Bernese Jura Railway

The Bernese Jura Railway (Chemins de fer du Jura bernois, abbreviated Jura bernois, JB) was a railway company in Switzerland. The company was called the Jura–Bern–Luzern (Jura–Bern–Lucerne, JBL) from 1 July 1884. The Jura–Bern–Lucerne merged with the Western Switzerland–Simplon Railways (Suisse-Occidentale–Simplon, SOS) to form the Jura–Simplon Railway (Jura-Simplon-Bahn), JS) on 1 January 1890.

Jura–Bern–Lucerne in 1889
History
Opened	1874
Closed	1890
Route map The gorge of Moutier Combe Maran Viaduct near Saint-Ursanne Legend km elev 123.00 Basel Central- bahnhof^[note 1] France Switzerland Delle, France Col des Roches 436 m 124.45 France Switzerland Col des Roches Le Locle La Chaux-de-Fonds 77.63 84.61 Delémont 73.40 Moutier Les Loges 3259 m 74.24 Le Creux Convers 48.28 Sonceboz Chambrelien La Neuveville Neuchâtel 33.59 Biel/Bienne Fräschels Bödelibahn (BB): Därligen 23.37 Lyss Bönigen 7.46 Zollikofen (0.00) Brünigbahn: Brienz 57.77 7.69 Gümligen Meiringen 45.47 37.47 Langnau Alpnachstad 13.18 91.83 Fluhmühle^[note 2] Lucerne 0.13 Intermediate stations and connecting tracks not shown. Light red: Neuchâtel–Le Locle line, which was transferred to JN in 1886 and Le Creux–Convers (closed 1888) Dotted: routes jointly owned by the SCB Basel–Delle–Paris–Le Havre train hauled by loco no. 17 before departure Convers station, on the left La Chaux-de-Fonds–Neuchâtel train, right track from Biel Giswil station about 1890. The rack section of the Brünig Railway starts in Giswil

History

 

Convers in 1874 with the Bernese Jura line under construction.

 

Newspaper advertisement for the opening of the Porrentruy–Glovelier section on 30 March 1877. The Jura–Bern–Luzern name was officially adopted in 1884.

The railway network of the Canton of Bern initially developed according to the interests of the Swiss Central Railway (Schweizerische Centralbahn, SCB). The Grand Council of Bern, decided to conclude a contract with the SCB in 1852. The Central Railway undertook to build the Murgenthal–Bern line and the Solothurn–Herzogenbuchsee railway within four years and in return received tax exemption and the privilege of being given preferential treatment in future grants of concessions to build railways. The Central Railway's construction now concentrated for a period on the more populated areas in the Swiss Plateau. The rugged and economically less developed Jura had a much more limited railway network. The Central Railway had no interest in competing with its existing Hauenstein Railway.

Under the chairmanship of Xavier Stockmar, the Zentralkomitee für die jurassische Eisenbahn (Central Committee for the Jura Railways) planned a railway line from Biel/Bienne to Basel with a branch from Delémont to Porrentruy. Although the concession was granted, it was not built due to lack of funds. To connect the Bernese Jura to the old part of the canton, the Grand Council provided a subsidy of CHF 6,950,000 of the estimated construction cost of CHF 40 million in 1867. The Delémont–Delle railway, which was financed by French companies, was built and handed over for operations on 23 September 1872.

Capital procurement, construction and transfer of track

 

Route through the Taubenloch gorge between Biel and Reuchenette-Péry.

 

Goods locomotive No. 110 Doubs in Moutier station

A new situation arose in 1871, with the cession of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany after the Franco-Prussian War. A line built across French territory and through the Bernese Jura would connect the Paris–Belfort line directly to the Swiss Plateau. The Jura bernois was founded in 1874 as a joint-stock company, with the French Chemins de fer de l'Est subscribing CHF 4½ million and the canton of Basel-Stadt subscribing CHF 0.5 million. The municipalities and Bürgergemeinden of the Jura purchased a total of over 7 million shares, partially exploiting their forests to fund them.

