Olten is a town of 17,000 in the Swiss Canton of Solothurn.The town is a major railway junction in the SBB passenger network and the rail freight network.
Two very important routes cross here: North-South: Basel (the main entry point to the country from Germany) to the capital Bern and onward to the Lötschberg, Brig and the Simplon to Italy – and East–West: Zurich, Biel, Neuchâtel, Lausanne and Genève where there are connections to France.
Olten is divided in two by the river Aare – the main station lies to the east of the river. The old town to the west and the station and modern town to the east are linked by a classic Swiss covered bridge.
The majority of the Olten section of this film was made from a single location – The Hotel Amaris that lies adjacent to the station. This location gives an elevated view across the platforms and the approach tracks from the south. From 5.00pm in the evening until well after dark the station is a hive of activity – freight trains on international duties and those of the SBB single wagon network.
In the morning we move to the north of the station where there is a distribution yard for freight wagons in the town and local area.
Filmed in HD. RT 46mins. Captioned. ©FHP 2016
