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Biel/Bienne
The main entrance to the station on the northern side
General information
Location	Bahnhofplatz Biel/Bienne Switzerland
Coordinates	47°7′58.386″N 7°14′34.505″E / 47.13288500°N 7.24291806°E / 47.13288500; 7.24291806
Elevation	437 m (1,434 ft)
Owned by	Swiss Federal Railways
Line(s)	Basel–Biel/Bienne line Biel/Bienne–Bern line Biel/Bienne–La Chaux-de-Fonds line Biel–Täuffelen–Ins line Jura Foot line
Platforms	10 2 side platforms 4 island platforms
Tracks	12
Train operators	Aare Seeland mobil BLS AG Swiss Federal Railways
Connections	PostAuto AG/CarPostal SA buses Biel/Bienne trolleybuses (VB/Tpb) BSG ships
Construction
Platform levels	2
Parking	Yes (140 spaces)
Accessible	Yes
Architect	Moser und Schürch (1923); Johann Jenzer (1864); Karl Etzel and Ludwig Maring (1857)
Other information
Station code	8504300 (BI)
Fare zone	libero: 300
Website	Welcome to Biel/Bienne station.
History
Opened	1923 (1923) (1859 at different location)
Passengers
2023	50,800 per weekday (BLS, SBB (excluding ASM))
Rank	12 of 1160
Services
Preceding station [REDACTED] Swiss Federal Railways Following station Neuchâteltowards Lausanne IC 5 Grenchen Südtowards Zürich Hauptbahnhof or St. Gallen Solothurntowards Rorschach Terminus IC 51 Grenchen Nordtowards Basel SBB RE56 Grenchen Nordtowards Meroux Sonceboz-Sombevaltowards La Chaux-de-Fonds RE4 Terminus Frinvillier-Taubenlochtowards La Chaux-de-Fonds or Moutier R41 Tüscherztowards Yverdon-les-Bains R13 Tüscherztowards Neuchâtel R16 Terminus S20 Biel Metttowards Olten Preceding station [REDACTED] BLS Following station Terminus IR 65 Lysstowards Bern RE11Weekends only Lysstowards Brig Preceding station Aare Seeland mobil Following station Nidautowards Ins S37 Terminus Preceding station Bern S-Bahn Following station Terminus S3 Brügg BEtowards Belp S31 Lysstowards Belp
Location

Biel/Bienne railway station (German: Bahnhof Biel; French: Gare de Bienne) serves the bilingual municipality of Biel/Bienne, in the canton of Bern, Switzerland.

It is a major railway junction on the Swiss railways network. It lies on one of the two busiest major railway lines between the northeastern (St. Gallen/Zürich) and southwestern Switzerland (Geneva); the other goes via Bern. An InterCity between St. Gallen and Genève-Aéroport only takes 3:58h with one of its tilting train compositions (in 2024). The other major line is between Basel and Lausanne/Geneva; via Delémont it also connects the canton of Jura with the Swiss railway network. And third, it also connects the French-speaking part of canton of Bern (the Bernese Jura) and La Chaux-de-Fonds (NE) in the west with Bern in the east.

All trains of these lines meet in Biel/Bienne at a quarter after and a quarter before o'clock in a half an hour frequency according to the Swiss-wide applied clock-face scheduling, so that seamless changes of just a few (2–5) minutes between trains of all these lines are easily possible.

It is located in the center of Biel/Bienne and is therefore part of the fare zone 300 of the libero fare network.

Biel/Bienne's railway station is the twelfth busiest station in Switzerland with 50'800 passengers per working day (in 2023).

Services

Long-distance

The following long-distance trains call at Biel/Bienne:

• InterCity:
  • half-hourly service over the Jura Foot line to Lausanne and Zürich Hauptbahnhof, with every other train continuing to Rorschach, rush-hour trains continue from Zürich Hauptbahnhof to St. Gallen.
  • hourly service over the Basel–Biel/Bienne line to Basel SBB.
• InterRegio: half-hourly service over the Biel/Bienne–Bern line to Bern.

Regional

The following regional trains call at Biel/Bienne:

• RegioExpress:
  • hourly service over the Basel–Biel/Bienne line from Biel/Bienne to Meroux (in France).
  • hourly service over the Biel/Bienne–La Chaux-de-Fonds line to La Chaux-de-Fonds.
  • daily service over the Biel/Bienne–Bern line on weekends during the high season to Brig.
• Regio:
  • hourly service to Yverdon-les-Bains.
  • hourly service to Neuchâtel at various times during the day.
  • hourly service over the Biel/Bienne–La Chaux-de-Fonds line to La Chaux-de-Fonds and Moutier via Sonceboz-Sombeval.

S-Bahn

The following Bern S-Bahn trains call at Biel/Bienne:

• S3: half-hourly service over the Biel/Bienne–Bern line to Belp.
• S20: half-hourly service to Solothurn, with every other train continuing from Solothurn to Olten.
• S31: rush-hour service over the Biel/Bienne–Bern line to Belp.
• S37: half-hourly service over the Biel–Täuffelen–Ins line to Ins.

See also

• History of rail transport in Switzerland
• Rail transport in Switzerland

References

1. "Liniennetz Biel und Umgebung - Plan du réseau Bienne et environs" (PDF) (in German and French). Libero. 15 December 2024. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
2. "Zonenplan Plan des Zones" (PDF) (in German and French). Libero. 15 December 2024. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
3. "Passagierfrequenz (2023)". Biel/Bienne, Switzerland: SBB CFF FFS. 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2024 – via data.sbb.ch – SBB DATA PORTAL.
4. ^ "Abfahrt: Bahnhof/Gare de Biel/Bienne" (PDF). Swiss Federal Railways (in German and French). 15 December 2024. Retrieved 8 January 2025.

Notes

• Boss, Paul (1997). Das war der alte Bahnhof [That was the old Station] (in German). Bern: Benteli Verlag. OCLC 603800392.
• Stutz, Werner (1976). Bahnhöfe der Schweiz [Railway Stations of Switzerland] (in German). Zürich: Verlag Berichthaus. p. 162. ISBN 3-85572-018-5.

External links

• [REDACTED] Media related to Biel/Bienne railway station at Wikimedia Commons
• Biel/Bienne railway station – SBB

• Railway stations in Switzerland opened in 1923
• Railway stations in the canton of Bern
• Swiss Federal Railways stations
• Transport in Biel/Bienne