The Jura bernois began construction and opened individual sections of its network between Biel, Convers (near La Chaux-de-Fonds), Delle and Basel between 1872 and 30 March 1877. It complemented its network through acquisitions. The JB bought the bankrupt Jura industriel (JI) for CHF 3.6 million on 1 May 1875 and the Chemin de fer Porrentruy–Delle (PD) for CHF 1.99 million on 16 August 1876. It took over the Bernese State Railway (Bernische Staatsbahn, BSB), including the Zollikofen–Biel –La Neuveville line in 1877. The canton of Bern received JB shares worth CHF 11.56 million in return.

The JB was built during the railway construction boom after 1872 and interest rates and construction prices rose sharply. The recession of 1876 and the subsequent "railway crisis" almost bankrupted even the financially solid Swiss Northeastern Railway (Schweizerische Nordostbahn, NOB). Against this background, the consistent profits of the JB were unusual. The revenue from freight was higher than the revenue from passengers in each year from 1878.

Jura–Bern–Lucerne

 

The positive operating results allowed the Jura–Bern–Luzern, to pay a dividend every year.

 

On the other hand, the NOB like other railway companies, suffered a drop in profits during the "railway crisis".

 

Train of the Brünigbahn with locomotive for mixed adhesion and rack operation

 

Brienz in about 1888. For the onward journey to Interlaken, passengers had to transfer to the ship.

For the start of the operations of the Bern-Lucerne Railway Company (Bern-Luzern-Bahn, BLB) in 1875, the BLB and the Bernese Jura formed a joint operating company called the Jura–Bern–Luzern (Lucerne). This company continued to exist even after the bankruptcy of the BLB and, as of 1 July 1882, the JB leased the line from Bern to Lucerne, which now belonged to the canton of Bern. Thus, the Bernese Jura came into possession of the continuous Delle–Bern–Lucerne line, which connected with the Gotthard Railway. This route competed with the route of the Swiss Central Railway (Centralbahn) via Olten, which lost direct access to the railway from Basel to France after the Franco-Prussian War. The extended route network prompted the railway to change its name to the Jura–Bern–Luzern (JBL).^{[note 3]}

Ten years after its construction, the Canton of Neuchâtel exercised its buyback right and acquired the Neuchâtel–La Chaux-de-Fonds–Le Locle line on 1 January 1886 for around CHF 5 million,^{[note 4]} so it could lease it to the newly established Jura neuchâtelois (JN). However, the JN could not earn enough to pay its rent, which made support by the public sector necessary.

The Jura–Bern–Luzern built the Brünig Railway from 25 August 1886. With the opening of the first, over 44 km long section from Alpnachstad via the Brünig Pass to Brienz on 14 June 1888, the network of the JBL was significantly extended. The extension from Alpnachstad to Lucerne followed on 1 June 1889. The metre-gauge line with sections of rack connects the two tourist regions of Central Switzerland and the Bernese Highlands. In addition, it was considered to have great military importance.

The Jura–Bern–Luzern also took care of the operation of the Bödelibahn (Bödeli Railway, BB) Därligen–Interlaken–Bönigen opened in 1872.

Merger into the Jura–Simplon Railway

On 1 January 1890, the Jura–Bern–Luzern including the Gümligen–Lucerne line, which was owned by the canton of Bern, and the Western Swiss Railways (Suisse-Occidentale–Simplon, SOS) merged to form the Jura–Simplon Railways (Chemins de fer du Jura-Simplon, JS). From this point on it was the largest Swiss railway company; it was partly owned by the Swiss Confederation as a result of the purchase of shares on the market. On 1 January 1891, the JS took over the operations of the Pont–Vallorbe Railway (Chemin de fer Pont–Vallorbe, PV). Only the JS had sufficient resources to progress on the construction of the Simplon Tunnel that had been planned for decades.

The bridge over the Birs built by Gustave Eiffel for the Bernese Jura collapsed shortly after the merger. The Münchenstein rail disaster on 14 June 1891 was the largest railway disaster in Switzerland to that time.

