Private railways were built to connect cities with suburbs, beginning with the metre gauge Bern-Muri-Worb Railway opened in 1898, now part of Bern-Solothurn Regional Transport. Additional standard gauge suburban lines were built to connect Bern with Thun via the Gürbe Valley (the Gürbe Valley Railway) and with Schwarzenburg and the metre gauge lines were extended to Zollikofen and Solothurn. The Great Depression of the 1930s hit the private railways hard, leading to operating deficits which prevented the renewal of equipment and rolling stock. Under the 1939 Private Assistance Act, the federal government provided financial support to the private railways in return for technical renewal and electrification and the reorganization of the private railways into regional networks.