History of rail transport in Switzerland
Encyclopedia
The construction and operation of Swiss
railways during the 19th century was carried out by private railways. The first internal line was a 16 km line opened from Zürich
to Baden
in 1847. By 1860 railways connected western and northeastern Switzerland. The first Alpine railway to be opened under the Gotthard Pass in 1882. A second alpine line was opened under the Simplon Pass
in 1906.
In 1901, the major railways were nationalised to form Swiss Federal Railways. During the first half of the twentieth century they were electrified and slowly upgraded. After the Second World War, rail rapidly lost its share of the rail market to road transport as car ownership rose and more roads were built. From 1970, the Federal Government has become more involved in upgrading the railways, especially in urban areas and on trunk routes under the Rail 2000
project. In addition, two major trans-alpine routes — the Gotthard Railway and the Lötschberg
approach to the Simplon Tunnel
— are being rebuilt under the AlpTransit
project.
(French
: Chemin de fer de Strasbourg à Bâle) from Mulhouse
to Basel
, which was opened to a temporary station outside Basel's walls on 15 June 1844 and to the permanent station on 11 December 1845. This company was taken over by the Chemins de fer de l'Est
in 1854. The Rhine Valley Line was opened to the original Basel Baden railway station
in 1855. Despite constant discussion it was some time before these line were extended into Switzerland. The first internal line was the 16 km long Swiss Northern Railway (German
: Schweizerische Nordbahn, SNB) opened from Zürich
to Baden
in 1847.
The subsequent railways were built by private companies was led by Swiss entrepreneurs, industrialists and bankers. In 1850 the Swiss Federal Council
invited two British engineers, Robert Stephenson
and Henry Swinburne to draw up plans for a railway network for the Swiss Confederation. They proposed a 645 km network along the valleys, avoiding any Alpine
crossings, all of which was eventually built.
Although the Constitution
of 1848 gave the federal government powers in relation to railways, it initially decided to decentralise rail policy. The first Railway Act of 1852 gave responsibility for administering policy in relation to the construction and operation of railways to the cantons, including licensing of companies, coordination of lines, technical specifications and pricing policy. Railways were to be built by private limited liability companies, with contributions to be provided by the municipalities and cantons that stood to benefit from projects. Despite the lack of overall planning and the rivalry among the companies, a rail network similar to that proposed by Stephenson and Swinburne was soon established in northern and western Switzerland with the completion of a link from the French
border in the far west near Geneva to the Austria
n border in the far northeast at St. Margrethen
on 10 December 1860.
In 1853, the Swiss Central Railway
(German: Schweizerische Centralbahn, SCB) began to build the Basel-Olten line through the Hauenstein pass
with branches from Olten to Aarau and Lucerne, Bern and Thun
and from Herzogenbuchsee
to Solothurn and Biel
. At the same time the Swiss Northeastern Railway (German: Schweizerische Nordostbahn, NOB) concentrated on eastern Switzerland in the cantons of Zürich
and Thurgau; its network covered the lines from Zürich to Lake Constance
and to Schaffhausen
and later to Lucerne. The United Swiss Railways (VSB) built lines from Winterthur
to Rorschach and from Wallisellen
to Rapperswil
, Sargans
and Chur
. There were contracts for sharing the interlinked VSB line between Weesen
and Glarus
and the NOB line between Ziegelbrücke
, Näfels
, Glarus
and Linthal
.
During the same period, railways were built in western Switzerland along Lake Geneva
from Geneva
to Lausanne
and Bex
and from Morges
to Yverdon. A steamship connected Geneva with the line from Le Bouveret
to Martigny. The main developer in the inner part of Vaud
was the West Switzerland Company
(French
: Compagnie de l'Ouest-Suisse, OS) and in the Valais the Line of Italy (French: Ligne d'Italie, absorbed by the Simplon Company [French: Compagnie du Simplon] in 1874). The Jura–Neuchâtel Railway emerged from lines from Le Locle
and Les Verrières
along Lake Neuchâtel
to La Neuveville
.
The Canton of Fribourg
delayed the construction of the line from Bern to Lausanne in a bid to have it run through the city of Fribourg
rather than on flatter land further west; in 1857, the Swiss government, the canton of Vaud
and the West Switzerland Company
gave in, allowing construction to commence on the line, which was opened in 1862. The Canton of Bern attempted to make its own policy in relation to its railways railway. At the initiative of its Federal politician Jakob Stämpfli
the Swiss East–West Railway
(German: Schweizerische Ostwestbahn, OWB) started building a line in 1857 to compete with Swiss Central Railway between La Neuveville
(on Lake Biel
) and Zürich via Bern, Langnau im Emmental
, Luzern and Zug
without raising sufficient finance to guarantee its completion. In June 1861 it went bankrupt and the completed section from La Neuveville and Langnau was taken over the Canton of Bern and was incorporated as the Bern State Railway (German: Bernische Staatsbahn, BSB), which continued building the line to Lucerne. The missing section from Langnau to Entlebuch
and Lucerne was not completed until 1875. The concession for the Zürich–Lucerne line via Affoltern am Albis
was taken over by the Zürich–Zug–Lucerne Railway (German: Zürich–Zug–Luzern-Bahn, ZZL), a subsidiary of the NOB.
Financial difficulties led to a series of mergers and increased foreign investment in the rail companies. French investment in Switzerland was also stimulated by an interest in Alpine crossings. Many of the original companies were consolidated into the Swiss Northeastern Railway
(German: Schweizerische Nordostbahn) and the United Swiss Railways
(German: Vereinigte Schweizerbahnen, VSB) in the east and the Jura–Simplon Railway
(French: Compagnie du Jura–Simplon, JS) in the west. Despite the financial difficulties by 1860 a continuous line had been created from Geneva to Lake Constance, and by 1870 other main routes were completed. Steamers connected to the railways across several major lakes: Geneva
, Neuchâtel
, Thun
, Lucerne
, and Constance. Connections to the networks of neighboring countries were made at Romanshorn
by ferries to Lindau
and Friedrichshafen
, and by rail at Basel to the Baden Mainline
and the French Chemins de fer de l'Est
, at Schaffhausen with the Baden Mainline and at Les Verrières
with the line to Pontarlier and Paris.
(1870–71) showed up problems of the private railway to cope with the need to move troops quickly, leading to the second Railway Act of 1872. This transferred control of construction, operation, tariffs and accounting of the railways and the licensing of railway companies from the cantons to the federal government. The possibility of federal government nationalisation of the railways also became part of the political agenda.
Johann Jakob Sulzer (1806–1883), a Democratic Party politician from Winterthur
, founded the Lake Constance–Lake Geneva Railway (German: Bodensee-Genfersee-Bahn), later renamed the Swiss National Railway
(German: Schweizerische Nationalbahn, SNB) to overcome shortcomings of the existing railways in providing an adequate and co-ordinated network. It planned to build a line from Lake Constance and Singen
to Lausanne via Winterthur, Aargau
, Solothurn
, Lyss
, Murten
and Payerne
. Construction started in 1875 but it went bankrupt in 1878 and its assets were acquired by the NOB and SCB.
