Demand-driven tram extensions in Bern

After the opening of a number of new tram lines, on 12 December 2010, the city of Bern became known as a ‘tram city’. At the city’s main station, 46 trams, per hour, pass by in each direction. Five tram lines are bundled in the heart of the city and use the same tracks between Hirschengraben station and Bern main station. At the end of 2010, with the opening of two new tram lines in the West of Bern, and the integration of the suburban light-rail line from Worb into the tram network of BERNMOBIL, the network grew from 17km to 31km, and from three to five lines. Forty-eight per cent of BERNMOBIL passengers now travel by tram, compared to 35% previously.

A new tram line to Wankdorf

The next step to expand the tram network is ready. The existing tram line ‘9’ will be extended by 1.2km from Guisanplatz to Bern Wankdorf railway station, with operations due to commence on 9 December 2012.

The main benefit of this line extension is to introduce a new connection of the tram network with the railway network at one of the busiest places in Bern. The football and ice hockey stadiums and Bern Expo are located here, plus the new headquarters of Swiss Post and the Swiss Federal Railways are being built just behind the railway station, and many other companies can be found in this district.

With this new interchange hub on the outskirts of Bern, commuters will no longer have to pass through the city centre to get to their work places. Their travelling time will be shortened and the masses of people passing through the main station will be considerably reduced. Furthermore, the new BERNMOBIL tram depot is also in this vicinity.

New tram lines for increased capacity

For the last 10 years, the number of passengers using the BERNMOBIL network has steadily increased from 78.5 million to 96.1 million in 2011, i.e. more than 22%, and forecasts predict that passenger numbers will continue to increase by approximately 50% by 2030.

Therefore, capacity on the main lines in Bern must be raised, especially on the bus lines that are already overcrowded during peak hours, for instance, on bus line ‘10’ which transports more than 40,000 passengers per day between Ostermundigen and Köniz. Buses on this line are already running on a three minute frequency during the morning and evening peak hours.

However, increasing the bus schedule on this line is not possible as there are already too many vehicles in operation. This makes a reliable operation impossible and inefficient.

Along bus line ‘10’, a dynamic housing and workplace development is underway, which means an additional growth of passengers in this area is guaranteed. To cope with the expected rise in passenger numbers, a project commenced in 2009 to turn bus line ‘10’ into a tram line, and a plan has also been forecasted to extend tram line ‘9’ from Wabern to Kleinwabern in the southeast of Bern. The planning process is underway and the start of construction is planned for the end of 2014 with operations to commence at the end of 2018. Trams 42m-long will circulate on the new line with a six minute frequency.

The new lines will connect the tram network with the railway network at Köniz, Liebefeld, Weissenbühl and Ostermundigen stations. In Kleinwabern, at the end of tram line ‘9’, a completely new railway station will be built. This will improve conditions for passengers to change from tram to railway and connecting bus lines. The project will also improve con – ditions for pedestrians, cyclists and even car drivers. As the tram line will operate at a six minute frequency instead of the existing three minute bus frequency, congestion on the road network will be reduced and the traffic will move faster. Costs are estimated at CHF 550 million, including road-works, plumbing and other improvements in favour of the inhabitants along the tram line.

A new tram line to cross downtown

The tram network in Bern has a bottleneck between Kocherpark and Zytglogge: all tram lines are bundled in the city centre on one axle, as previously mentioned. Although trams operate well in this section, the need for a second tram axle through the city centre was proposed by politicians. Based on a broad cost/benefit analysis, all possible and feasible variants for a new tram track through the inner city were evaluated. The solution with the best cost/benefit ratio is a second tram axle in the north of the inner city and these results were presented earlier in 2012. Two tram lines are to run on the new track, three on the existing rails, through Markt and Spitalgasse. This proposition now has to be studied in detail and a concrete project has to be elaborated. Start of construction has been estimated to be between 2018 and 2021.

Following the proposition of a new track through the inner city, a study is underway to design the future tram network. In particular, it will determine which tram routes from the east will be linked together with the routes in the west. The results will be released in early-2013.

A new tram depot

Closely linked to the extension of the tram network is the construction of a new tram depot in the northeast of Bern, at Bolligenstrasse. With the opening of two new tram lines in the West of Bern, the fleet grew from 34 to 48 trams and the existing depots were too small to host all vehicles. From 2007 to 2012, a new tram depot was built to cover all the needs that were foreseen for the future extension of the tram network. The tram depot at Bolligenstrasse began operations at the end of October 2011.

A special feature of the depot is the pillar-less parking hall which allows the tracks to be closely arranged so that a maximal number of vehicles can be held. The depot can currently hold 28 trams with a length of 42m on seven tracks. Operations within the depot are almost completely automated. When a tram enters the depot, its parking space is assigned to the driver by signals and all switches are steered automatically, meaning the tram gets to its parking space without any help of the depot staff. When ready to leave the depot, the driver and tram are guided automatically. The depot hosts a tram washing facility and also a place for maintenance.

In the future, the depot will be extended to house the growing tram fleet for a further 21 vehicles. The final dimension of the depot hall will be approximately 80x200m.

The new functional depot has already won four renowned architectural awards, including ‘Best Building 2011’ in Switzerland.

New tram lines are successful

An evaluation of the new tram lines in the west of Bern carried out in 2011 has revealed that the switch from bus to tram was successful. There was an 8% increase in the number of passengers from 2010 to 2011 on the new tram lines which was above the expected 2.6% passenger growth on the entire network of BERNMOBIL. This trend has continued into 2012 so far with passenger numbers increasing by 5% compared to the same period last year.

Earlier in 2012, BERNMOBIL also evaluated customer satisfaction on the new tram lines, and the results are striking. Overall customer satisfaction on the new tram lines was recorded at 4.43 on a 5-point-scale which was higher than the 4.31 figure recorded for the whole network. In 2009, when the last independent customer survey was carried out, overall customer satisfaction on the former two bus lines was exactly the same level as on the whole network.

We also compared various results of the 2009 customer survey with the 2012 survey. Customers on the new tram lines rated the journey experience as being much more comfortable than on the former bus lines of 2009. The seats were rated to be much more comfortable than before and we were also surprised to see that customers perceive the punctuality of the tram as being much better than the bus. Customers also commented that the tram is a more environmentally-friendly way of travelling than the bus.

The results of our new operations so far have shown that customers perceive the tram as being reliable, environmentally-friendly and a comfortable means of public transport. This positive attitude paves the way for future extensions of the tram network.

About the author

René Schmied has been the CEO of BERNMOBIL since May 2006. Prior to this he was COO and CFO of BERNMOBIL and Head of the Operating Board. Before his engagement at BERNMOBIL he was Deputy CFO of the Swiss Mobiliar Group, a big insurance company in Switzerland. René got a degree from the University of Bern in business administration with specialisation in marketing and corporate planning. He completed his education at the St. Gal-ler Management & Business-School with courses in leadership and with Swiss Courses for Corporate Management and Leadership. He also attended the International education of public transport managers from UITP in Paris, Leipzig and Moscow.