★ 4K La Chaux-de-Fonds - Neuchâtel - Bern Cab Ride, Switzerland [02.2021]

In this video, we're looking at two interesting lines, the Le Locle-Col-des-Roches - Neuchâtel railway from 1860 and the Bern - Neuchâtel railway from 1901, as we accompany a BLS RegioExpress starting in La Chaux-de-Fonds via Neuchâtel to Bern.
The composition today is an EW III train, formerly of the orange - grey Swiss Express of the 1970's, the coaches of which BLS acquired from the SBB in 2004. This will probably be the first & last video travelling in one of these trains, as they are scheduled to be scrapped in the coming months.
This will also be the last video in which you will see the La Chaux-de-Fonds - Neuchâtel section in its current state, as it was closed to trains from the 1st of March to the 31st of October 2021 for renewal work. I'm glad we could document the old catenary masts and infrastructure in the video, as an historic document of what once was.
From what I've read, the topography proved challenging while building this line, requiring an altitude gain of over 530 meters (hence the snow at the start). An interesting section is the station of Chambrelien, where the train is forced to change directions.
In recent years, a plan was proposed to make the line continuous through the means of a long tunnel between Neuchâtel & La Chaux-de-Fonds, or a tunnel with which to bypass Chambrelien, however voters voted against this option, likely due to the high costs involved.
From Neuchâtel onwards, the line is very straight and forms part of the shortest connection between Bern and Paris. BLS has been upgrading the line in their aim to operate trains at 160 Km/h for majority of it. You'll notice after Gümmenen, on the famous Saane Viaduct, that they've just completed laying a second track on what once was a single track bridge. Also note the new tunnel (2018) and routing of the line, in order to allow for higher speeds.

Special thanks to Brad for filming this trip.

Видео ★ 4K La Chaux-de-Fonds - Neuchâtel - Bern Cab Ride, Switzerland [02.2021] канала lorirocks777