Before the construction of the Gotthard Railway there were no north-south rail connections to Italy. The railroad lines ended at the foot of the Alps - the VSB reached Chur
in 1858, the SCB reached Lucerne and Thun in 1859, and in 1878 the Simplon Railway (part of the Western Switzerland–Simplon Company
from 1881) reached Brig
. The Swiss railway companies and regions competed to build a railway though various Swiss Alpine passes: the Lukmanier
, the Splügen
, the Gotthard and the Simplon
. In view of the completion of the Brenner Railway
to the east in 1867 and the commencement of construction of east and the Fréjus railway line in 1857 (completed in 1871) in the west, it was decided to build the Gotthard railway and contracts were signed with Swiss, German and Italian contractors in 1869. Despite financial difficulties the line was opened in 1882.
In 1878, the Swiss approved in a referendum federal subsidies for an eastern and a western Alpine rail crossing. In 1913 a western Alps was completed, the Lötschberg railway line, but it was not a federal project, but instead it was an initiative of the canton of Bern. No eastern rail crossing has ever been built. Instead the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) opened the Albula line in 1903 and the Bernina Railway
completed the Bernina line in 1910, providing a link to Italy. These lines were initially built for tourists, but they were later also used for freight.
(German: Gäubahn) between Solothurn and Olten (completed in 1876) and the Broye
valley lines near Freiburg (1877), both originally planned by the SNB. Also built during this period were the Emmental railway (German: Emmentalbahn) from Solothurn to Burgdorf and Langnau im Emmental
(opened 1875-81) and the Wädenswil–Einsiedeln Railway ("pilgrim railway", opened 1877). Also opened between 1874 and 1881 was the Aargau Southern Railway, from Rupperswil
to Rotkreuz, which later became a freight feeder line to the Gotthard railway. The Lake Constance–Toggenburg Railway (from Romanshorn to Nesslau
and Swiss Southeastern Railway (German: Schweizerische Südostbahn) connected the east-central to southern Switzerland.
The Railway Act of 1852 mandated standard gauge
(1,435 mm - 4 ft 8½ in). The reform of 1872 allowed local and mountain railways to be built with different gauges. The Swiss Company for Local Railways planned a narrow gauge network in the Alpine region, but only succeeded in building the Appenzeller Bahn (Appenzell
Railway) because of financial problems. In the Jura region of the Canton of Bern, the Jura Bernois Railway (JB) constructed a railway with massive financial assistance from the Canton of Bern. Between 1873 and 1877, the Jura line with the main railway line between Delle
and Basel and the lines from Biel to Sonceboz-Sombeval
and Delémont
and La Chaux-de-Fonds
were built. In the 1880s, narrow gauge lines were built to isolated factories and villages in Vaud and the Jura region.
By 1880, railways had been built in the Alpine regions to a few valleys and tourist areas. In the Graubünden
, the Rhaetian Railway (RhB), founded in 1889, had developed lines by the outbreak of World War I along the valleys of the Hinterrhein, Vorderrhein, the Albula
, the Engadine
and the Poschiavo
. In the Bernese Oberland
, railways were built to connect to the tourist region around Lake Thun
. Narrow gauge lines were built in the western Alps, such as the Montreux-Oberland Bernois
railway (MOB), the Furka-Oberalp-Bahn
(FO) and the Gruyère-Fribourg-Morat Railway
(GFM). The tourist-oriented Domodossola–Locarno line—also called the Centovalli (Italian
for "100 valleys") railway—was completed in 1923, connecting Ticino
and the Valais
via Italy.
(JS, 937 km), Swiss Northeastern Railway
(NOB, 771 km), Swiss Central Railway
(SCB, 398 km), United Swiss Railways
(VSB, 269 km) and the Gotthard Railway (273 km), forming the Swiss Federal Railways (SFR). In 1903 the SBB network took over the metre gauge Brünig Railway (German: Brünigbahn) opened in 1888 and the Swiss shipping line on Lake Constance. It acquired another four small private railways between 1913 and 1948.
The negotiated purchase price of more than Swiss Francs 1 billion was criticised, especially as the owners had stopped investing when the debate over nationalisation started. The cost of the nationalisation was not charged directly to the federal budget, but was instead a debt of the SFR. As a result of the high debt burden, the SBB was significantly impeded in its development of the railways until 1944 when it was relieved of the debt resulting from its nationalisation.
The construction of tunnels shortened distances and improved gradients, allowing the improved handling of traffic growth. The Simplon tunnel between Brig and Iselle, Italy, was opened in 1906. The Mont-d'Or tunnel was opened between Vallorbe
and Frasne
, France, in 1915 and formed part of the route of the Orient Express
between Paris
and Istanbul
from 1919 to 1962. The Hauenstein base tunnel was opened between Olten and Basel in 1916.
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.
After years of heavy investment in roads in the postwar years, the share of rail in the total passenger market in Switzerland had been significantly reduced by the end of the 1960s. At this time, Swiss Federal Railways decided that changes were necessary to increase rail patronage. More trains were operated in order to increase frequencies; this led to a 75% increase in passengers between 1971 to 1983 on the Bern–Zürich route. In the 1970s, the Swiss government and SFR decided to make further improvements in rail services. In 1972, the SFR introduce a regular interval timetable (German: Taktfahrplan). Under this timetable, trains arrive and leave each station at the same minute past every hour. Services at Zurich station were reorganised so that trains arrived on each line before the hour or half-hour and left after the hour or half-hour, making it easier to change to trains on other lines.
and Lake Constance
and between Basel and Olten. On these routes, a total of 120 kilometres of new line would allow operation of trains at up to 200 kilometres per hour, similar to the French TGV
s. A Federal Government committee supported SFR's proposal but considered that investment should be initially concentrated on the sections of route between Basel, Olten and Bern. This proposal was widely seen as too narrow in its benefits and in mid 1984 the SFR established an expert group under the name Rail 2000
to develop a broader approach. This group developed a plan to improve rail transport throughout Switzerland based on the approach of co-ordinated regular interval trains. The federal parliament voted to approve Rail 2000 in May 1986. In particular, it granted CHF
5.4 billion for the Mattstetten–Rothrist new line between Olten and Bern and for a connection from near Herzogenbuchsee
to Solothurn
. This was endorsed by a referendum in 1987 with a majority of 57.0%.
