Excursion 30 August 2025:
the alternative Jura crossing

As promised in the programme, the 16 participants were treated to a contrasting programme with many highlights.

1. Waldenburg Railway

However, procuring new rolling stock for the Waldenburg Railway’s 750 mm gauge was becoming increasingly difficult, as there was nothing off the shelf to choose from.
When the Waldenburg Railway joined BLT in 2016, it was decided to solve this problem once and for all and convert the entire railway to standard metre gauge. Meticulous planning began…

The contrast between the past and present at Waldenburg station could not be greater!
Due to the long delivery time, these 10 low-floor trains from the Tramlink family were ordered from Stadler back in 2019.

After an introduction with a PowerPoint presentation, two groups were formed. Florian Freiburghaus, Operations and Site Manager in Waldenburg, and David Niederhauser, Project Manager for the CBTC train control and guidance system, provided both groups with expert guidance.

Construction began in 2020 while operations continued. The last journey of the 750 mm trains took place on Easter Monday 2021. Regular operations with metre-gauge trains resumed when the timetable changed in December 2022. The 13-kilometre route was divided into seven construction lots.
At Liestal station, the entire track system was moved so that SBB could build an additional track.
In Niederdorf, considerable effort had to be made to improve flood protection. In fact, the railway now runs on a bridge.
45,000 tonnes of excavated material were moved, 5,000 sleepers, 2,400 tonnes of rails and 216 tonnes of catenary masts were procured and installed in this short period of time. In just 20 months, a completely new railway was built on the old site, which attracted international attention and admiration.

As the vehicles can be powered by their own batteries and can travel around 200 metres autonomously on level ground with two powered vehicle engines, there was no need for overhead lines in the hall. This means that work can be carried out at height and on the vehicle roof without the risk of electric shock.

Particularly noteworthy and the most important reason for our visit was the promising CBTC (Communication-Based Train Control) train control and guidance system. For the manufacturer Stadler, this presented a unique opportunity to install their newly developed system as a first application and test facility in this isolated operation, where everything is new. All information is displayed to the train driver as pure cab signalling. There are no signals along the entire route and routes can be selected from the vehicle.
All vehicles communicate bidirectionally with the control computer. Each vehicle knows its current position to within a few metres. There are support points distributed along the route where the exact position is transmitted to the vehicle and the position calculation is reset to this value. In between, the position is calculated based on the number of wheel revolutions (which is not absolutely accurate, as the wheel diameter depends on wear and tear, and micro-slip or sliding also leads to deviations, hence the need for calibration points). The railway currently operates at GoA1 level, where everything is monitored and controlled by the master computer and the computers on the vehicles. Even shunting movements and routes requested by the train driver remain monitored. The train crews are enthusiastic about this support.
Level GoA2 is in preparation. Here, the vehicle accelerates automatically and in an energy-optimised manner, travels at the permitted line speed, brakes and stops with centimetre precision at the platform of the next stop. The train driver starts the cycle and remains at his seat as an observer and to intervene if necessary. This level has also been positively received by the majority of train crews.
Level GoA3 will soon be tested on a limited basis in Waldenburg. Trains that are taken out of service are to be moved and stored without a train driver.
Level GoA4 would also be technically feasible, but the entire route would have to be secured against unauthorised access, which is very costly and requires regulations and measures to be developed first. GoA4 logically leads to fears of job losses and strong reactions among train crews.
The situation becomes difficult when vehicles without CBTC are used, such as rail grinding trains owned by external companies. In this case, a section of the line must be closed and, after use, the line must be ‘cleared’ by a CBTC-supported vehicle before operations can resume.

In 2024, 2.45 million passengers were transported (compared to only 2 million in 2016) with 98% punctuality.

Many thanks to our two guides, Florian Freiburghaus and David Niederhauser, for the exciting tour and interesting explanations, and to BLT / Waldenburg Railway for opening their doors to us.

BLT Magazine 2/2020 looks back at the old Waldenburg Railway and looks ahead to the modernisation that was imminent at the time. Link to the BLT Magazin 2/2020 (in German language only)

2. Wasserfallen Railway

The journey began in Waldenburg, travelling in a vintage Saurer bus parallel to the Waldenburg Railway to Bubendorf Bad. There we stopped to meet our next guide, Elias Vogt. We had also planned to visit the last steam locomotive named G. Thommen, which is kept safe in a specially constructed building together with a platform wagon. Unfortunately, the building was locked.
During the journey and at the sites we visited, Elias Vogt gave a fascinating account of the Wasserfallenbahn project, which was abandoned in 1875 after 15 months of construction. The Wasserfallenbahn was intended to be the shortest connection between Basel and Bern, handling all freight and passenger traffic. A generous double-track route with large radii and moderate gradients was planned. The Swiss Central Railway, which saw the project as competition for its own railway lines, sabotaged the project wherever possible.
The core of the project and the first destination of our excursion was the tunnel through the Jura mountains at Wasserfallen between Reigoldswil and Mümliswil. The bus took us from Bubendorf via Ziefen to Reigoldswil, where we began our search for traces of the past right next to the valley station of the Wasserfallen gondola lift.

