The Sonceboz-Sombeval–Moutier railway is a single-track standard gauge railway line 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 ...

(SBB).

History

The line from

Biel/Bienne Biel/Bienne (official bilingual wording; , ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Biel/Bienne (administrative district), Biel/Bienne administrative district in the canton of Bern in Swi ...

via

Sonceboz-Sombeval Sonceboz-Sombeval is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (''Jura Bernois''). History Sonceboz-Sombeval is first mentioned in 866 as ...

Moutier Moutier () is a municipality in Switzerland. Currently, the town belongs to the Jura bernois administrative district of the canton of Bern. On 28 March 2021, the population voted to secede from the canton of Bern and join the Canton of Jura; the ...

was built by the

Jura bernois Bernese Jura (french: Jura bernois, ) is the name for the French-speaking area of the Swiss canton of Bern, and from 2010 one of ten administrative divisions of the canton. Comprising the three French-speaking districts in the northern part of th ...

(JB) and was part of the international connection from

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

Delémont Delémont (; fc, D'lémont; german: Delsberg, ) is the capital of the Swiss canton of Jura. The city has approximately 12,000 inhabitants . History The area of the municipality was already settled in the middle Bronze Age. Fifteen urn buria ...

and on to

Belfort Belfort (; archaic german: Beffert/Beffort) is a city in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Northeastern France, situated between Lyon and Strasbourg, approximately from the France–Switzerland border. It is the prefecture of the Territo ...

via

Delle Delle () is a commune in the Territoire de Belfort department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in northeastern France. Delle is the last French town on the railway line from Belfort to Berne, in Switzerland. The railway station in Delle is served by ...

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

. The Biel/Bienne–Sonceboz-Sombeval–

Tavannes Tavannes is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking part of the canton in the Jura mountains. History The area around Tavannes was traversed by the ...

section was opened along with the Sonceboz-Sombeval–Convers(–La Chaux-de-Fonds) line on 30 April 1874. Two years later, on 16 December 1876, the Tavannes–

Court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

section was opened together with the Moutier–Delémont railway. The intermediate Court–Moutier section followed on 24 May 1877. The Jura bernois changed its name to Jura–Bern–Luzern (JBL) in 1884. The JBL merged with the

Western Switzerland–Simplon Company The Western Switzerland Railways (''Chemins de fer de la Suisse Occidentale'', shortened to ''Suisse-Occidentale''; SO or S-O), were initially a joint operation of three Swiss railway companies, but these companies merged on 1 January 1872. The co ...

(''Compagnie de la Suisse Occidentale et du Simplon'', SOS) on 1 January 1890 to form the Jura–Simplon Railway (''Compagnie des Chemins de Fer Jura–Simplon'', JS). The JS was one of the five major private railway companies in Switzerland, which were nationalised and integrated to form the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) on 1 May 1903. Since the opening of the

Grenchenberg Tunnel The Grenchenberg (1,405 m) is a mountain of the Jura, located on the border between the Swiss cantons of Bern and Solothurn. The mountain is named after the town of Grenchen Grenchen (french: Granges) is a municipality in the district of Leb ...

on 1 October 1915, the direct trains from Biel to Delémont have used the shorter and less steep line via

Grenchen Grenchen (french: Granges) is a municipality in the district of Lebern in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located at the foot of the Jura mountains between Solothurn and Biel/Bienne, approximately north of Bern. With over 16,000 i ...

. The Sonceboz-Sombeval–Moutier section of the line, which as a result became a branch line, has been operated electrically since 15 July 1934.

Route description

The line runs out of Sonceboz-Sombeval station parallel to the line to Chaux-de-Fonds and after a long right turn, its climbs up the valley and passes through the tunnel under the

Col de Pierre Pertuis Col de Pierre Pertuis (el. 827 m.) is a mountain pass in the Jura Mountains in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It connects Sonceboz and Tavannes. The name of the pass comes from the Latin: ''Petra pertusa'', meaning ''broken rock''. Th ...

. In Tavannes, travellers have the opportunity to switch to the

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...

trains on the line to Noirmont of the

Chemins de fer du Jura The Chemins de fer du Jura is a railway company in the canton of Jura The Republic and Canton of Jura (french: République et canton du Jura), less formally the Canton of Jura or Canton Jura ( , ), is the newest (founded in 1979) of the 26 Sw ...

(CJ). The line to Moutier continues along the

Birs The Birs (French: ''Birse'') is a long river in Switzerland that flows through the Jura region and ends as a tributary to the Rhine between Basel and Birsfelden. It is the most important river of the Swiss Jura. Course The Birs has its source i ...

via

Reconvilier Reconvilier is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (''Jura Bernois''). History Reconvilier is first mentioned in 884 as ''Roconis ...

and

Malleray Malleray is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (''Jura Bernois''). On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Bévilard, Mallera ...

Bévilard Bévilard is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (''Jura Bernois''). On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Bévilard, Mallera ...

. After crossing the narrow valley of

, the line reaches Moutier where it meets the newer and shorter connection from Biel under the Grenchenberg plateau.

Operations

Since the opening of the Grenchenberg Tunnel in 1915 only regional trains have operated on the Sonceboz-Sombeval–Moutier line. Today one Regio service runs each hour from Biel via Sonceboz to Moutier and continues on the Solothurn–Moutier railway to

Solothurn Solothurn ( , ; french: Soleure ; it, Soletta ; rm, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the Capital (political), capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the n ...

. This train is split or joined in Sonceboz-Sombeval, with the other part of the train going on to La Chaux-de-Fonds. The SBB took over 13 GTW sets from the BLS for the service in 2014.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sonceboz-Sombeval-Moutier railway Railway lines in Switzerland Railway lines opened in 1874 1874 establishments in Switzerland