About this journey

The journey begins at Solothurn station, the capital of the Canton of Solothurn and a significant railway junction where four operators converge across three different track areas. The metre-gauge Regionalverkehr Bern-Solothurn, known as RBS, departs from a dedicated island platform on the south side of the station, designated tracks 9 and 10, before heading southwest toward the Swiss capital.

RBS operates this metre-gauge connection between the two cities, running entirely separate infrastructure from the standard-gauge national network. At the Bern end, the line arrives at its own set of platforms, numbered 21 to 24, tucked apart from the main concourse of a station that first opened progressively between 1858 and 1860 and has been rebuilt several times since. Bern station has throughout its life served as the second largest station in Switzerland and today functions as the central hub for the city's S-Bahn network, covering a metropolitan area of more than one million people. A major underground expansion, approved on 26 June 2017 and costing CHF 614 million for the new station alone, was still under construction at the time of filming, with completion now expected in 2029. The two termini frame the journey neatly: Solothurn's compact multi-operator junction at one end, and one of Switzerland's most ambitious station redevelopment projects at the other.