From the station, the railway was to be led into a cutting to the tunnel portal. A Berlin engineering firm was commissioned to build the tunnel. Although it had no idea of the special requirements in mountainous terrain, it had submitted the most favourable bid. To speed up construction, several shafts were excavated in the area of the future cutting on the firm’s recommendation, from which tunnels were dug in both directions. These tunnels were to be used to remove the material from the tunnel excavation. The large amount of material from the cutting was to be removed gradually, parallel to the tunnel construction.

The exploratory tunnel starts at ground level right next to the cable car station. It is around 80 metres long. Elias Vogt opened an access gate with his key and we were able to visit this part. It is filled with water, which is not surprising when you consider the name of the mountain: Wasserfallen…
From the first shaft, which is now buried, 60 metres of tunnels were apparently built. That would mean that only 7 metres are missing on paper until the breakthrough!
As the construction site was abandoned in a hurry, it can be assumed that all the equipment from 1875 would be found in this section of the tunnel. It would be extremely exciting to dig the missing 7 metres and open this time capsule…

On the way to Mümliswil, there was a short stop above Balsthal. From this spot, there is a beautiful view over the valley, the Klus gorge opposite towards Mümliswil with the ruins of Neu Falkenstein Castle. Here, the railway would have crossed the valley on a 21-metre-high embankment and disappeared into a short tunnel next to the castle. The reason why the Klus was not crossed through the cutting was because the planners wanted to achieve wide radii and a moderate gradient.

In Mümliswil, a flat area was also created for the railway station. However, this area is now covered with houses and is therefore no longer clearly visible.
The route then continued along a narrow road (dead end) alongside the Limmernbach brook. The wild and unspoilt landscape of this gorge made a deep impression on all participants.
Several shafts were also dug on this side to speed up the tunnel construction. They have all been filled in, but are still recognisable as slight depressions in the meadows. The uppermost of these shafts was dug in a stream bed.
Normally, this is a small trickle that was diverted to the side with a few small walls.
During a storm, the stream swelled and flooded the shaft with debris and water. Attempts were made to pump it out, and additional pumps were brought in from other shafts as reinforcement. As a result, these shafts also filled with water. Water traps, after all…
Ultimately, this was one of the triggers for the contractor’s bankruptcy and the hasty abandonment of this railway construction project.

Many thanks to Elias Vogt for this exciting search for clues and to our driver Kaspar Bechter, who drove us safely along this challenging road and, with precision work, turned the coach just above this spot without a scratch.

Anyone who would like to delve deeper into the history of the Wasserfallenbahn railway will find what they are looking for on Elias Vogt’s website… He wrote the Wikipedia article…(in German language)

3. Oensingen – Balsthal – Railway (OeBB)

After the Wasserfallenbahn project failed, industry in Balsthal was left without a rail connection. The community therefore took the initiative and built a 4-kilometre branch line to Oensingen station on the Olten – Solothurn line in 1899. Until 1973, the Von Roll steelworks and the Balsthal paper mill remained the main shareholders of the railway. Today, 78% of the railway belongs to the municipality of Balsthal and a smaller part to Mümliswil. Special feature: the canton has no stake in the railway.
OeBB has a railway transport company licence for the whole of Switzerland, which runs until 2073. Since 2004, regional trains have been running on schedule with SBB trains (currently Colibri), but are driven by OeBB train drivers. Nevertheless, a separate reserve train is kept on standby for emergencies.
OeBB transports 655,000 passengers per year and delivers 1,600 to 3,200 freight cars to one of the five connecting tracks. With a route length of 4.1 kilometres, OeBB has the shortest European interoperable rail network on the continent.
The workshop, the oldest part of which dates back to 1915 (previously there was only a wooden shed) and was expanded in 1943 and 1983, is now used to store and maintain historically valuable vehicles. However, a lot of work is also carried out for third parties. The OeBB specialises in the overhaul of steam air pumps, for which it carries out practically all work for steam railways in Switzerland.
OeBB itself operates four operational steam locomotives, although the SCB Mallett Ed 2*2/2 196 and the JS Eb 2/4 35 (SBB 5469) still belong to SBB Historic, OeBB is responsible for maintenance, marketing and operation as the owner. In addition, there are two E 3/3 locomotives that once ran as works locomotives at Von Roll. There is also the famous Red Arrow RBe 2/4 1007, which has been restored to its 1956 condition. The company’s own small locomotive Ce 2/2 103 is being refurbished as a historic locomotive, with spare parts being sourced from its sister locomotive 102.
The track area between the station and the workshop, which still contains old manual points and second-hand track sections from 1879, is home to other vehicles belonging to private individuals.
After the introductory briefing, the excursion participants were free to move around the site.

Our driver Kaspar Bechter and our tour guide Urs Berger in the cockpit of the Saurer bus at the start of the last leg of the journey to Olten. Many thanks to both of them for organising and carrying out this wonderful trip.

 

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