Brünig railway line

Gradient profile of the line

Start of the line; the Brünig line terminal platforms in Lucerne station.

Giswil station is the terminus of the S-Bahn service from Lucerne.

A GoldenPass Line liveried train descending the rack section from the Brünig Pass towards Giswil.

Brünig-Hasliberg station is the summit of the line, in the Brünig Pass.

A train climbing the rack section from Meiringen to the Brünig Pass.

Regio trains, made up of Stadler SPATZ units, passing at Brienz.

Bridge carrying the line over the Aare into Interlaken Ost.

The line begins at Lucerne station, one of Switzerland's principal railway stations and which is shared with the standard gauge lines of the Swiss Federal Railways. The metre gauge terminal platforms, and the first section of the line, are shared with trains of the Luzern–Stans–Engelberg line. Shortly after leaving the station, the line enters a tunnel under Lucerne's southern suburbs as far as Kriens Mattenhof station. From here the line runs on the surface to Hergiswil, where the Luzern–Stans–Engelberg line diverges.[1][3]

From Hergiswil station the Brünig line runs through the Lopper I tunnel, under a shoulder of Mount Pilatus, to Alpnachstad, which is the starting point of the Pilatus Railway. The two lines are of different gauges, and there is no track connection. From Alpnachstad station, the Brünig line follows the Sarner Aa and Lake Sarnen to Giswil. Beyond Giswil station, the line's first rack section then allows the line to climb to Kaiserstuhl station. From here, the runs through the upper basin of the Sarner Aa and alongside Lake Lungern as far as Lungern. This is the steepest adhesion worked section of the line.[1][3]

After Lungern station, a second rack section lifts the line to its summit at Brünig-Hasliberg station in the Brünig Pass. Beyond the pass, the line descends its third and final rack section, down the steep side of the valley of the Aare, to Meiringen. This is the steepest rack worked section of the line. At Meiringen station, the Brünig line reverses direction with trains both entering and leaving the station from the west end. The Meiringen–Innertkirchen Railway (MIB) connects here, leaving the station from its eastern end. Although there is a track connection between the two lines, they are electrically incompatible, and no through trains operate.[1][3]

From Meiringen to Brienz the line runs close to the Aare, in that river's valley. At Brienz station, the starting point of the Brienz Rothorn Railway is beside the Brünig railway station. The two lines are of different gauges, and there is no track connection. Beyond Brienz, the Brünig line runs along the northern shore of Lake Brienz, in a section often affected by landslides. Finally the line crosses the Aare on a high bridge, so built in order to allow lake shipping to reach Interlaken. It then passes over the standard gauge access to the BLS AG works at Bönigen, before descending into its terminus at Interlaken Ost station, which is shared with the BLS AG and Berner Oberland Railway (BOB). There is a physical connection with the BOB, which is also metre gauge, but again the lines are electrically incompatible and no through trains operate.[1]

The line is built to metre gauge (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in gauge), and operates on the rack and adhesion principle, using sections of Riggenbach rack to overcome the steeper gradients encounted on the approaches to the Brünig pass, but with most of the line operated by normal adhesion methods. The line is electrified using the standard Swiss main line system of 15 kV, ​16 ²⁄₃ Hz AC, delivered by overhead line. The line has maximum gradients of 12%, using the rack, and 3%, using simple adhesion.[1]

The route is 74 kilometres (46 mi) long. It consists mostly of single track with passing loops at most stations, although the section between Lucerne and Hergiswil, which is shared with the Luzern–Stans–Engelberg line, is mostly double track. For much of the distance between Lucerne and Horw, one of these two tracks is dual gauge, allowing standard gauge freight trains to reach the industrial areas along the line, and the Eichhof brewery.[1]

The steam locomotives G 3/4 and HG 3/3 can operate on the rack sections only in the forward direction, hence turntables are needed. The historic, hand-operated turntable in Meiringen was dismantled in 2011, but was rebuilt at a new location in 2013.[9] Similarly, the historic turntable in Giswil was moved to another location in the course of the renewal of the station in 2013.[10]

The line is served by hourly InterRegio trains that operate the full length of the line, taking just under two hours for the journey. These through trains stop at all stations between Meiringen and Giswil, where they provide the only service, but only at a selected stations between Interlaken and Meiringen, and between Lucerne and Giswil.

The through trains are supplemented by local trains at each end of the route. An hourly Regio train operates between Interlaken and Meiringen, stopping at all stations. Between Lucerne and Giswil, twice-hourly trains of the Lucerne S-Bahn line S5 provide a stopping service. The section of line between Hergiswil and Lucerne is shared with trains on the Luzern–Stans–Engelberg line, including a further InterRegio train per hour, and the twice-hourly Lucerne S-Bahn line S4.[4]