Lake Thun railway

Lake Thun railway line
Railway bridge over the Aare in Interlaken
Overview
Locale	Canton of Bern, Switzerland
Termini	Thun Interlaken
Operation
Owner	BLS AG
Technical
Line length	27.9 km (17.3 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Electrification	15 kV  16 2⁄3 Hz AC supplied by overhead line
Route diagram SBB from Bern–Münsingen, BLS-GTB from Bern–Belp and BLS-BTB from Burgdorf-Konolfingen 137,02 Thun 560 m above the  sea 137,59 0,06 km-Wechsel, Eigentumsgrenze SBB/BLS 1,3 Dürrenast 564 m above the  sea 3,1 Gwatt 561 m above the  sea 4,4 Gwattstutz 576 m above the  sea Kanderbrücke Einigen88 m (li) / 86 m (re) 5,4 Einigen 590 m above the  sea 6,7 Kumm 607 m above the  sea 8,2 Spiezmoos Nord 626 m above the  sea BLS-SEZ from Zweisimmen 9,7 Spiez 628 m above the  sea BLS Lötschberg line to Brig 11,8 Faulensee 603 m above the  sea Krattiggraben143 m Krattighalde341 m 15,3 Krattighalde 560 m above the  sea Leissigbad270 m 16,3 Leissigen 570 m above the  sea 22,0 Därligen 562 m above the  sea Därligen125 m 26,0 Interlaken West 564 m above the  sea Untere Aarebrücke Interlaken76 m Obere Aarebrücke Interlaken83 m 27,9 Interlaken Ost 567 m above the  sea ZB Brünig line to Lucerne and BOB to Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen Werkstätte Bönigen 567 m above the  sea Bridge over the Lütschine? m 30,4 Lütschinenbrücke 31,0 Bönigen This diagram:

The Lake Thun railway line is a railway line in the Swiss canton of Bern. It links the towns of Thun, Spiez and Interlaken, running principally along the southern shore of Lake Thun. The line was opened in 1893 by the Lake Thun Railway (German: Thunerseebahn, TSB) company, but incorporates much of the earlier Bödeli Railway (German: Bödelibahn) dating back to 1872.

The line is 27.9-kilometre (17.3 mi) long, and is currently owned and operated by the BLS AG railway company. Besides traffic to and from Interlaken, the section of line between Thun and Spiez also carries heavy traffic to and from the Lötschberg line.

The history of the Lake Thun line is linked to that of the shipping services on Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, which date back to at least 1834, when the first steamship was introduced. The two lakes are linked by a 5.5 km (3.4 mi) stretch of the Aare through Interlaken, but the river is not navigable, dropping some 6 metres (20 ft) and passing over several weirs.

In 1872, the first part of the Bödeli Railway was built, from Därligen, on Lake Thun, to what is now Interlaken West station. In 1874, it was extended, via what is now Interlaken Ost station, to Bönigen, on Lake Brienz. The line was not connected to any other railway, and served to connect the shipping on the two lakes to each other, and to Interlaken. The route of the Bödeli Railway crosses the Aare twice, using bridges with little headroom beneath them, and it has been suggested that this was done deliberately in order to dissuade attempts to canalise the river and thus maintain the railway's role.