 It was the first electrified line of the SBB that was not operated only as a test track and it was the first line electrified with single-phase alternating current at 15,000 Volt and a frequency of 16.7 Herz.The reason why the track was electrified before the Gotthard Railway, was that the BLS had already completed a power station in 1913, while a power station had to be built before electrical operations could commence on the Gotthard.With the construction and commissioning of the Lorraine viaduct and the building of the approach to Bern station along Dammstrasse/West Ring in 1941, the line via the Red Bridge was abandoned.