Interlaken West is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

in the resort town of

Interlaken , neighboring_municipalities= Bönigen, Därligen, Matten bei Interlaken, Ringgenberg, Unterseen , twintowns = Scottsdale (USA), Ōtsu (Japan), Třeboň (Czech Republic) Interlaken (; lit.: ''between lakes'') is a Swiss town and mun ...

, in the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

canton of Bern The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, Canton Berna) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. ...

. It is on the Thunersee line of the BLS AG, and is one of two stations in the town, the other being

Interlaken Ost Interlaken Ost or Interlaken East is a railway station in the resort town of Interlaken in the Swiss canton of Bern. The station was previously known as Interlaken Zollhaus. The town has one other station, Interlaken West. Interlaken Ost is a ...

. In addition to trains operated directly by the BLS, the station is also reached by passenger trains of the

Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (german: link=no, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen, ''SBB''; french: link=no, Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses, ''CFF''; it, Ferrovie federali svizzere, ''FFS'') is the national railway company of Switzerland. It is usuall ...

and

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

. The lines through the station are standard gauge and are electrified at 15 kV AC. There are two tracks, narrowing to a single track at either end of the station, and each track is served by a side platform. The station building is situated on the eastern platform. The station also provides an interchange with the local bus network provided by

PostBus Switzerland PostAuto Switzerland, PostBus Ltd. (known as in Swiss Standard German (), in Swiss French (), in Swiss Italian (), and in Romansh () is a subsidiary company of the Swiss Post, which provides regional and rural bus services throughout Swit ...

and the regional bus line to

Thun , neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg , twintown = , website = www.thun.ch Thun (french: Thoune) ...

provided by

Verkehrsbetriebe STI Verkehrsbetriebe STI ( Steffisburg- Thun-Interlaken) is a bus operator in the Swiss canton (country subdivision), canton of Bern. It is a private company based in the city of Thun, and operates bus services in that city, as well as routes linking ...

. Ships of the BLS-owned fleet on

Lake Thun Lake Thun (german: Thunersee) is an Alpine lake in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland named after the city of Thun, on its northern shore. At in surface area, it is the largest Swiss lake entirely within a single canton. The lake was created af ...

serve a quay at Interlaken West, which they access via the long

Interlaken ship canal The Interlaken ship canal (german: Interlaken Schiffskanal) is a long canal in the Swiss canton of Bern. It connects Lake Thun with a quay in the town of Interlaken adjacent to Interlaken West railway station, thus allowing shipping services on ...

History

Originally known simply as Interlaken, Interlaken West was the first station to be opened in the town, when the Bödelibahn railway reached it from

Därligen Därligen is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Därligen is first mentioned in 1244 as ''Tedningen''. The earliest traces of settlement in the area are scattered Br ...

, on

in 1872. Two years later the railway was extended to

Bönigen Bönigen is a village and municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the Swiss canton of Bern. It lies on the shore of Lake Brienz, near to the mouth of the river Lütschine, and adjacent to the resort town of Interlaken. ...

, on

Lake Brienz Lake Brienz (german: Brienzersee) is a lake just north of the Alps, in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It has a length of about , a width of and a maximum depth of . Its area is ; the surface is above the sea-level. It is fed, among others, by ...

, via Interlaken Zollhaus station. Over time, Zollhaus station became the more important station, being also served by the

Brünig railway Brünig or Bruenig may refer to: * The Brünig Pass, between the Bernese Oberland and Central Switzerland * The Brünig railway line, linking Interlaken and Lucerne in Switzerland * Elizabeth Bruenig (born 1990), American opinion writer and editor ...

and the

Bernese Oberland railway The Bernese Oberland Railway (german: Berner Oberland-Bahn, BOB) is a narrow-gauge mountain railway in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. It runs, via a "Y" junction at Zweilütschinen to serve Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald from Interla ...

. As a result, Interlaken station was renamed Interlaken West, and Interlaken Zollhaus was renamed

Services

the following services stop at Interlaken West; all eastbound/southbound trains terminate in Interlaken Ost: *

EuroCity EuroCity, abbreviated as EC, is a cross-border train category within the European inter-city rail network. In contrast to trains allocated to the lower-level "IC" (InterCity) category, EC trains are international services that meet 20 criteri ...

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

Intercity Express The Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE ()) is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany. It also serves some destinations in Austria, Denmark (ceased in 2017 but planned to resume in 2022), France, Belgium, Switzerla ...

(ICE): hourly or better service to

Basel SBB Basel SBB railway station (german: Bahnhof Basel SBB, or in earlier times ''Centralbahnhof'' or ''Schweizer Bahnhof'') is the central railway station in the city of Basel, Switzerland. Opened in 1854, and completely rebuilt in 1900–1907, it is E ...

. Most northbound trains terminate in Basel; a single EuroCity and an ICE continue to

Hamburg-Altona Altona (), also called Hamburg-Altona, is the westernmost Boroughs and quarters of Hamburg#Boroughs, urban borough (''Bezirk'') of the Germany, German States of Germany, city state of Hamburg, on the right bank of the Elbe river. From 1640 to ...

and one ICE continues to

Berlin Ostbahnhof Berlin Ostbahnhof (German for Berlin East railway station) is a main line railway station in Berlin, Germany. It is located in the Friedrichshain quarter, now part of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough, and has undergone several name changes in its ...

. * InterCity: service every two hours to . *

RegioExpress RegioExpress (RE) is a fast regional train service in Switzerland, run by Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS) or other railway companies (such as TILO, BLS, tpf, transN, THURBO or RhB). It is comparable to the Regional-Express in Germany, ...

: four trains per day to

Zweisimmen Zweisimmen is a municipality in the Obersimmental-Saanen administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Zweisimmen is first mentioned in 1228 as ''Duessimenes''. In 1257 it was mentioned as ''Zweinlixhenun''. The oldes ...

References

External links

*
Interlaken West station on Swiss Federal Railway's web site
BLS railway stations Railway stations in the canton of Bern Swiss Federal Railways stations Transport in Interlaken {{Switzerland-railstation-stub