, based around a tunnel from the Zürich main station (connecting to the west, south and north) to Zürich Stadelhofen station (connecting to the southeast) and Dietlikon
(connecting to the northeast) and Dübendorf
(connecting to the east). On 27 May 1990, the S-Bahn was put into operation and then expanded in several phases into the current 380 kilometre long network.
and the Lötschberg Base Tunnel
on the approach to the Simplon Tunnel
. The Gotthard Base Tunnel is due to be completed in 2015. The Lötschberg Base Tunnel was opened in 2007, but most of its second line has been indefinitely deferred.
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
railways during the 19th century was carried out by private railways. The first internal line was a 16 km line opened from Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
to Baden
Baden, Switzerland
Baden is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Aargau, on the west bank of the river Limmat, located in the Limmat Valley , northwest of Zürich. It is the seat of the district of Baden...
in 1847. By 1860 railways connected western and northeastern Switzerland. The first Alpine railway to be opened under the Gotthard Pass in 1882. A second alpine line was opened under the Simplon Pass
Simplon Pass
Simplon Pass is a high mountain pass between the Pennine Alps and the Lepontine Alps in Switzerland. It connects Brig in the canton of Valais with Domodossola in Piedmont . The pass itself and the villages on each side of it, such as Gondo, are in Switzerland...
in 1906.
In 1901, the major railways were nationalised to form Swiss Federal Railways. During the first half of the twentieth century they were electrified and slowly upgraded. After the Second World War, rail rapidly lost its share of the rail market to road transport as car ownership rose and more roads were built. From 1970, the Federal Government has become more involved in upgrading the railways, especially in urban areas and on trunk routes under the Rail 2000
Rail 2000
Rail 2000 is a large-scale project of the Swiss Federal Railways established in 1987 to improve the quality of the Swiss rail network. It includes measures to accelerate a number of existing connections and the modernisation of rolling stock...
project. In addition, two major trans-alpine routes — the Gotthard Railway and the Lötschberg
Lötschberg Base Tunnel
The Lötschberg Base Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the BLS Lötschbergbahn's Lötschberg Line cutting through the Alps of Switzerland some below the existing Lötschberg Tunnel. It is currently the world's longest land tunnel and accommodates passenger and freight trains. It runs between Frutigen,...
approach to the Simplon Tunnel
Simplon Tunnel
The Simplon Tunnel is an Alpine railway tunnel that connects the Swiss town of Brig with Domodossola in Italy, though its relatively straight trajectory does not run under Simplon Pass itself. It actually consists of two single-track tunnels built nearly 20 years apart...
— are being rebuilt under the AlpTransit
AlpTransit
AlpTransit, also known as New Railway Link through the Alps NRLA , is a Swiss federal project aimed to build faster north-south rail links across the Swiss Alps by constructing base tunnels several hundred metres below the level of the current tunnels...
project.
Early railways
The first line was the extension of the French Strasbourg–Basel RailwayStrasbourg–Basel railway
The railway from Strasbourg to Basel is a French and Swiss 141.3-kilometre long railway line. It is used for passenger and freight traffic...
(French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
: Chemin de fer de Strasbourg à Bâle) from Mulhouse
Mulhouse
Mulhouse |mill]] hamlet) is a city and commune in eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. With a population of 110,514 and 278,206 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2006, it is the largest city in the Haut-Rhin département, and the second largest in the Alsace region after...
to Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
, which was opened to a temporary station outside Basel's walls on 15 June 1844 and to the permanent station on 11 December 1845. This company was taken over by the Chemins de fer de l'Est
Chemins de fer de l'Est
The Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Est , often referred to simply as the Est company, was an early French railway company. The company was formed in 1853 by fusion from Compagnie de Paris à Strasbourg, operating the Paris-Strasbourg line, and Compagnie du chemin de fer de Montereau à Troyes...
in 1854. The Rhine Valley Line was opened to the original Basel Baden railway station
Basel Badischer Bahnhof
Basel Badischer Bahnhof is a railway station situated in the Swiss city of Basel. Whilst the station is situated on Swiss soil, the platforms and part of the entrance hall are extraterritorial, belonging to Germany, and the station is operated by the German railway company Deutsche Bahn...
in 1855. Despite constant discussion it was some time before these line were extended into Switzerland. The first internal line was the 16 km long Swiss Northern Railway (German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
: Schweizerische Nordbahn, SNB) opened from Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
to Baden
Baden, Switzerland
Baden is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Aargau, on the west bank of the river Limmat, located in the Limmat Valley , northwest of Zürich. It is the seat of the district of Baden...
in 1847.
The subsequent railways were built by private companies was led by Swiss entrepreneurs, industrialists and bankers. In 1850 the Swiss Federal Council
Swiss Federal Council
The Federal Council is the seven-member executive council which constitutes the federal government of Switzerland and serves as the Swiss collective head of state....
invited two British engineers, Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson FRS was an English civil engineer. He was the only son of George Stephenson, the famed locomotive builder and railway engineer; many of the achievements popularly credited to his father were actually the joint efforts of father and son.-Early life :He was born on the 16th of...
and Henry Swinburne to draw up plans for a railway network for the Swiss Confederation. They proposed a 645 km network along the valleys, avoiding any Alpine
Swiss Alps
The Swiss Alps are the portion of the Alps mountain range that lies within Switzerland. Because of their central position within the entire Alpine range, they are also known as the Central Alps....
crossings, all of which was eventually built.
Although the Constitution
Swiss Federal Constitution
The Federal Constitution of 18 April 1999 is the third and current federal constitution of Switzerland. It establishes the Swiss Confederation as a federal republic of 26 cantons , contains a catalogue of individual and popular rights , delineates the responsibilities of the...
of 1848 gave the federal government powers in relation to railways, it initially decided to decentralise rail policy. The first Railway Act of 1852 gave responsibility for administering policy in relation to the construction and operation of railways to the cantons, including licensing of companies, coordination of lines, technical specifications and pricing policy. Railways were to be built by private limited liability companies, with contributions to be provided by the municipalities and cantons that stood to benefit from projects. Despite the lack of overall planning and the rivalry among the companies, a rail network similar to that proposed by Stephenson and Swinburne was soon established in northern and western Switzerland with the completion of a link from the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
border in the far west near Geneva to the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n border in the far northeast at St. Margrethen
St. Margrethen
St. Margrethen is a municipality in the Wahlkreis of Rheintal in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.-Geography:...
on 10 December 1860.
In 1853, the Swiss Central Railway
Swiss Central Railway
The Swiss Central Railway was a Swiss railway company from 1853 to 1902.In 2005 the name Centralbahn was revived for new railway company created by the merger of the Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn and the Brünigbahn...
