First electric railway line in Europe celebrates centenary

Exactly 100 years ago, an electric train track was inaugurated in Switzerland, marking a new era of rail transport in Europe. The railway, travelling through the hilly Emmental region of canton Berne, was the first electric railway line in Europe.

Exactly 100 years ago today, an electric train track was inaugurated in Switzerland, marking a new era of rail transport in Europe.

The line, travelling through the hilly Emmental region of Canton Berne, was the first electric railway line in Europe and ushered in a new era of travel and transport.

The Burgdorf to Thun line was 41 kilometres (25 miles) long and operated trains travelling a maximum 36 kilometres (22 miles) per hour.

The early days, marking the transition from steam to electric trains, were not without their technical difficulties. “Our latter-day success is down to what we learned from the teething troubles when the electric trains started,” wrote an editorialist in the 50th anniversary brochure.

The line cost SFr5.4 million ($7 million ) to construct, with nearly half that amount coming from the coffers of the city government in nearby Berne. At the outset, 11 passenger trains and one goods train travelled each way per day.

The new track brough immediate benefits to the farming communities in the predominantly rural Emmental region. “The line helped create a boom and led to greater prosperity,” a former official wrote in the anniversary brochure.

Travellers between Burgdorf and Thun, the gateway to the Bernese Oberland, had a journey which was 14 kilometres(9 miles) shorter than previously, when they had been forced to take the steam train to Berne and transfer to another train for Thun. The electricity for the track was provided from nearby Spiez, overlooking lake Thun.

The success story started in 1873, when the project organisers applied for a franchise from the federal government. But it was only in 1897 that construction work began. Two years later, the inaugural journey was marked by what was officially described as “a prolonged and highly colourful festival.”

Originally known as the Burgdorf-Thun Railway (BTB), the company merged with another operator, Burgdorf-Langnau Railway, to form the Emmental-Burgdorf-Thun Railway(EBT) in 1942. Since 1997, the EBT has belonged to the regional network, Regionalverkehr Mittelland.


Written by SRI staff.