Graphical summary

Bwlow is an overview of the history of the Jura bernois and the Jura–Bern–Luzern (O: opening;   T: takeover):

Jura industriel (JI) O: 2.7.1857   T: 1.5.1875

East–West Railway (OWB) O: 3.12.1860   T: 1.6.1861

Bernese State Railway (BSB) T: 24.5.1877

Porrentruy–Delle (PD) O: 23.9.1872   T: 16.8.1876

Bernese Jura Railway T: 30.4.1874

Gümligen–Langnau T: 1.8.1875

Bern-Lucerne Railway (BLB) T: 15.1.1877

Canton of Bern T (lease): 1.7.1882

from 1.7.1884 Jura–Bern–Lucerne T: 1.1.1890

Jura neuchâtelois (JN)

Neuchâtel–Le Locle T: 1.1.1886

Western Switzerland– Simplon (SOS) T: 1.1.1890

Pont–Vallorbe (PV) O: 31.10.1886 T: 1.1.1891

Jura–Simplon Railways (JS)

Route network

No.	Route	Section	Opening	Remarks	Length^[note 5]
1.	Bern–Biel –Sonceboz–Moutier–Delémont–Basel	Bern–Bern Wylerfeld	(15 November 1858)	Section of the Olten–Bern railway used jointly with the SCB	(7.46 km)
		Bern Wylerfeld–Zollikofen	(16 June 1857)
		Zollikofen–Lyss–Biel/Bienne	(1 June 1864)	Lyss–Busswil section taken over from the BSB on 24 May 1875; 2 tracks since 1877	115.54 km
		Biel–Sonceboz–Tavannes	30 April 1874
		Tavannes–Court	16 December 1876
		Court–Moutier	24 May 1877
		Moutier–Delémont	16 December 1876	Trains reverse in Delémont station
		Delsberg–Basel Centralbahnhof^[note 1]	25 September 1875
2.	Sonceboz–La Chaux-de-Fonds	Sonceboz–Le Creux–Convers^[note 6]	30 April 1874	Connection to Neuchâtel–Le Locle-Col-des-Roches railway. Le Creux–Convers operations ended on 17 December 1888 and the line closed on 1 July 1895	29.55 km
		Le Creux–La Chaux-de-Fonds	17 December 1888	Own access to La Chaux-de-Fonds after separation from the JN on 1 January 1886
3.	Delsberg–Delle	Delsberg–Glovelier	15 October 1876		39.84 km
		Glovelier–Porrentruy	30 March 1877
		Porrentruy–border (–Delle)	(23 September 1872)	Taken over by the PD on 16 August 1876
4.	Bern–Lucerne	Bern Wylerfeld–Gümligen	(1 July 1859)	Joint use of this section of the Bern–Thun railway with the SCB	(5.38 km)
		Gümligen–Langnau	(1 June 1864)	Originally BLB, bought by the canton of Bern at auction on 15 January 1877 and managed by the JB leased from the canton of Bern since 1 July 1882	3.27 km
		Langnau–Fluhmühle^[note 7]	(11 August 1875)
		Fluhmühle–Lucerne	(1 June 1859)	Joint use of this section of the Olten–Lucerne railway with the SCB	(3.27 km)
5.	Biel–Neuchâtel (BE-NE canton border)		(3 December 1860)	Connecting in Lausanne to OS network, taken over by the BSB on 24 May 1875	14.45 km
6.	Neuchâtel–La Chaux-de-Fonds–Le Locle–Col des Roches	Neuchâtel–Neuchâtel-Vauseyon	(7 November 1859)	Joint use of the section of the La Neuveville–Lausanne line with FS	(1.37 km)
		Neuchâtel-Vauseyon–Les Hauts-Geneveys^[note 8]	(1 December 1859)	Taken over by the JI on 1 May 1875, transferred to the JN on 1 January 1886	(38.21 km)
		Les Hauts-Geneveys–Convers	(15 July 1860)
		Convers–La Chaux-de-Fonds	(27 November 1859)
		La Chaux-de-Fonds–Le Locle	(2 July 1857)
		Le Locle–Col des Roches–border(–Besançon)	4 August 1884
7.	Brünig Railway	Lucerne–Alpnachstad	1 June 1889	1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge, partly rack Trains reverse in Meiringen station	57.64 km
		Alpnachstad–Brienz	14 June 1888
8.	Lyss–Fräschels (BE-FR canton border)		12 June 1876	Connection in Murten to the SO network	12.97 km
	Total				269.49 km^[note 9]