(German: Schweizerische Centralbahn, SCB) began to build the Basel-Olten line through the Hauenstein pass
Unterer Hauenstein Pass
Unterer Hauenstein Pass is a mountain pass in the Jura Mountains between the canton of Basel-Country and Solothurn in Switzerland.It connects Buckten in Basel-Country and Trimbach in Solothurn. The pass road has a maximum grade of 6 percent....
with branches from Olten to Aarau and Lucerne, Bern and Thun
Thun
Thun is a municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland with about 42,136 inhabitants , as of 1 January 2006....
and from Herzogenbuchsee
Herzogenbuchsee
Herzogenbuchsee is a municipality in the Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.The population is 6,646 , counting the villages in the Oberaargau. The traditional name was Buchsi.- History :...
to Solothurn and Biel
Jura foot railway line
The Jura foot line or Jura south foot line , also called the Swiss railway line, runs from Olten along the foot of the southern Jura range through Solothurn, Grenchen, Biel/Bienne, Neuchâtel Yverdon-les-Bains and Morges to Geneva. It is one of two routes used by intercity trains between Geneva...
. At the same time the Swiss Northeastern Railway (German: Schweizerische Nordostbahn, NOB) concentrated on eastern Switzerland in the cantons of Zürich
Canton of Zürich
The Canton of Zurich has a population of . The canton is located in the northeast of Switzerland and the city of Zurich is its capital. The official language is German, but people speak the local Swiss German dialect called Züritüütsch...
and Thurgau; its network covered the lines from Zürich to Lake Constance
Lake Constance
Lake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...
and to Schaffhausen
Schaffhausen
Schaffhausen is a city in northern Switzerland and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimated population of 34,587 ....
and later to Lucerne. The United Swiss Railways (VSB) built lines from Winterthur
Winterthur
Winterthur is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. It has the country's sixth largest population with an estimate of more than 100,000 people. In the local dialect and by its inhabitants, it is usually abbreviated to Winti...
to Rorschach and from Wallisellen
Wallisellen
Wallisellen is a municipality in the district of Bülach in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland, and belongs to the Glatt Valley .-History:The first settlement at Wallisellen dates from 58 BC....
to Rapperswil
Rapperswil
Rapperswil-Jona is a municipality in the Wahlkreis of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.Besides Rapperswil and Jona, which were separate municipalities until 2006, the municipality includes Bollingen, Busskirch, Curtiberg, Kempraten-Lenggis, Wagen, and Wurmsbach.-Today:On...
, Sargans
Sargans
Sargans is a municipality in the Wahlkreis of Sarganserland in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.Sargans is known for its castle, which dates from before the founding of the Swiss Confederation in 1291...
and Chur
Chur
Chur or Coire is the capital of the Swiss canton of Graubünden and lies in the northern part of the canton.-History:The name "chur" derives perhaps from the Celtic kora or koria, meaning "tribe", or from the Latin curia....
. There were contracts for sharing the interlinked VSB line between Weesen
Weesen
Weesen is a village in See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland.-Geography:Weesen has an area, , of . Of this area, 36.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 51.9% is forested...
and Glarus
Glarus
Glarus is the capital of the Canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Glarus municipality since 1 January 2011 incorporates the former municipalities of Ennenda, Netstal and Riedern....
and the NOB line between Ziegelbrücke
Ziegelbrücke
Ziegelbrücke is a village in Switzerland. Ziegelbrücke is shared by the municipalities of Niederurnen in the canton of Glarus and Schänis in the canton of St...
, Näfels
Näfels
Näfels is a former municipality in the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Effective from 1 January 2011, Näfels is part of the municipality of Glarus Nord.-History:Näfels is first mentioned in 1240 as Nevels....
, Glarus
Glarus
Glarus is the capital of the Canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Glarus municipality since 1 January 2011 incorporates the former municipalities of Ennenda, Netstal and Riedern....
and Linthal
Linthal
Linthal is a former municipality in the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Effective from 1 January 2011, Linthal is part of the municipality of Glarus Süd.-Geography:...
.
During the same period, railways were built in western Switzerland along Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva or Lake Léman is a lake in Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe. 59.53 % of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland , and 40.47 % under France...
from Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
to Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
and Bex
Bex
Bex is a municipality in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, located in the district of Aigle. It is a few miles south of its sister town municipality of Aigle.-The Bex Salt Mine:Bex is the site of a famous salt mine....
and from Morges
Morges
Morges is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud, located in the district of Morges and is also the seat of the district.-History:...
to Yverdon. A steamship connected Geneva with the line from Le Bouveret
Le Bouveret
Le Bouveret is a town in the commune of Port-Valais in the Swiss canton of Valais. Situated at the southernmost end of Lake Geneva and close to the French border, Le Bouveret is very much tourism-oriented with several amusement attractions, including the Swiss Vapeur Parc and the water amusement...
to Martigny. The main developer in the inner part of Vaud
Vaud
Vaud is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and is located in Romandy, the French-speaking southwestern part of the country. The capital is Lausanne. The name of the Canton in Switzerland's other languages are Vaud in Italian , Waadt in German , and Vad in Romansh.-History:Along the lakes,...
was the West Switzerland Company
West Switzerland Company
The West Switzerland Company was a railway company in Switzerland, formed 1854 and absorbed into the Western Swiss Railway in 1872. The OS built a railway network in western Switzerland and connected with France via Geneva in 1858, although Switzerland's first railway was the French...
(French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
: Compagnie de l'Ouest-Suisse, OS) and in the Valais the Line of Italy (French: Ligne d'Italie, absorbed by the Simplon Company [French: Compagnie du Simplon] in 1874). The Jura–Neuchâtel Railway emerged from lines from Le Locle
Le Locle
Le Locle is a municipality in the district of Le Locle in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.It is situated in the Jura mountains, a few kilometers from the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds....
and Les Verrières
Les Verrières
Les Verrières is a municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.-Geography:Les Verrières has an area, , of . Of this area, or 46.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 50.7% is forested...
along Lake Neuchâtel
Lake Neuchâtel
Lake Neuchâtel is a lake in Romandy, Switzerland . The lake lies mainly in the canton of Neuchâtel, but is also shared by the cantons of Vaud, of Fribourg, and of Bern....
to La Neuveville
La Neuveville
La Neuveville is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland, located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura .-Geography:...
.
The Canton of Fribourg
Canton of Fribourg
The Canton of Fribourg is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the west of the country. The capital of the canton is Fribourg. The name Fribourg is French, whereas is the German name for both the canton and the town.-History:...
delayed the construction of the line from Bern to Lausanne in a bid to have it run through the city of Fribourg
Fribourg
Fribourg is the capital of the Swiss canton of Fribourg and the district of Sarine. It is located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss plateau, and is an important economic, administrative and educational center on the cultural border between German and French Switzerland...
rather than on flatter land further west; in 1857, the Swiss government, the canton of Vaud
Vaud
Vaud is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and is located in Romandy, the French-speaking southwestern part of the country. The capital is Lausanne. The name of the Canton in Switzerland's other languages are Vaud in Italian , Waadt in German , and Vad in Romansh.-History:Along the lakes,...
and the West Switzerland Company
West Switzerland Company
The West Switzerland Company was a railway company in Switzerland, formed 1854 and absorbed into the Western Swiss Railway in 1872. The OS built a railway network in western Switzerland and connected with France via Geneva in 1858, although Switzerland's first railway was the French...
gave in, allowing construction to commence on the line, which was opened in 1862. The Canton of Bern attempted to make its own policy in relation to its railways railway. At the initiative of its Federal politician Jakob Stämpfli
Jakob Stämpfli
Jakob Stämpfli was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council .He was elected to the Federal Council of Switzerland on 6 December 1854, and handed over office on 31 December 1863...
the Swiss East–West Railway
Swiss East–West Railway
The Swiss East–West Railway was a former Swiss rail company, which planned to build a line to compete with the network of the Swiss Central Railway in central Switzerland on which construction commenced in 1857.Jakob Stämpfli, a federal politician, established the company to build a line between...
