The Swiss National Railway (German: Schweizerische Nationalbahn, SNB) 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. The Winterthur Democratic Party promoted a railway funded by some communities and cantons to build a railway from Lake Constance to Lake Geneva to compete with the Swiss Northeastern Railway (German: Schweizerische Nordostbahn, NOB). This new line across of the Swiss plateau would have bypassed the major economic centres and run through relatively sparsely populated areas. Unfortunately for the SNB, the established railways managed to gain the right to a new railway line concession in order to prevent it from connecting to Zürich as it had planned. In 1878 financial problems forced the SNB's liquidation, and the NOB took over its bankrupt estate for 12.4% of the face value of its shares. The cities of Winterthur, Baden, Lenzburg, Zofingen did not finish paying off the debts that they had incurred from investing in the SNB until the 20th century. [1]
In 1877, the SNB built a railway through the Furttal (valley) linking Baden and northern Zürich. Following the bankruptcy of the SNB, the section of the Wettingen–Effretikon railway from Seebach to Wettingen was used for testing electric locomotives from the nearby Oerlikon locomotive works.
The Zofingen–Lenzburg line is generally known in vernacular Swiss as the "Nazeli", derived from the Nationalbahn.
Zürich Hauptbahnhof is the largest railway station in Switzerland and one of the busiest in Europe. Zürich is a major railway hub, with services to and from across Switzerland and neighbouring countries such as Germany, Italy, Austria and France. The station was originally constructed as the terminus of the Spanisch Brötli Bahn, the first railway built completely within Switzerland. Serving up to 2,915 trains per day, Zürich HB is one of the busiest railway stations in the world. It was ranked as the second-best European railway station in 2020.
The High Rhine Railway is a Deutsche Bahn railway line from Basel Badischer Bahnhof in the city of Basel to Konstanz on Lake Constance. It was built by the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways as part of the Baden Mainline, which follows the Rhine upstream from Mannheim Hauptbahnhof to Konstanz. The line derives its name from the High Rhine, which it follows between Basel and Waldshut and on a short section in Schaffhausen.
The Zürich–Baden railway line is a major railway line in Switzerland connecting the cities of Zürich and Baden. It forms part of the major east-west route between Zürich and Olten. The line generally follows the south bank of the Limmat from Zürich to Baden. A new line, the Heitersberg line, opened in 1975, branches off in Killwangen-Spreitenbach and follows a more southerly route through the Heitersberg Tunnel towards Olten. The Zürich–Baden railway is electrified at 15 kV 16.7 Hz and much of it has four tracks.
The Swiss Northeastern Railway was an early railway company in Switzerland. It also operated shipping on Lake Constance (Bodensee) and Lake Zürich. Until the merger of the Western Swiss Railways into the Jura–Simplon Railway (JS) in 1890/91, it was the largest Swiss railway company.
The Lake Line, as it is referred to by the SBB in English, is the Swiss railway line running from Rorschach via Romanshorn, Konstanz (Germany), Kreuzlingen, Steckborn, Stein am Rhein and Diessenhofen to Schaffhausen. The scenic route follows the southern border of Lake Constance and the High Rhine. It forms the Swiss section of the ring railway around Lake Constance.
The Swiss Northern Railway , informally known as the Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn, opened the first railway line within Switzerland in 1847, the Zürich–Baden line. This followed the extension of a French railway to Basel in 1844. The original line generally followed the south bank of the Limmat from Zürich to near its confluence with the Aar near Brugg, and then the south bank of the Aar to Olten. It was absorbed into the Swiss Northeastern Railway in 1853 and extended from Baden to Brugg in 1858. The line was absorbed into the Swiss Federal Railways on its establishment in 1902. It is electrified at 15 kV 16.7 Hz and its eastern 16 km section from Zürich to Killwangen-Spreitenbach is now part of the Zürich–Olten trunkline and has four tracks.
Zürich Oerlikon railway station is a railway station located in District 11 of Zürich. It is one of the two major nodes for local and regional public transportation in the northern part of Zürich, the other being the railway station at Zurich Airport. Oerlikon station is a junction station, or Keilbahnhof: tracks 1 and 2 are on the Zürich–Winterthur line, while tracks 3–8 are on the Oerlikon–Bülach line. The station building, located at the side of the station, is listed in the Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance as a Class B object of regional importance.
