Regionalverkehr Bern-Solothurn

Regionalverkehr Bern-Solothurn RBS ( _en. Regional Transport Berne-Solothurn) is a Swiss public transport company. It operates train, tram, and bus lines between Berne, Solothurn and Worb.

RBS was founded as the "Bern-Worb-Bahn" in 1898, which grew to RBS in 1984 through a series of mergers. 94% of its shares are owned by federal, cantonal and local authorities.

As of 2006, the company has 361 employees and owns 185 vehicles. It operates on 57 km of track and 61 km of bus lines. 23.5 million passengers are being transported each year by RBS. The subterranean RBS train station in Berne is the country's eighth-largest in terms of passenger usage, with 49,000 people using it on peak days. This heavy usage leads to overcrowding during peak hours. To increase the station's passenger handling capacity and reduce overcrowding, strict rules have been put into place to govern passenger flow.

Planing has already started to increase the size and capacity of the station in terms of passenger flow and number of trains it can handle. In 2009, a 15 minute interval for all lines is planned, thus saturating the station.

New train sets have been ordered for the RE line (Bern - Solothurn) to enable the 15 minute interval. These sets will be made my Stadler Rail AG.

References

* [http://www.rbs.ch/pdf/geschaeftsbericht_06/Geschaeftsbericht_RBS_2006.pdf Annual report, 2006]

External links

* [http://www.rbs.ch/unternehmen_english.php RBS English website]