Bern railway station

Bern
Bern station
Location	Bahnhofplatz, 3011 Bern, Bern Switzerland
Coordinates	46°56′59″N 07°26′22″E / 46.94972°N 7.43944°E / 46.94972; 7.43944Coordinates: 46°56′59″N 07°26′22″E / 46.94972°N 7.43944°E / 46.94972; 7.43944
Owned by	Swiss Federal Railways
Operated by	Swiss Federal Railways BLS AG Regionalverkehr Bern-Solothurn
Line(s)	Olten–Lausanne line Lötschberg line Bern S-Bahn
Platforms	16 (1–10, 12, 13 and 21–24)
Connections	Bern trams bus to Bern Airport
Other information
IATA code	ZDJ
History
Opened	1858–1860 (1858–1860)
Rebuilt	1891 (1891), 1974 (1974), 1999–2003 (1999–2003)
Location
Bern Location within Switzerland

Bern railway station (German: Bahnhof Bern) serves the municipality of Bern, the capital city of Switzerland. Opened progressively between 1858 and 1860, and rebuilt several times since then, it forms part of the Olten–Lausanne line (known as the Mittellandlinie in German) 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 TGVs, ICEs, and international trains to Italy.

Bern is the nearest station to the University of Bern in the Länggasse quarter. There is aa rooftop terrace on top of the station, accessed by lift from the subway by Platforms 12 and 13, with views over the city and to the Bernese Alps. Access to Bern Airport from the station is normally via rail to Belp station and then by connecting bus, but the first and last buses each day run directly between Bern station and the airport. It has an IATA Airport Code (ZDJ), as American Airlines codeshares on the Swiss Federal Railways service from Zurich International Airport in Zürich.

Between 1999 and 2003, the station was renovated and partially redesigned. It now contains Rail City, a shopping center open for longer opening hours than the other shops in town, and also on Sundays and public holidays, when most other shops in the city are closed. This is possible as the shop opening laws of the city of Bern do not apply on Swiss Federal Railway property.

The station has 12 standard gauge platforms (numbered 1-10 and 12-13) and four meter gauge RBS platforms (numbered 21-24). Curiously, there is no platform 11, but there is a through railway track with no platform face between platforms 10 and 12. The station interchanges with many local bus, tram and trolley bus routes (operated by BERNMOBIL) and regional bus services (operated by PostAuto).

Services

Long-distance trains

The main long-distance routes served by trains to or from Bern railway station are as follows:

• EC Basel – Olten – Bern – Visp – Brig – Domodossola – Milano
• ICE Interlaken Ost – Bern – Olten – Basel – Frankfurt am Main – Berlin
• TGV Interlaken Ost - Bern – Olten - Basel - Mulhouse – Dijon – Paris
• IC Genève Aéroport – Lausanne – Bern – Zürich – St. Gallen
• IC Brig – Visp – / Interlaken Ost – Bern – Olten – Basel
• IC Brig – Visp – Bern – Zürich – Romanshorn
• IR Genève Aéroport – Lausanne – Bern – Sursee – Luzern
• IR Bern – Langenthal – Olten – Zürich – Schaffhausen
• IR Bern – Olten – Aarau – Brugg – Baden – Zürich
• IR Bern – Langenthal – Olten
• RE Bern – Lyss – Biel/Bienne
• RE Bern – Münsingen – Spiez – Zweisimmen / – Kandersteg – Brig
• RE Bern – Konolfingen – Wolhusen – Luzern
• RE Bern – Kerzers – Neuchâtel
• RE Bern – Jegenstorf – Solothurn (narrow gauge)

Bern S-Bahn trains

As of 2012, the station was also served by the following Bern S-Bahn routes:

• S 1 Fribourg–Flamatt–Bern–Münsingen–Thun
• S 2 Laupen–Flamatt–Bern–Konolfingen–Langnau
• S 3 Biel/Bienne–Bern–Belp (from 21:00, replaces the S4/S44 as far as Thun)
• S 31 Supplements the S3 on Mondays to Fridays in the Biel/Bienne-Münchenbuchsee–Belp section (since 11 December 2011)
• S 4 Langnau–Burgdorf–Zollikofen–Bern–Belp–Thun
• S 44 Sumiswald-Grünen–Ramsei–/(Solothurn–) Wiler–* Burgdorf–Bern Wankdorf–Bern–Belp–Thun
• S 5 Bern–Kerzers–Neuchâtel/Murten (–Avenches–Payerne)
• S 51 Bern–Bümpliz Nord–Brünnen Westside
• S 52 Bern–Rosshäussern–Kerzers (–Ins–Neuchâtel)
• S 6 Bern–Schwarzenburg
• S 7 Bern–Worblaufen–Bolligen–Worb Dorf
• S 8 Bern–Zollikofen–Jegenstorf-Solothurn
• S 9 Bern–Worblaufen–Unterzollikofen

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bern railway station.