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 was under the Gotthard Pass in 1882. A second alpine line was opened under the Simplon Pass in 1906.
Konstanz station is the largest passenger station in the German city of Konstanz (Constance). It is served by regional and long-distance services operated by Deutsche Bahn and Swiss Federal Railways. It is the end of the High Rhine Railway and the beginning of the Lake Line.
Zürich Seebach is a railway station in the Seebach quarter of the Swiss city of Zürich. It is located on the Wettingen–Effretikon railway line.
Opfikon is a railway station in Switzerland, in the municipality of Opfikon. The station is served by Zürich S-Bahn line S7. Opfikon station is some 250 metres (820 ft) walk from Glattbrugg station on S-Bahn line S5 and the Stadtbahn Glattal.
Kloten Balsberg is a railway station in the Swiss canton of Zürich and municipality of Kloten. The station is located on a variant of the multi-stranded Zürich–Winterthur railway line and is served by S-Bahn line S7. It is an interchange point between the Zürich S-Bahn and the Stadtbahn Glattal light rail system, which serves an elevated tram stop, adjacent to the station and connected directly to the station platform by an elevated walkway. The tram stop, which is named Bahnhof Balsberg, is served by Zürich tram routes 10 and 12, operating on behalf of the Stadtbahn Glattal.
Wettingen railway station is a railway station in the municipality of Wettingen in the Swiss canton of Aargau. The station is located on the Zürich to Baden main line, just west of the point where the Furttal line joins the main line.
Lenzburg railway station is a railway station in the municipality of Lenzburg in the Swiss canton of Aargau.
The Zürich–Winterthur railway is Switzerland's busiest railway line. Opened in 1855, it runs from Zürich Hauptbahnhof to Winterthur via several routes. It is a bottleneck in Swiss rail transport. Practically all lines of the core network of the Zürich S-Bahn use parts of this line.
The Winterthur–Romanshorn railway, also known in German as the Thurtallinie, is a Swiss railway line and was built as part of the railway between Zürich and Lake Constance (Bodensee). It connects Winterthur with Romanshorn, where it formerly connected to train ferries over Lake Constance. It is the fourth oldest internal railway in Switzerland. Its construction was to be funded by the Zürich-Lake Constance Railway (Zürich-Bodenseebahn), but during the construction the company was merged with the Swiss Northern Railway to form the Swiss Northeastern Railway. The Winterthur–Romanshorn railway was opened on 16 May 1855 and the line from Winterthur to Oerlikon was opened on 27 December 1855. Zürich was reached on 26 June 1856 and the two existing NOB lines were connected.
The Wettingen–Effretikon railway line is a standard-gauge railway line to the northwest of Zürich, Switzerland. It was opened on 15 October 1877 by the Swiss National Railway. The trains ran past Zürich to its north, which meant that it was not connected to this important centre of industry. This circumstance was one of the reasons for the bankruptcy of the company in 1878. The line was then taken over by the Swiss Northeastern Railway. It has been part of the network of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) since 1902.
The Zofingen–Wettingen railway line is a standard-gauge line in Switzerland. It was opened on 6 September 1877 between Zofingen and Baden Oberstadt together with the Aarau–Suhr railway by the Swiss National Railway. The opening of the adjacent Baden Oberstadt–Wettingen section together with the Wettingen–Effretikon railway, which represented its continuation to the east, was delayed until 15 October 1877 due to construction delays at the Limmat bridge. The SNB went bankrupt in 1878, after which the line was acquired by the Swiss Northeastern Railway from the bankrupt estate. The NOB became part of the Swiss Federal Railways with the nationalisation of the company in 1902.
Suhr railway station is a railway station in the municipality of Suhr, in the Swiss canton of Aargau. It is located at the intersection of the standard gauge Zofingen–Wettingen line of Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and the 1,000 mm gauge Schöftland–Aarau–Menziken line of Aargau Verkehr.
The Etzwilen to Singen railway is a heritage railway between Etzwilen in the Swiss canton of Thurgau and Singen in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, crossing the eastern part of the canton of Schaffhausen. Passenger train services existed between 1875 and 1969, while cargo trains operated the line until 2004. Today, it is used by heritage trains and draisines.