(German: Schweizerische Ostwestbahn, OWB) started building a line in 1857 to compete with Swiss Central Railway between La Neuveville
La Neuveville
La Neuveville is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland, located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura .-Geography:...
(on Lake Biel
Lake Biel
Lake Biel or Lake Bienne is a lake in the west of Switzerland. Together with Lake Morat and Lake Neuchâtel, it is one of the three large lakes in the Jura region of Switzerland. It lies approximately at , at the language boundary between German & French speaking areas.The lake is 15 km long and up...
) and Zürich via Bern, Langnau im Emmental
Langnau im Emmental
-Sport:Langnau is the home of the SCL Tigers, who plays in the Swiss National League A. They play their home games at the Ilfis Stadium.- External links :* * *...
, Luzern and Zug
Zug
Zug , is a German-speaking city in Switzerland. The name ‘Zug’ originates from fishing vocabulary; in the Middle Ages it referred to the right to ‘pull up’ fishing nets and hence to the right to fish.The city of Zug is located in the Canton of Zug and is its capital...
without raising sufficient finance to guarantee its completion. In June 1861 it went bankrupt and the completed section from La Neuveville and Langnau was taken over the Canton of Bern and was incorporated as the Bern State Railway (German: Bernische Staatsbahn, BSB), which continued building the line to Lucerne. The missing section from Langnau to Entlebuch
Entlebuch
Entlebuch is a municipality in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district of Entlebuch. The area has been designated a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2001.-Geography:...
and Lucerne was not completed until 1875. The concession for the Zürich–Lucerne line via Affoltern am Albis
Affoltern am Albis
Affoltern am Albis is a municipality in the district of Affoltern in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.It is the smallest city of Switzerland. In Switzerland a city is defined as having at least 10,000 inhabitants.-Geography:...
was taken over by the Zürich–Zug–Lucerne Railway (German: Zürich–Zug–Luzern-Bahn, ZZL), a subsidiary of the NOB.
Financial difficulties led to a series of mergers and increased foreign investment in the rail companies. French investment in Switzerland was also stimulated by an interest in Alpine crossings. Many of the original companies were consolidated into the Swiss Northeastern Railway
Swiss Northeastern Railway
The Swiss Northeastern Railway or NOB was an early railway company in Switzerland.In 1853 the Swiss Northern Railway merged with the Lake Constance and Rheinfall Railways under the name Swiss Northeastern Railway.The main instigator was Alfred Escher...
(German: Schweizerische Nordostbahn) and the United Swiss Railways
United Swiss Railways
The United Swiss Railways is a former railway company in Switzerland.The United Swiss railways was created on 1 May 1857 through the merger of the Glatt Valley Railway , the original Southeastern Railway and the St...
(German: Vereinigte Schweizerbahnen, VSB) in the east and the Jura–Simplon Railway
Jura–Simplon Railway
The Jura–Simplon Railway , was a former Swiss rail company, formed in 1890 and absorbed into the Swiss Federal Railways in 1903.-History:...
(French: Compagnie du Jura–Simplon, JS) in the west. Despite the financial difficulties by 1860 a continuous line had been created from Geneva to Lake Constance, and by 1870 other main routes were completed. Steamers connected to the railways across several major lakes: Geneva
Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva or Lake Léman is a lake in Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe. 59.53 % of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland , and 40.47 % under France...
, Neuchâtel
Lake Neuchâtel
Lake Neuchâtel is a lake in Romandy, Switzerland . The lake lies mainly in the canton of Neuchâtel, but is also shared by the cantons of Vaud, of Fribourg, and of Bern....
, Thun
Lake Thun
Lake Thun is an Alpine lake in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland. It took its name from the city of Thun, on its northern shore.Lake Thun's approximately 2,500 km² large catchment area frequently causes local flooding after heavy rainfalls...
, Lucerne
Lake Lucerne
Lake Lucerne is a lake in central Switzerland and the fourth largest in the country.The lake has a complicated shape, with bends and arms reaching from the city of Lucerne into the mountains. It has a total area of 114 km² , an elevation of 434 m , and a maximum depth of 214 m . Its volume is 11.8...
, and Constance. Connections to the networks of neighboring countries were made at Romanshorn
Romanshorn
Romanshorn is a municipality in the district of Arbon in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.-History:Romanshorn was probably settled in the 7th Century, and is first mentioned in 779 as Rumanishorn in a land grant from Waldrata to the Abbey of St. Gall. During the Late Middle Ages and until...
by ferries to Lindau
Lindau
Lindau is a Bavarian town and an island on the eastern side of Lake Constance, the Bodensee. It is the capital of the Landkreis or rural district of Lindau. The historic city of Lindau is located on an island which is connected with the mainland by bridge and railway.- History :The name Lindau was...
and Friedrichshafen
Friedrichshafen
This article is about a German town. For the Danish town, see Frederikshavn, and for the Finnish town, see Fredrikshamn .Friedrichshafen is a university city on the northern side of Lake Constance in Southern Germany, near the borders with Switzerland and Austria.It is the district capital of the...
, and by rail at Basel to the Baden Mainline
Baden Mainline
The Baden Mainline is a German railway line that was built between 1840 and 1863. It runs through Baden, from Mannheim via Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Offenburg, Freiburg, Basle, Waldshut, Schaffhausen and Singen to Konstanz...
and the French Chemins de fer de l'Est
Chemins de fer de l'Est
The Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Est , often referred to simply as the Est company, was an early French railway company. The company was formed in 1853 by fusion from Compagnie de Paris à Strasbourg, operating the Paris-Strasbourg line, and Compagnie du chemin de fer de Montereau à Troyes...
, at Schaffhausen with the Baden Mainline and at Les Verrières
Les Verrières
Les Verrières is a municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.-Geography:Les Verrières has an area, , of . Of this area, or 46.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 50.7% is forested...
with the line to Pontarlier and Paris.