Rolling stock

The locomotives from the beginning were designated as class A for express-tank locomotives, B for locomotives of "Bourbonnais" design (referring to the Compagnie du chemin de fer de paris à Lyon par le Bourbonnais, a predecessor company of the PLM, which developed the design) for passenger trains on mountain lines and freight trains on valley routes, C for freight locomotives, D for pilot tender locomotives and E for shunters. The locomotives were designated according to the uniform system used throughout Switzerland from 1887.

The following locomotives were available to the Jura–Bern–Lucerne. The class designation valid from 1902 is listed in brackets.

Class from 1873	Class from 1887	JBL no.	Name	JS no. from 1890	SBB no. from 1903^[note 10]	Manufacturer	Build year	Remarks	Scrapped	Image
I	A2 (Ec 2/4)	1–12	Property of the Bern-Lucerne Railway (see there)
A	A2 (Eb 2/4)	13		13	5441	SLM	1876	Biel workshop from 1903	1917	Passenger locomotive A2 no. 18
		14		14	5442				1904
		15		15	–				1900
		16		16	–				1900
		17		17	5451	Esslingen	1880		1911
		18		18	5452				1927
		19		19	5453				1933
		20		20	5454				1925
		21		21	5455		1881		1928
		22		22	5456				1925
		23		23	5457			1911 MO 1; sold in 1917
		24		24	5458				1919
		25		25	5459		1883	Heating car Xd 99009 from 1927	1927
		26		26	5460				1919
		27		27	5462	SLM	1888		1925
		28		28	5461			Heating car Xd 99011 from 1927	1927
		29		29	5463				1930
		30		30	5464			EB 9 from 1926	1933
		31		31	5465				1919
		32		32	5466			Heating car Xd 99010 from 1927	1933
AI	B2E (Ec 2/5)	41–43	Taken over from the Jura industriel in 1875 (see there)			Esslingen	1856–1858	No. 42 was taken over in 1886 by the JN	1883–1888
–	A3T (B 3/4)	41'		205	1561	SLM	1889		1924
		42'		206	1562				1924
		43'		207	1563				1924
		44		208	1564				1929
		45		209	1565				1924
		46		210	1566				1924
		47		211	1567				1924
		48		212	1568				1932
B	B3T (C 3/3)	51–54	Property of the Bern-Lucerne Railway (see there)							Bourbonnais-hauling tender locomotive B3T no. 54
		55	Delémont	425	–	SACM	1875		1900
		56	Laufon	426	–				1901
		57	Dornach	427	–				1901
		58	Bâle	428	–				1902
		59	Moutier	429	2416		1876		1905
		60	St-Ursanne	430	2405				1903
		61	Porrentruy	431	2415				1911
C	C3T (D 3/3)	101	Stockmar	541	3392	SACM	1874	Originally had operating numbers 1–6. When the JB took over the operation of BLB in 1875, a new numbering scheme was established and the locomotives were renumbered.	1904	JS no. 542, built in Mülhausen
		102	Jura-Bernois	542	3393				1904
		103	St-Imier	543	3360				1908
		104	Bienne	544	3361				1907
		105	Suze	545	–	SLM	1874		1901	JB no. 6 of SLM
		106	Birse	546	3399				1913
		107	Aare	547	3388	SACM	1875		1908
		108	Thielle	548	3394				1907
		109	Sorne	549	3395				1905
		110	Doubs	550	–				1902
		111	Allaine	551	3362		1876		1917
		112	Chasseral	552	3396				1904
		113	Montoz	553	3397				1906
		114	Mont-Terrible	554	3398				1906
		115	Rangiers	555	3363				1917
CI	D3E (Ed 3/5)	141, 142 and 144	Taken over by the Jura industriel in 1875 (see there)			Workshop of the SCB	1859	Taken over by the JN in 1886	1898–1905
		143, 145				Esslingen	1873		1912–1914
D	C3 (Ed 3/3)	151–157	Property of the Bern-Lucerne Railway (see there)
E	F3 (E 3/3)	201		851	8571	SLM	1875		1913
		202		852	8572				1911
Locomotives of the narrow gauge Brünig Railway:
–	G3 (G 3/3)	301		901	101	SLM	1887		1911	Brünig valley locomotive no. 309, now at the BC
		302		902	102				1912
		303		903	103		1888		1911
		304		904	104			1916 Trento–Malè 104
		305		905	105			1916 Trient–Male 105
		306		906	106		1889	1916 IMB 106 1919 Trient–Male 106
–	HG2 (HG 2/2)	351		951	1001	SLM	1887	1908 SV 10 1927 MCL 241	1936	Brünig mountain locomotive no. 352 for mixed adhesion and rack operations
		352		952	1002		1888	1908 MCM 2
		353		953	1003			1908 O&K
		354		954	1004				1908
		355		955	1005				1908
		356		956	1006		1889		1911
		357		957	1007				1911
		358		958	1008				1911

