About this journey

Bern station, opened progressively between 1858 and 1860 and rebuilt several times since, serves as a shared hub for SBB, BLS, and the metre-gauge RBS. It is from these standard-gauge platforms that the hourly InterRegio to La Chaux-de-Fonds departs, operated here by a BLS RABe 528 MIKA.

The route climbs from the Swiss Plateau into the Jura Mountains, delivering the train to La Chaux-de-Fonds station at an altitude of 992 metres, a few kilometres south of the French border. Approaching the terminus, the line runs parallel to SBB routes from Neuchâtel and Biel and a metre-gauge line from Les Ponts-de-Martel before reaching the station throat. La Chaux-de-Fonds itself carries a distinct history: partially destroyed by fire in 1794, it was rebuilt on a grid street plan unique among Swiss cities, and in 2009 it received UNESCO World Heritage status alongside Le Locle for its watchmaking urban heritage. The journey in a single hour moves from one of Switzerland's principal federal railway hubs, busy with intercity and regional connections, to a high plateau city whose orderly geometry and industrial heritage set it apart from the valley towns left behind at the start.