1870–1902
The Franco-Prussian WarFranco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
(1870–71) showed up problems of the private railway to cope with the need to move troops quickly, leading to the second Railway Act of 1872. This transferred control of construction, operation, tariffs and accounting of the railways and the licensing of railway companies from the cantons to the federal government. The possibility of federal government nationalisation of the railways also became part of the political agenda.
Johann Jakob Sulzer (1806–1883), a Democratic Party politician from Winterthur
Winterthur
Winterthur is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. It has the country's sixth largest population with an estimate of more than 100,000 people. In the local dialect and by its inhabitants, it is usually abbreviated to Winti...
, founded the Lake Constance–Lake Geneva Railway (German: Bodensee-Genfersee-Bahn), later renamed the Swiss National Railway
Swiss National Railway
The Swiss National Railway was a railway company in Switzerland.The Swiss National Railway was created in 1875 from the merger of the two companies, the Winterthur–Zofingen Railway and the Zofingen–Singen–Kreuzlingen Railway...
(German: Schweizerische Nationalbahn, SNB) to overcome shortcomings of the existing railways in providing an adequate and co-ordinated network. It planned to build a line from Lake Constance and Singen
Singen
Singen is an industrial city in the very south of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany and just north of the German-Swiss border.-Location:...
to Lausanne via Winterthur, Aargau
Aargau
Aargau is one of the more northerly cantons of Switzerland. It comprises the lower course of the river Aare, which is why the canton is called Aar-gau .-History:...
, Solothurn
Solothurn
The city of Solothurn is the capital of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. The city also comprises the only municipality of the district of the same name.-Pre-roman settlement:...
, Lyss
Lyss
Lyss is a municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2011, the former municipality of Busswil bei Büren was merged with Lyss.-Geography:...
, Murten
Murten
Murten is a municipality in the See district of the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland.It is located on the southern shores of Lake Morat. Morat is situated between Bern and Lausanne and is the capital of the Lake District of the canton of Fribourg....
and Payerne
Payerne
Payerne is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud. It was the seat of the district of Payerne, and is now part of the district of Broye-Vully....
. Construction started in 1875 but it went bankrupt in 1878 and its assets were acquired by the NOB and SCB.
Alpine railways
Chur
Chur or Coire is the capital of the Swiss canton of Graubünden and lies in the northern part of the canton.-History:The name "chur" derives perhaps from the Celtic kora or koria, meaning "tribe", or from the Latin curia....
in 1858, the SCB reached Lucerne and Thun in 1859, and in 1878 the Simplon Railway (part of the Western Switzerland–Simplon Company
Western Switzerland–Simplon Company
The Western Switzerland–Simplon Railway was a former Swiss rail company, formed in 1881 and absorbed into the Jura–Simplon Railway in 1890.-History:...
from 1881) reached Brig
Brig, Switzerland
Brig, officially Brig-Glis is a municipality in the district of Brig in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.The current municipality was formed in 1972 through the merger of Brig , Brigerbad and Glis.-History:...
. The Swiss railway companies and regions competed to build a railway though various Swiss Alpine passes: the Lukmanier
Lukmanier Pass
Lukmanier Pass is a pass in the Swiss Alps.The road from Disentis/Mustér in the canton of Graubünden leads through the Val Medel across the pass to the Blenio valley and Biasca in the canton of Ticino.The Pass is kept opened during the winter.-See also:* List of highest paved roads in Europe*...
, the Splügen
Splügen Pass
The Splügen Pass is a high mountain pass which marks the boundary between the Lepontine and Rhaetian Alps....
, the Gotthard and the Simplon
Simplon Pass
Simplon Pass is a high mountain pass between the Pennine Alps and the Lepontine Alps in Switzerland. It connects Brig in the canton of Valais with Domodossola in Piedmont . The pass itself and the villages on each side of it, such as Gondo, are in Switzerland...
. In view of the completion of the Brenner Railway
Brenner railway
The Brenner Railway is a major line connecting the Austrian and Italian railways from Innsbruck and Verona climbing the Wipptal , passing over the Brenner Pass and descending down the Eisack Valley to Bolzano and then down the Adige Valley from Bolzano to Rovereto and from there along the...
to the east in 1867 and the commencement of construction of east and the Fréjus railway line in 1857 (completed in 1871) in the west, it was decided to build the Gotthard railway and contracts were signed with Swiss, German and Italian contractors in 1869. Despite financial difficulties the line was opened in 1882.
In 1878, the Swiss approved in a referendum federal subsidies for an eastern and a western Alpine rail crossing. In 1913 a western Alps was completed, the Lötschberg railway line, but it was not a federal project, but instead it was an initiative of the canton of Bern. No eastern rail crossing has ever been built. Instead the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) opened the Albula line in 1903 and the Bernina Railway
Bernina Railway
The Bernina Railway is a single track metre gauge railway line forming part of the Rhaetian Railway . It links the spa resort of St. Moritz, in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland, with the town of Tirano, in the Province of Sondrio, Italy, via the Bernina Pass...
completed the Bernina line in 1910, providing a link to Italy. These lines were initially built for tourists, but they were later also used for freight.
Branch lines
In the 1870s, branch lines began to be built. Two thirds of them were built as narrow gauge lines to reduce costs. Fifty branch lines were built in the period from 1874 to 1877, including the Gäu RailwayJura foot railway line
The Jura foot line or Jura south foot line , also called the Swiss railway line, runs from Olten along the foot of the southern Jura range through Solothurn, Grenchen, Biel/Bienne, Neuchâtel Yverdon-les-Bains and Morges to Geneva. It is one of two routes used by intercity trains between Geneva...
(German: Gäubahn) between Solothurn and Olten (completed in 1876) and the Broye
Broye
The Broye is a 68 km long river, in the cantons of Fribourg and Vaud, in Switzerland. It has a watershed area of 850 km².-Presentation:...
valley lines near Freiburg (1877), both originally planned by the SNB. Also built during this period were the Emmental railway (German: Emmentalbahn) from Solothurn to Burgdorf and Langnau im Emmental
Langnau im Emmental
-Sport:Langnau is the home of the SCL Tigers, who plays in the Swiss National League A. They play their home games at the Ilfis Stadium.- External links :* * *...
(opened 1875-81) and the Wädenswil–Einsiedeln Railway ("pilgrim railway", opened 1877). Also opened between 1874 and 1881 was the Aargau Southern Railway, from Rupperswil
Rupperswil
Rupperswil is a municipality in the district of Lenzburg in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.-History:A partially preserved Roman era tile kiln from the 2nd Century was discovered in 1911. There is also evidence of the emergence of a late-Alamanni village in the 8th Century. The modern village...
to Rotkreuz, which later became a freight feeder line to the Gotthard railway. The Lake Constance–Toggenburg Railway (from Romanshorn to Nesslau
Nesslau-Krummenau
Nesslau-Krummenau is a municipality in the Wahlkreis of Toggenburg in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It was formed from the January 1, 2005 union of the formerly separate municipalities of Nesslau and Krummenau.-History:...
and Swiss Southeastern Railway (German: Schweizerische Südostbahn) connected the east-central to southern Switzerland.
