Interlaken Ost railway station

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.^[1]

Interlaken Ost
The station building in 2007
General information
Location	Untere Bönigstrasse Interlaken, Bern Switzerland
Coordinates	46°41′24″N 7°52′8″E
Elevation	567 m (1,860 ft)
Owned by	Bernese Oberland Railway; Bödelibahn (1874-?)
Line(s)	Bernese Oberland line Brünig line Thunersee line Bödelibahn line (originally)
Distance	28.0 km (17.4 mi) from Thun 74.0 km (46.0 mi) from Lucerne [1]
Platforms	8 (3 island platforms)
Tracks	9
Train operators	Berner Oberland-Bahnen [de] BLS AG Deutsche Bahn Swiss Federal Railways Zentralbahn
Connections	BLS AG ferries on Lake Brienz[2] PostAuto Schweiz and Verkehrsbetriebe STI bus lines[3]
Construction
Parking	200
Other information
Station code	IO
IATA code	ZIN
Fare zone	750 (Libero)[4]
History
Opened	1874 (1874)
Previous names	Interlaken Zollhaus
Passengers
2023	14'500 per weekday[5] (BLS, SBB, Zentralbahn (excluding BOB))
Services
Preceding station Berner Oberland-Bahnen AG Following station Terminus Bernese Oberland Railway Matten bei Interlaken towards Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald Preceding station DB Fernverkehr Following station Interlaken West towards Berlin Ostbahnhof ICE 12 Terminus Interlaken West towards Hamburg-Altona ICE 20 Preceding station Zentralbahn Following station Terminus Panorama Express Luzern-Interlaken Express Brienz towards Lucerne Oberried am Brienzersee towards Lucerne Regio Ringgenberg towards Meiringen Preceding station BLS Following station Interlaken West towards Spiez RE9 Terminus Interlaken West towards Montreux GoldenPass Express Preceding station Swiss Federal Railways Following station Interlaken West towards Hamburg-Altona EuroCity Terminus Interlaken West towards Basel SBB IC 61 Interlaken West towards Romanshorn IC 81
Location

Interlaken Ost is an important railway junction at the meeting point of three railway lines, the Thunersee line of the BLS AG, the Brünig line of the Zentralbahn, and the Bernese Oberland railway (BOB). In addition to trains operated directly by the owners of these lines, the station is also reached by passenger trains of the Swiss Federal Railways, Deutsche Bahn, all of which operate over the Thunersee line.^[1]

The station provides an interchange with the local bus network provided by PostBus Switzerland and the regional bus line to Thun provided by Verkehrsbetriebe STI. Ships of the BLS-owned fleet on Lake Brienz serve a quay at Interlaken Ost, which they access via a navigable reach of the Aar river.

History

A BOB train at Interlaken Ost, note the former brown / cream livery

In 1872, the standard gauge Bödelibahn railway opened from Därligen, on Lake Thun, to Interlaken, as Interlaken West station was then known. Two years later it was extended to Bönigen, on Lake Brienz, via a new station that was at first known as Interlaken Zollhaus. Initially this line was unconnected to the rest of the Swiss railway system, and merely served as a link between the steamships on both lakes. In 1893, the line reached Thun, with onward connections to Bern and beyond, eventually becoming part of the BLS.^[6][7]

In 1890, the metre gauge Berner Oberland railway opened, adopting Interlaken Zollhaus as the terminus of its route to the tourist destinations of Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald. As a consequence, Interlaken Zollhaus became more important, and was renamed Interlaken Ost. At the same time the original Interlaken station became Interlaken West.^[7]

Meanwhile, in 1888, the metre gauge Brünig railway had opened between Brienz, on Lake Brienz, and Alpnachstad, on Lake Lucerne, thus providing a through steamer and rail connection from Interlaken to Lucerne. By 1916 the Brünig railway had reached Interlaken Ost from Brienz, and, together an earlier extension at its eastern end, provided a through rail route to Lucerne.^[7]

Standard gauge passenger service between Interlaken Ost and Bönigen ceased in 1969, although much of the line still exists in order to provide access to the BLS workshops as described above.^[6]

Operation

The station seen from the east. The BOB line curves in from the left, serving the leftmost platforms. The Brünig line arrives from the right and serves the central platforms. The Thunersee line arrives from the far end of the station, and serves the rightmost platforms.

Layout

The station is notable in that although lines converge on it from three directions, it is the terminus of every passenger service which enters it. There are no through services due to incompatibilities in gauge and electrical systems. The Thunersee line is standard gauge while the BOB and Brünig tracks are metre gauge. Additionally, there are two electrical systems; 1500 V DC for the BOB services and 15 kV AC for all the rest.^[1]

The platforms used by the Brünig line and BOB are terminal platforms and no metre gauge track exists west of the station. Whilst no standard gauge passenger trains now run to the east of the station, that section of the station is configured for through traffic, and the tracks continue for about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) to the east in order to provide access to the BLS workshops at Bönigen.^[1]

None of the eight platform tracks are dual-gauge or dual-system, from the south side of the station, where the station building is located, the first three platform tracks are used by the BOB, the next two by the Brünig line, and the final three by the Thunersee line.

Services

As of the December 2023 timetable change,^[update] the following services stop at Interlaken Ost:^[8]

• EuroCity / InterCity / Intercity Express (ICE): hourly or better service to Basel SBB. Most northbound trains terminate in Basel; a single EuroCity and an ICE continue to Hamburg-Altona and one ICE continues to Berlin Ostbahnhof.
• InterCity: service every two hours to Romanshorn.
• GoldenPass Express: 4 daily round-trips to Montreux.
• Panorama Express / Regio: half-hourly service to Meiringen and hourly service to Lucerne.
• InterRegio : two daily round trips to Lucerne between May and October.
• RegioExpress: service every two hours to Spiez.
• Regio: half-hourly service to Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald; trains operate combined between Interlaken Ost and Zweilütschinen.

References

1. Eisenbahnatlas Schweiz. Cologne: Schweers + Wall. 2012. p. 82. ISBN 978-3-89494-130-7.
2. "Übersichtskarte Thuner- & Brienzersee" (PDF) (in German). BLS AG. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
3. "Liniennetz Interlaken und Umgebung" (PDF) (in German). Libero. 10 December 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
4. "Zonenplan Plan des Zones" (PDF) (in German and French). Libero. 10 December 2023. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
5. "Passagierfrequenz (2023)". Interlaken, Switzerland: SBB CFF FFS. 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2024 – via data.sbb.ch – SBB DATA PORTAL.
6. "Interlaken Ost–Bönigen". www.eingestellte-bahnen.ch (in German). Retrieved 17 April 2024.
7. "The history of BLS Navigation". BLS AG. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
8. "Abfahrt/Departure: Bahnhof/Station Interlaken Ost" (PDF). BLS AG (in German and English). 10 December 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2024.

External links

• Media related to Interlaken Ost railway station at Wikimedia Commons
• Interlaken Ost railway station – SBB