| Switzerland | |||
| A Ge 6/6 II on the Albula Railway crossing the Landwasser Viaduct between Schmitten and Filisur | |||
| Operation | |||
| National railway | Swiss Federal Railways | ||
| Major operators | Swiss Federal Railways Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon railway Deutsche Bahn Rhaetian Railway Furka–Oberalp-Bahn BVZ Zermatt-Bahn |
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| Statistics | |||
| System length | |||
| Total | 5,063 km (3,146 mi) (all gauges) 3,652 km (2,269 mi) (standard gauge) |
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| Electrified | 3,641 km (2,262 mi) (standard gauge) | ||
| Gauge | |||
| Main | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) Standard gauge | ||
| 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) | 1,383 km (859 mi) (total) 1,353 km (841 mi) (electrified) |
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| 800 mm (2 ft 7 1⁄2 in) | 55.2 kilometres (34.3 mi) | ||
| 750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in) | 13 km (8 mi) | ||
| Electrification | |||
| Main | 15 kV 16.7 Hz | ||
| Features | |||
| Highest elevation | 3,545 metres (11,631 ft) | ||
| at | Jungfraujoch railway station | ||
| Lowest elevation | 242 metres (794 ft) | ||
| at | Giubiasco | ||
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The railways of Switzerland include 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) Standard gauge and narrow gauge (usually 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) , occasionally less).
(Data 2004, Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications)
Switzerland is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Switzerland is 85.[1]
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Three quarters of the Swiss rail network is at standard gauge, comprising 3,652 km, administered mostly by two companies. Important railway stations are the Zürich Hauptbahnhof, the Basel SBB railway station and the Bern railway station.
SBB-CFF-FFS (Swiss Federal Railways) is the largest railway company in Switzerland and handles the majority of national and international traffic. It operates the main east-west track in the central valley area and the north-south routes through the Alps via the Gotthard tunnel (Lugano to Zurich line) and the Simplon tunnel (Domodossola to Lausanne-Bern-Geneva line).
BLS (Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon) is the other main company, with 10% of the standard gauge network. It manages the other major Alpine route Bern-Brig via the Lötschberg tunnel and connection at Brig with SBB's Simplon tunnel to Italy.
The German national railway company Deutsche Bahn (DB) operates some trains to Switzerland but does not own any track in Switzerland except some lines from the German border to Basel Badischer Bahnhof station, which is also operated by DB, and an east-west line in the Canton of Schaffhausen.
The Rhaetian Railway (RhB) is the longest metre gauge railway in Switzerland, linking Disentis, Davos and St. Moritz in the high Alps with Chur, a rail junction with the SBB. It passes through the upper Rhine Valley and several side valleys, as well as the Engadin, the upper valley of the Inn River. The Bernina Pass is the highest point on this line, at 2253 m. Total length: 366 kilometres.
The Furka-Oberalp-Bahn (FO) is a metre gauge railway in the high southern alps. Its name refers to two passes, the Furka Pass and the Oberalp Pass. The Furka pass lies at the upper end of the Rhone valley. The Oberalppass is the highest point on this line at 2033 metres, and lies at the upper end of the Rhine valley. The total length of the railway is 100 kilometres, and the line runs from Disentis to Brig. Brig is a rail junction with the SBB and BLS and sits at the north end of the Simplon tunnel on the Milan to Lausanne SBB line and Milan to Bern BLS line.
The Brig-Visp-Zermatt (BVZ) railway, commonly known as the BVZ Zermatt-Bahn, is a short line between Brig and Zermatt. It passes through the Visp and Matt Valleys, tributaries of the Rhone River. Total length: 43 kilometres.
In 2003, the FO and BVZ merged to form the Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn.
The Glacier Express runs on the combined three line route St. Moritz-Chur-Disentis-Andermatt-Brig-Visp-Zermatt. A one-day trip in panoramic-view cars takes tourists from St. Moritz to Zermatt through some of the most spectacular scenery of the Alps.
The Gornergratbahn climbs for 9 kilometres from an elevation of 1600 metres near the Zermatt station of the Zermatt RR to a 3000-metre high-end station on the shoulder of the Monte Rosa Mountain. The entire route is a rack-and-pinion railway.
