The Bern tramway network () is a network of tramways forming part of the public transport system in Bern, the capital city of Switzerland. In operation since 1890, it presently has five lines, one of which incorporates the .
The trams on the network run on track. Initially, they were powered by compressed air, but from 1894, the air trams were supplemented by steam trams. Since 1901, the trams have been powered by electricity, at 600 V DC.
The network is operated by a public transport corporation, the Städtische Verkehrsbetriebe Bern (SVB), which, since 2000, has marketed itself mainly under the trading name Bernmobil. The SVB also operates most of Bern's motor buses, and the Bern trolleybus system. Like the other public transport services in the region, the tramway network is part of the Libero-Tarifverbund, which is equivalent to a passenger transport executive or transit district.
History
Pneumatic trams
On 18 July 1889, the Eidgenössische Amt für Verkehr (Confederate Office of Transport) (EAV) granted the (Bernese Tramway Company) (BTG) an 80-year concession for the operation of tramways in Bern.
Construction of a tramway began immediately, and the first line was opened on 1 October 1890.
Services were operated by compressed air-powered vehicles, known colloquially as Lufttrams (air trams), according to the system developed by the Parisian engineer Louis Mékarski.
The first line, designated as line I, ran from the Bärengraben (bear pits), which was also the location of the depot, to the Bremgartenfriedhof, via Bern railway station. At each terminus, there was a turntable to turn the vehicles.
During the winter months, the compressed air pipes often froze, and this would lead to several days of service interruptions.
Steam tramway
In light of the problems the BTG was experiencing with operating the pneumatic trams, and also Bern's challenging topography, the residents of the city voted in favour of using steam trams to operate line II. This line, opened in 1894, ran from Länggasse to Wabern, via the railway station, the Mattenhofquartier (Eigerplatz) and Weissenbühl.
The depot for the steam trams was in the Mattenhofquartier. Bern's main tram depot is still located there.
The new steam tram line ousted Bern's horse-drawn omnibuses from the city centre; from then onwards, the omnibuses operated a new connection from Wabern to Belp-Steinbach. Meanwhile, plans were developed to extend the steam tramway to Kehrsatz and Belp.
A coalition of political and economic interests in various neighbouring communities then vehemently campaigned for the construction of a steam-driven interurban tramway from Bern to Worb. Such a tramway would allow connections at Gümligen with the standard gauge railways to Bern, Thun and Emmental. The BTG assisted with planning and cost calculations, and applied on behalf of the coalition for the required concession, which was issued by the EAV on 23 December 1896.
The opening of the long Bern to Worb tramway took place on 21 October 1898. From then until 31 March 1904, the Bern-Worb-Bahn (BWB) was operated by the BTG.
Electrification The development of urban tramway networks in Switzerland and abroad at around the turn of the 20th century did not go unnoticed in Bern. A third line was planned for the Bern tramway network at that time, and it was intended to operate that line by electricity from the outset. Electrification of the two existing lines was planned to follow. There was opposition to the construction of overhead catenary, mainly from the residents of on the other side of the Aare. But at the ballot box, the electrification plans received the go ahead. Equally as unsuccessful as the opposition to electrification was a simultaneous popular initiative for the retention of the Lufttrams on line I.
On 1 July 1901, services commenced on line III. This led from Breitenrain to Burgernziel via the Zytglogge. For four and a half months, Bern had three types of tram traction at the same time. The opening of the enabled the replacement of the city's horse-drawn omnibus services. On the other hand, plans for the extension of line II were abandoned. The last day of operation of the pneumatic trams was 15 November 1901. None of the pneumatically powered vehicles have been preserved, but the old Depot and a bus shelter at the Bärengraben continue to remind Bernese residents today of the Lufttram era. The Bärengraben depot was abandoned and sold three years later.
In time for the winter of 1901-1902, the Burgernziel depot, which also still exists today, was able to be completed. Electric operations on line II were taken up on 29 January 1902. For that purpose, 24 two-axle and seven Maximum-bogied motor tramcars, as well as the twelve former steam tram trailers, were available. The SSB remained the only Swiss tram company that bought the Maximum-bogied tramcars. In the course of 1902, the SSB also retrained the horse tram drivers from the city of Biel/Bienne as electric tram drivers, so that in the new year of 1903 a smooth transition could be made to the new form of traction.
In the summer of 1904, eight short open tram trailer cars were added to the fleet. They rapidly came to enjoy great popularity. Unexpectedly, damage to the chassis frame occurred on two of the motor tramcars used to haul the open trailers, which operated mostly on line I. The damage was obviously caused by the Demerbe rails used on that line, and the SSB was forced to replace the two tramcars much earlier than planned. At the end of 1905 came the first six axle enclosed tram trailer. Between 1906 and 1914, 29 two-axle motor tramcars were commissioned in a number of separate deliveries. These new tramcars were stronger than their predecessors and were also no longer asymmetrical.
