a railway station in the municipality of Rothrist, in the Swiss canton of Aargau. It is an intermediate stop on the standard gauge Olten–Bern line of Swiss Federal Railways. The high-speed Mattstetten–Rothrist new line diverges west of the station but no trains calling at Rothrist use it.
Herzogenbuchsee railway station is a railway station in the municipality of Herzogenbuchsee, in the Swiss canton of Bern. It is an intermediate stop on the standard gauge Olten–Bern line of Swiss Federal Railways.