Solothurn–Wanzwil railway

The Solothurn–Wanzwil railway was opened on 12 December 2004 to connect with the Mattstetten–Rothrist new line (high-speed line) as part of a package of railways forming Rail 2000.

Solothurn–Wanzwil railway
Overview
Locale	Bern, Solothurn, Switzerland
Technical
Number of tracks	1
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	15 kV/16.7 Hz AC overhead catenary
Route map km elev from Biel from Moutier from Burgdorf narrow gauge line from Niederbipp 79.4 Solothurn 431 m narrow gauge line to Bern 80.0 to Olten 79.0 Scintilla 431 m A 5 (78 m) Emme bridge Derendingen (84 m) 77.2 Derendingen 436 m Derendingen siding 77.2 Derendingen level crossing 75.9 Industrial road level crossing 74.8 Subingen 442 m Subingen siding 74.7 Subingen level crossing 72.8 Etziken 458 m 70.3 start of double track Wolfacher Tunnel north (626 m) 68.5 junction with new line from Bern new line to Rothrist Source: Swiss railway atlas[1]

The built route mostly uses the route of the Solothurn–Herzogenbuchsee railway, which was closed in 1992.

The Solothurn–Wanzwil section is single-track and, together with the Mattstetten–Rothrist line, was the first line in Switzerland to use the European Train Control System in regular operation.

The maximum speed from Solothurn to Subingen is 140 km/h and from there it is 200 km/h. The turnout at the transition to double-track can also be run at 200 km/h.

The line is mainly used by the ICN services on the St. Gallen–Lausanne/Geneva route, which pass through without stopping between Olten and Solothurn.

Additional colour light signalling was planned as a response to concerns that the ETCS system would not be ready for operation for the opening of the line (on 12 December 2004). Two conditions in the planning approval of the department of transport required that this fallback would be removed at the latest ten years after the start of operations. Additional work to optimise operations were planned as part of demolition work planned for late 2013 and early 2014, which were to cost CHF 7.4 million.[2]