The Railway Act of 1852 mandated standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
(1,435 mm - 4 ft 8½ in). The reform of 1872 allowed local and mountain railways to be built with different gauges. The Swiss Company for Local Railways planned a narrow gauge network in the Alpine region, but only succeeded in building the Appenzeller Bahn (Appenzell
Appenzell
Appenzell is a region and historical canton in the northeast of Switzerland, entirely surrounded by the Canton of St. Gallen....
Railway) because of financial problems. In the Jura region of the Canton of Bern, the Jura Bernois Railway (JB) constructed a railway with massive financial assistance from the Canton of Bern. Between 1873 and 1877, the Jura line with the main railway line between Delle
Delle
Delle is a commune in the Territoire de Belfort department in Franche-Comté in northeastern France.Delle is the last French town on the railway line from Belfort to Berne, in Switzerland....
and Basel and the lines from Biel to Sonceboz-Sombeval
Sonceboz-Sombeval
Sonceboz-Sombeval is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura .-Geography:...
and Delémont
Delémont
Delémont is the capital of the Swiss canton of Jura. The city has approximately 11,000 inhabitants as of 2007.-Geography:Delémont lies southwest of Basel, about halfway between Basel and Bienne...
and La Chaux-de-Fonds
La Chaux-de-Fonds
La Chaux-de-Fonds is a Swiss city of the district of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometres from the French border. After Geneva and Lausanne, it is the third largest city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of...
were built. In the 1880s, narrow gauge lines were built to isolated factories and villages in Vaud and the Jura region.
By 1880, railways had been built in the Alpine regions to a few valleys and tourist areas. In the Graubünden
Graubünden
Graubünden or Grisons is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland. The canton shares borders with the cantons of Ticino, Uri, Glarus and St. Gallen and international borders with Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein...
, the Rhaetian Railway (RhB), founded in 1889, had developed lines by the outbreak of World War I along the valleys of the Hinterrhein, Vorderrhein, the Albula
Albula River
Albula is a river of Switzerland, a tributary of Hinterrhein . Length: 36 km , Basin: 950 km² ....
, the Engadine
Engadin
The Engadin or Engadine is a long valley in the Swiss Alps located in the canton of Graubünden in southeast Switzerland. It follows the route of the Inn River from its headwaters at Maloja Pass running northeast until the Inn flows into Austria one hundred kilometers downstream...
and the Poschiavo
Poschiavo
Poschiavo is a municipality in the district of Bernina in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland.-History:Poschiavo is first mentioned in 824 as in Postclave though this comes from a later copy of the original document.. In 1140 it was mentioned as de Pusclauio. It was formerly known by the...
. In the Bernese Oberland
Bernese Oberland
The Bernese Oberland is the higher part of the canton of Bern, Switzerland, in the southern end of the canton: The area around Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, and the valleys of the Bernese Alps .The flag of the Bernese Oberland consists of a black eagle in a gold field The Bernese Oberland (Bernese...
, railways were built to connect to the tourist region around Lake Thun
Lake Thun
Lake Thun is an Alpine lake in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland. It took its name from the city of Thun, on its northern shore.Lake Thun's approximately 2,500 km² large catchment area frequently causes local flooding after heavy rainfalls...
. Narrow gauge lines were built in the western Alps, such as the Montreux-Oberland Bernois
Montreux-Oberland Bernois
The Montreux-Oberland Bernois railway , is a railway operating in southwest Switzerland, one of the oldest electric railways in the country; its main line, in length, built to gauge, connects Montreux, Gstaad and Zweisimmen where passengers can transfer to a branch of the standard gauge...
railway (MOB), the Furka-Oberalp-Bahn
Furka-Oberalp-Bahn
The Furka–Oberalp-Bahn is a narrow gauge mountain railway in Switzerland with a gauge of . It runs in the Graubünden, Uri and Canton of Valais. Since January 1, 2003 it is part of the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn when it merged with the BVZ Zermatt-Bahn....
(FO) and the Gruyère-Fribourg-Morat Railway
Chemins de fer Fribourgeois Gruyère-Fribourg-Morat
The Chemin de Fer Fribourgeois, Gruyère - Fribourg - Morat is a 1942 merger of two standard gauge and one gauge railways running mainly within the Swiss canton of Fribourg/Freiburg. The company also operates numerous regional buses in the same area...
(GFM). The tourist-oriented Domodossola–Locarno line—also called the Centovalli (Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
for "100 valleys") railway—was completed in 1923, connecting Ticino
Ticino
Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
and the Valais
Valais
The Valais is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton is one of the drier parts of Switzerland in its central Rhône valley...
via Italy.
Nationalisation
The 1872 Railway Act gave the federal government broad powers in the railway sector. In 1879 the federal government established a new Department of Post and Railways its powers over the railways together with the postal sector. The bankruptcy of several railway companies during the 1870s, rail strikes and opposition to foreign ownership of the railways led to support for the nationalisation of the railways. In 1891, the nationalisation of the SCB was rejected in a referendum, but it was approved by the Federal Council in 1897. A referendum in 1898 was strongly contested, obtaining the highest level of voting participation to that date and won a two-thirds majority. Between 1900 and 1909, the Swiss Confederation acquired the five big railway companies, Jura–Simplon RailwayJura–Simplon Railway
The Jura–Simplon Railway , was a former Swiss rail company, formed in 1890 and absorbed into the Swiss Federal Railways in 1903.-History:...
(JS, 937 km), Swiss Northeastern Railway
Swiss Northeastern Railway
The Swiss Northeastern Railway or NOB was an early railway company in Switzerland.In 1853 the Swiss Northern Railway merged with the Lake Constance and Rheinfall Railways under the name Swiss Northeastern Railway.The main instigator was Alfred Escher...
(NOB, 771 km), Swiss Central Railway
Swiss Central Railway
The Swiss Central Railway was a Swiss railway company from 1853 to 1902.In 2005 the name Centralbahn was revived for new railway company created by the merger of the Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn and the Brünigbahn...
(SCB, 398 km), United Swiss Railways
United Swiss Railways
The United Swiss Railways is a former railway company in Switzerland.The United Swiss railways was created on 1 May 1857 through the merger of the Glatt Valley Railway , the original Southeastern Railway and the St...
(VSB, 269 km) and the Gotthard Railway (273 km), forming the Swiss Federal Railways (SFR). In 1903 the SBB network took over the metre gauge Brünig Railway (German: Brünigbahn) opened in 1888 and the Swiss shipping line on Lake Constance. It acquired another four small private railways between 1913 and 1948.