 

Third-class car C³ 466 of the Brünig Railway, built in 1889 by SIG in Neuhausen, now used as a service car of the BC

References

Notes

1. Now Basel SBB
2. Junction with the Olten–Lucerne line of the Centralbahn
3. According to bahndaten.ch the JBL was created by renaming the Jura bernois. The Bern–Lucerne line was not taken over by the JBL, but continued to be leased from the canton of Bern.
4. Placid Weissenbach puts the purchase price at CHF 5,141,079, while an amount of CHF 5.25 million is mentioned in bahndaten.ch.
5. Determined by chainage
6. Trains reverse in Convers station
7. Now Gütsch
8. Trains reverse in Chambrelien station
9. Property length according to official railway statistics quoted in bahndaten.ch
10. The SBB renumbered the locomotives taken over after the completion of boiler revisions.

Footnotes

Sources

• Frey, Thomas; Schiedt, Hans-Ulrich. "Jura bernois". bahndaten.ch. Daten zu den Schweizer Eisenbahnen 1847–1920 (in German). ViaStoria. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
• Frey, Thomas; Schiedt, Hans-Ulrich. "Jura–Bern–Luzern". bahndaten.ch. Daten zu den Schweizer Eisenbahnen 1847–1920 (in German). ViaStoria. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
• Frey, Thomas; Schiedt, Hans-Ulrich. "Brünigbahn". bahndaten.ch. Daten zu den Schweizer Eisenbahnen 1847–1920 (in German). ViaStoria. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
• Junker, Beat. "Der Weg zur Staatskrise von 1877/78". Die Entstehung des demokratischen Volksstaates 1831–1880 (in German). Vol. 2. Historischer Verein des Kantons Bern. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
• Moser, Alfred (1967). Der Dampfbetrieb der Schweizerischen Eisenbahnen 1847–1966 (in German). Basel und Stuttgart: Birkhäuser Verlag.
• Wägli, Hans G. (2010). Schienennetz Schweiz und Bahnprofil Schweiz CH+ (in German). Zürich: AS Verlag. ISBN 978-3-909111-74-9.
• Weissenbach, Plazid (1913). Das Eisenbahnwesen der Schweiz (PDF) (in German). Vol. 1: Geschichte des Eisenbahnwesens. p. 66. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
• "Die Bern-Luzern-Bahn". Die Eisenbahn (in German). 6 (3): 21–22. 1877. Retrieved 20 December 2018.