Bern's fourth tramway, line IV, was the first radial route in the Bern tramway network. It ran from the railway station to Brückfeld. Scheduled services on line IV commenced on 27 June 1908. To cater for the Eidgenössische Schützenfest 1910, line III had been extended during the preceding winter months to Papiermühlestrasse. In addition, four new two-axle tram trailers had been purchased. In 1909, more than ten million passengers travelled on Bern's trams for the first time.
In 1911, the SSB changed the routing of lines II, III and IV. The station was now the central interchange point. The line II trams ran from Weissenbühl to Papiermühlestrasse, those of line III from Länggasse to Burgernziel, and the trams on line IV from Wabern to Länggasse. With the opening of the to Friedheim section through the Quartier in 1912, the line IV trams could now run directly to Wabern without going through the Mattenhofquartier and Weissenbühl. Since then, the Weissenbühl Friedheim section has been a non-revenue track. At the same time, a new network came into operation. The lines were now given Arabic designators:
Line 1 (opposite direction: line 2): Bärengraben – Bahnhof – Friedhof (former line I) Line 3 (opposite direction: line 4): Weissenbühl – Bahnhof – Papiermühlestrasse (former line II) Line 5 (opposite direction: line 6): Länggasse – Bahnhof – Burgernziel (former line III) Line 8 (opposite direction: line 9): Wabern – Friedheim – Bahnhof – Brückfeld (former line IV)
Trams that reversed at Friedheim, and therefore did not continue to Wabern, operated as line 7. The fleet of two-axle trailers was expanded by another seven units.
In 1913, the tramway sections in the Länggasse and to Brückfeld were converted into double track lines, in preparation for the that was to be held in Bern the following year. During the Exposition, the SSB was responsible for the operation of the Rundbahn (circle of track) running through the exhibition grounds. To cope with the task of carrying Exposition visitors to and from the Exposition, the SSB also procured more two-axle trailers. These were the last two-axle vehicles to be acquired by the SSB, and for nearly two decades were also the SSB's newest trailers. Upon their entry into service, the size of the SSB's fleet was increased to a total of 60 motor cars and 54 trailer cars.
World War I
In the summer of 1914, tram traffic in Bern came to be affected by global politics, when the Federal Council ordered the general mobilization of the army effective from 2 August 1914. As a result, a total of 125 employees of the SSB went missing from all areas of its operations. This loss of available staff represented about 40 percent of a workforce of 319 people. To alleviate the personnel shortage, the company needed 144 Hilfskondukteure (assisting conductors). At that time, women were not allowed to be hired.
Meanwhile, to facilitate the extension of the Worblentalbahn (WT) from Papiermühlestrasse to the Kornhausplatz with effect from 19 July 1915, the spacing between the tracks had to be increased, initially in the curves, to avoid crossing prohibitions due to the greater width of the WT's vehicles. As World War I continued, the SSB was forced by inflationary increases in the price of coal imports to restrict its activities to the absolute minimum. The six Rundbahn motor cars, which, due to their low powered motors, had been used only as summer trailers, were converted to closed vehicles that could be used all year round. Three vehicles became trailers, and the tramcars that had actually been procured as summer trailers were sold to the Städtische Strassenbahn Zürich.
In the summer of 1918, the SSB helped out the Bern-Worb-Bahn on a number of Sundays, by lending tramcar combinations that were able to carry many day trippers despite the BWB's shortage of vehicles.
Interwar period In 1919, the Bernese Gemeinderat debated the merits of two projects for the extension of the tram network. While the extension of line 1/2 from Bärengraben to Ostermundigen (with inclines at Aargauerstalden, Laubeggstrasse and Ostermundigenstrasse) was rejected for cost reasons, the Gemeinderat agreed to a line to Bümpliz. This line was compensation for the incorporation of Bümpliz into Bern.
After the war, the economic situation did not improve much at first. The SSB remained limited to only the most essential maintenance work. Nineteen twenty was the first year in the company's operating history to end in a deficit. In 1920 and 1921, a total of 65 people had to be laid off. The sale of surplus spare parts to the brought in revenue of 700 Swiss francs.
Between 1921 and 1932, the summer tramcars were rebuilt in the SSB's own workshop into closed all-year-round trailers. Some vehicles were used as testbeds for various modifications until, with one exception, they were all fitted with the large round platforms that were typical for Bern.
In 1923, the network was extended once again for the first time in 15 years. With the commissioning of the branch line from the Effingerstrasse into Fischermätteli on 18 November 1923, the Bern tramway network reached a length of . The branch line was the last new SSB line to be built for nearly a quarter of a century. The new line's introduction led to a slight change in the network's operations: trams now ran from Brückfeld into Fischermätteli (line 11; in the opposite direction, line 12). The line to Wabern became a radial route.
An application by the Bern–Worb-Bahn for permission to relocate its terminus from to (Hotelgasse) at the other (Bern) end of the was met with a negative response from the City of Bern: it feared that such a relocation would lead to a substantial deterioration of the traffic conditions on the edge of the inner city. Instead, the proposal started a political debate that extended over the following eight decades, until it was finally implemented in the late 1990s.