The negotiated purchase price of more than Swiss Francs 1 billion was criticised, especially as the owners had stopped investing when the debate over nationalisation started. The cost of the nationalisation was not charged directly to the federal budget, but was instead a debt of the SFR. As a result of the high debt burden, the SBB was significantly impeded in its development of the railways until 1944 when it was relieved of the debt resulting from its nationalisation.
Modernisation
The majority of the railway network was single track and its equipment and rolling stock was mostly in poor condition and unable to cope with increasing traffic. The difficult financial situation during the first half of the 20th century limited the modernisation of the Swiss rail network. The main work carried out was electrification, duplication and safety improvements. Electrification started on an experimental basis in 1888 and was completed in 1960. It was accelerated as a result of coal shortages during the two world wars. Of particular note was the early electrification of the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon line, which was opened in 1913 with single-phase operation. At the beginning of World War II, 77% of the Swiss rail network had been electrified, while other European railways had a level of electrification of 5%.The construction of tunnels shortened distances and improved gradients, allowing the improved handling of traffic growth. The Simplon tunnel between Brig and Iselle, Italy, was opened in 1906. The Mont-d'Or tunnel was opened between Vallorbe
Vallorbe
Vallorbe is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.-History:Vallorbe is first mentioned in 1139 as de valle urbanensi. In 1148 it was mentioned as de valle urbe.-Geography:...
and Frasne
Frasne
Frasne is a commune in the Doubs department in the Franche-Comté region in eastern France.-Population:-External links:*...
, France, in 1915 and formed part of the route of the Orient Express
Orient Express
The Orient Express is the name of a long-distance passenger train service originally operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. It ran from 1883 to 2009 and is not to be confused with the Venice-Simplon Orient Express train service, which continues to run.The route and rolling stock...
between Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
from 1919 to 1962. The Hauenstein base tunnel was opened between Olten and Basel in 1916.
Private railways
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 Gürbetal Railway) and with SchwarzburgSchwarzburg
Schwarzburg is a municipality in the valley of the Schwarza in the district Saalfeld-Rudolstadt in Thuringia, Germany.First mentioned in 1071 as Swartzinburg. The castle was from the 12th century the seat of the Counts of Schwarzburg...
and the metre gauge lines were extended to Zollikofen
Zollikofen
Zollikofen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.It is a suburb of the capital of Bern....
and Solothurn
Solothurn
The city of Solothurn is the capital of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. The city also comprises the only municipality of the district of the same name.-Pre-roman settlement:...
. The Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
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.
Post World War II
Rail 2000
In the late 1960s, the SFR developed a proposal for a new east-west trunkline (German: Haupttransversale, NHT). This was considered by the Swiss Transport Commission (German: Schweizerischen Gesamtverkehrskommission, GVK). In 1977, after almost six years work, the GVK submitted a 400-page report, which recommended the construction of a new railway between GenevaGeneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
and Lake Constance
Lake Constance
Lake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...
and between Basel and Olten. On these routes, a total of 120 kilometres of new line would allow operation of trains at up to 200 kilometres per hour, similar to the French TGV
TGV
The TGV is France's high-speed rail service, currently operated by SNCF Voyages, the long-distance rail branch of SNCF, the French national rail operator....
s. A Federal Government committee supported SFR's proposal but considered that investment should be initially concentrated on the sections of route between Basel, Olten and Bern. This proposal was widely seen as too narrow in its benefits and in mid 1984 the SFR established an expert group under the name Rail 2000
Rail 2000
Rail 2000 is a large-scale project of the Swiss Federal Railways established in 1987 to improve the quality of the Swiss rail network. It includes measures to accelerate a number of existing connections and the modernisation of rolling stock...
to develop a broader approach. This group developed a plan to improve rail transport throughout Switzerland based on the approach of co-ordinated regular interval trains. The federal parliament voted to approve Rail 2000 in May 1986. In particular, it granted CHF
Swiss franc
The franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein; it is also legal tender in the Italian exclave Campione d'Italia. Although not formally legal tender in the German exclave Büsingen , it is in wide daily use there...
5.4 billion for the Mattstetten–Rothrist new line between Olten and Bern and for a connection from near Herzogenbuchsee
Herzogenbuchsee
Herzogenbuchsee is a municipality in the Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.The population is 6,646 , counting the villages in the Oberaargau. The traditional name was Buchsi.- History :...
to Solothurn
Solothurn
The city of Solothurn is the capital of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. The city also comprises the only municipality of the district of the same name.-Pre-roman settlement:...
. This was endorsed by a referendum in 1987 with a majority of 57.0%.
Zürich S-Bahn
After years of debate, a referendum of Zürich Canton agreed, on 29 November 1981, to the borrowing of CHF 520 million for the construction of the main lines for the Zürich S-BahnZürich S-Bahn
The Zurich S-Bahn system is a network of rapid transit rail lines that has been incrementally expanded to cover the ZVV area, which comprises the entire canton of Zurich and portions of neighboring cantons The Zurich S-Bahn system is a network of rapid transit rail lines that has been...
, based around a tunnel from the Zürich main station (connecting to the west, south and north) to Zürich Stadelhofen station (connecting to the southeast) and Dietlikon
Dietlikon
Dietlikon is a municipality in the district of Bülach in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland, and belongs to the Glatt Valley .-Geography:...
(connecting to the northeast) and Dübendorf
Dübendorf
Dübendorf is a municipality in the district of Uster in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.It is a suburb of Zürich in Switzerland with a population of about 23,000 . It is the fourth largest city in the canton, after Zürich, Winterthur, and Uster.-History:Dübendorf is first mentioned in 946 as...
(connecting to the east). On 27 May 1990, the S-Bahn was put into operation and then expanded in several phases into the current 380 kilometre long network.
Alpine crossings
In 1996, funding was approved for the upgrading of the two major alpine rail crossings, the Gotthard Railway, including the 57 km long Gotthard Base TunnelGotthard Base Tunnel
The Gotthard Base Tunnel is a new railway tunnel beneath the Swiss Alps, expected to open in 2016. With a route length of and a total of of tunnels, shafts and passages, it is the world's longest rail tunnel, surpassing the Japanese Seikan Tunnel....
and the Lötschberg Base Tunnel
Lötschberg Base Tunnel
The Lötschberg Base Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the BLS Lötschbergbahn's Lötschberg Line cutting through the Alps of Switzerland some below the existing Lötschberg Tunnel. It is currently the world's longest land tunnel and accommodates passenger and freight trains. It runs between Frutigen,...
on the approach to the Simplon Tunnel
Simplon Tunnel
The Simplon Tunnel is an Alpine railway tunnel that connects the Swiss town of Brig with Domodossola in Italy, though its relatively straight trajectory does not run under Simplon Pass itself. It actually consists of two single-track tunnels built nearly 20 years apart...
. The Gotthard Base Tunnel is due to be completed in 2015. The Lötschberg Base Tunnel was opened in 2007, but most of its second line has been indefinitely deferred.