in the nearby political and administrative center of Aarberg. However, because of Aarberg's central location and convenient roads Lyss remained a quiet, isolated town. The arrival of the railroad from Bern to Biel in 1864 and the Jura water correction led to extensive population growth. In 1876, another railway line from Lausanne to Solothurn was built through Lyss. This made the town a rail hub. Built in 1983-86 the Bern-Biel/Bienne highway passed through Lyss and brought increased traffic. In 1866 the Käserei- und Kreditgesellschaft Lyss (Dairy and Credit Society of Lyss) was founded as a bank to help farmers. By 1880 it had grown into a savings and loan bank which helped fund the expansion of Lyss. With the new rail links, factories began to settle in the town. By 1900 there were factories manufacturing watches, cement products, biscuits, watch crystals, fittings, bricks, cloth and steel. Heavy machinery factories moved in by 1940. The town expanded in 1956 and again in 1979 as businesses and residents moved into Lyss. In 2005 there were 6,035 jobs in a town of about 10,000 people. Geography Lyss has an area of . Of this area, or 30.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 33.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 35.6% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.4% is either rivers or lakes. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 6.4% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 14.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 9.6%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.5% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.1%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 21.5% is used for growing crops and 7.2% is pastures, while 1.5% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is an administrative and economic center for the surrounding region. Lyss is located at the mouth of the Lyssbach valley on the former right bank of the Aare river. It consists of the village of Lyss and village sections of Hardern and Eigenacker. Until 1876 it included the settlement of Werdthof, which is now part of Kappelen. Lyss lies on the eastern edge of a wide valley that extends southwest to Lake