The Berner Oberland Bahn is a 24-kilometre line from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald. It begins at Interlaken Ost station and divides at Zweiluetschinen, about 10 kilometres south of Interlaken. The western branch leads to Lauterbrunnen, while the eastern branch leads to Grindelwald. It is possible to make a loop by taking the Lauterbrunnen branch and returning via the Grindelwald branch. The two branches are connected by the Wengernalp Bahn.
The Wengernalpbahn is a 19-kilometre line from Lauterbrunnen to Grindelwald, leading over the Eiger ridge at the junction station of Kleine Scheidegg. In the winter, this junction is a ski resort served by many lifts and trails, as well as the rail line. Skiers can ride the train from the valleys below to return to the top of the runs.
The Jungfraubahn, which is also rack-and-pinion throughout, starts at Kleine Scheidegg and runs 9 kilometres through tunnels in the Eiger and Mönch, leading to the "Jungfraujoch," a saddle between the Mönch and the Jungfrau summits. At the saddle are a visitor center and an observatory. The Aletsch Glacier, largest in Europe, runs to the south toward the Rhone valley.
The Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen-Mürren (BLM) is 6 km long, divided into two independent parts, the first part being a cable car (which runs above the old funicular railway, which was replaced in 2006), the second adhesion railway.
The Martigny–Châtelard railway is 19 km long, with one rack railway section, in the canton of Valais. It connects into the Saint-Gervais–Vallorcine railway in France, the joint services being marketed as Mont-Blanc Express.
The Montreux-Oberland Bernois line runs 75 kilometres from Montreux on Lake Geneva to Zweisimmen, with a connecting line to Lenk in the Simmental. The section from Montreux to Zweisimmen, approximately 63 kilometres long, is part of the "Golden Pass Panorama" trip from Montreux to Lucerne, a trip which combines rides on the MOB, the BLS and the Brünig lines.
From Interlaken, the narrow-gauge Brünigbahn section of the Zentralbahn runs 74 kilometres further to Lucerne. It skirts Lake Brienz and passes through the range of mountains to the north of the lake via Brünig pass, and then drops into the Sarner Aa valley to Lucerne.
At Brienz the Brienz Rothorn Bahn (BRB), a steam-hauled rack railway, ascends to near the summit of the Brienzer Rothorn.
There are trams operating on nine systems in seven Swiss cities. Street-running tramways are nearly all 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge. The Chemin de fer Bex–Villars–Bretaye (BVB) in Bex is more of a mixed interuban light rail line connected to a rack railway but it does have some street running portions, particularly in Bex where the BVB operates along the right of way of a tramway system originally built in the 1890s.
| City | System | Start of electric operations |
Gauge | notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basel | Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVB)[2] | 6 May 1892[2] | 4 lines | |
| Baselland Transport (BLT)[2] | 6 October 1902 | metre gauge | 8 lines, 65.2 km (40.5 mi), 100 trams, serves suburbs | |
| Bern[2] | Stadtische Verkehrsbetriebe Bern | 1 July 1902 | ||
| Bex | Chemin de fer Bex–Villars–Bretaye (BVB) | 1890s | metre gauge | connects to rack railway in Villars-sur-Ollon |
| Geneva[2] | Transports Publics Genevois | 22 September 1894 | ||
| Lausanne | Tramway du sud-ouest lausannois | 2 June 1991 | ||
| Neuchâtel[2] | Tramways de Neuchâtel | 16 May 1897 | ||
| Zürich[2] | Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich (VBZ) | 8 March 1894 | ||
| Stadtbahn Glattal | 10 December 2006 |
In German-speaking parts of Switzerland, the frequent town to and from city commuter service known as the S-Bahn in Germany or S-Linien in Switzerland has been built in several cities such as the Zürich S-Bahn and the Basel Regional S-Bahn.
In French-speaking parts of Switzerland, the service is known as the Réseau Express Régional such as in the Léman RER.
The construction and operation of Swiss railways during the 19th century was carried out by private railways. The first internal line was a 16km 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.
Although both Austria and Germany use the same voltage as Switzerland, only specially adapted trains are able to run to and from those two countries, because narrower pantographs are used in Switzerland.
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