Rail transport in Switzerland

Rail transport in Switzerland is the backbone of public transport. Switzerland has a very dense railway network with a comparatively very good offer, which is used every day by almost a million people. Along with the attractive tourist Alpenbahnen this contributes to the image as a web country.

• 2.1 Swiss Federal Railways
• 2.2 Concessionary transport companies

• 6.1 financing
• 6.2 authorities
• 6.3 Legal basis of rail transport

• 7.1 type names for vehicles
• 7.2 Current Systems
• 7.3 command

Rail network

The Swiss railway network has a length of 5'251 km (as of 2010 ), with respect to an area of ​​41,285 km ², it is, as well as the network of Czech Republic and apart from the city-states of Monaco and Vatican City, the densest in the world and up to few kilometers fully electrified.

Under the Swiss Railways Act all rail transport cable cars and trams are including as railroads. The railway network is divided into main lines and branch lines. The main tracks are all standard gauge railways that serve the through traffic. The S- Bahn trains on the normal railway network, both standard gauge and narrow gauge.

42 km of the network of the Deutsche Bahn ( which are owned by the Federal Republic of Germany ) are on Swiss territory, where the High Rhine route represents the most important part. Next are 2 km (middle Rhine bridge to station entrance guide, or St.Margrethen ) of the ÖBB. Conversely, 14 km of railway lines in neighboring countries owned by Swiss company (SBB Rafz - Neuhausen, RhB to Tirano, BLT Leymen ). For all other border crossings, the property boundary lies on the border and the continuous operation is controlled by operating and lease agreements, network access and concessions.

Unlike in other countries, there is no konkurrenzierendes bus to the main railway lines. The public rail and bus network are designed so that they are complementary. At the stations are also mutually waited connections between bus and train.

Standard gauge railways

From the Swiss railway network is 3,846 km - ie 78.88 % - run normalspurig; of which 1'747 km on multiple fronts built (as of 2010, source: BfS). The railway network is derived mainly from the second half of the 19th century. Almost all primary paths in the hands of the SBB, with the exception of some sections of the BLS and SOB.

The most important compounds are the main east-west connection from Geneva, Lausanne, Bern and Zurich to Lake Constance and running parallel to the Jura foot line, which runs in the north-south direction Gotthard Railway and the Lötschberg -Simplon axis. The two Alpine tunnels are also of international importance, as they are on the way from the North Sea ports to Italy. They are up in 2015 by the New Rail Link through the Alps (NEAT ) supplemented with new base tunnels and partially replaced.

In national transport are most important the triangle Basel -Bern - Zurich and in western Switzerland Lake Geneva along the line between Geneva and Lausanne. The most important railway junction is Olten, where cross the East-West and North-South lines.

Due to the topographical conditions most of the railway routes have been curvy and can be driven in accordance with comparatively low speeds. Actual high-speed lines there are in Switzerland no. The new stretch of the railway in 2000 between Bern and Olten is designed for at least 200 km / h. In the tunnels of NEAT is to be driven at 250 km / hr. They should be connected to the high-speed networks of the neighboring countries.

Narrow Gauge Railways

The narrow-gauge railways are an essential part of Switzerland. Especially in the mountainous regions of the Alps, the Jura foothills and extensive narrow gauge lines were built for cost reasons. All narrow gauge lines are considered as branch lines. From the 1,030 km long narrow gauge network only just 45 km are executed several lanes. The vast majority of narrow gauge railways used meter gauge, are used as special track and the track width 800 mm ( for example Wengernalpbahn ), 1200 mm ( mountain railway Rheineck - Walzenhausen ) and 750 mm ( Waldenburgerbahn ).

The largest contiguous narrow gauge network in Switzerland is that of the Rhaetian Railway ( RhB ) and the Matterhorn -Gotthard -Bahn. These two tracks run along the Glacier - Express, between the resorts of St. Moritz and Zermatt wrong. The Albula and Bernina line of the Rhaetian to Tirano in northern Italy is a third rail crossing of the Alps in Switzerland in addition to the standard gauge lines through the Gotthard and Simplon.

Trams

After the trams were initially very successful in Switzerland, they experienced in the twentieth century, the international trend towards the creation to traffic their decline. The cities that originally possessed trams, presented their power often to in trolleybus. In Switzerland, even today there are still many trolleybus lines in operation. It stayed in Switzerland only four tram cities left: Basel, Bern, Geneva and Zurich. Lausanne had banished the tram to the Expo 64 back from the city, but returned a quarter of a century later return to this mode of transport, but now built according to modern principles of a light rail. From the late 1980s was in some places considered again in Switzerland to reintroduce the tram network and expand.

The transition between tram and « real » Railway is fluent. Because there is no legal difference in Switzerland, a distinction is not necessary. Use the tram networks in the cities and urban areas, except in Lausanne ( TSOL ), the meter gauge. There are also suburban and interurban lines that operate in parts as trams.

The first tram Switzerland was opened in Geneva in 1862 and joined the Place Neuve with the town of Carouge. The cars were drawn by horses at that time. At the time of greatest expansion, 1925, Geneva had a tram network of more than 130 kilometers in the entire canton and on French border. Thus, Geneva was at the forefront of Swiss cities. From the interwar period, but in particular after the Second World War, the tram networks were heavily dismantled and partially completely abandoned. Private transport had the highest priority and the need of a lot of space on the streets trams were mostly replaced by bus lines. Particularly strong was this dismantling of the tram network in the French-speaking Switzerland, the naturally more oriented to France and Paris, where the tram networks were rapidly degraded. In Geneva, 129 by 138 kilometers of tram were shut down, at Neuchâtel and Lausanne 21 of 30 separated in terms of the national exhibition in 1964 completely from its 66 km long tram network.

The German -speaking Switzerland, however, was the dismantling of the tram network more slowly, and had thus, as the tram from the mid- 1980s again became fashionable, even more tram lines left, which have now been extended again. The Basel tram network was only about eleven kilometers from 58 to 47, reduced; at the tram Bern just seven kilometers were shut down. Were completely abandoned the tram St. Gallen, Schaffhausen tram, the tram and the tram Winterthur Lucerne.

The Zurich tram network, which in 1931 reached its highest level, lost to 1965 a total of nearly 17 km a, including all tram routes outside the city limits. Although in 1954 within the city a long tram line was canceled, the construction of new tram routes was never completely abandoned, but was in 1954, 1976 and 1986 come up with the openings of a total of over eleven kilometers of new tram routes. With the opening of the first two stages of the Glattalbahn 2006 and 2008, the Zurich tram network was extended again. The third stage of Glattalbahn ( Auzelg - Dübendorf train station ), and the Tram Zurich West ( between Escher -Wyss -Platz - Altstetten ) were also opened in the years 2010 and 2011, respectively. Other expansion projects are already decided.

Cableways

The funiculars are part of the rail transport in Switzerland. They serve mainly to tourism, and are equivalent in schedule and fare, only partially integrated into the national offers. Legally, the funicular up to 31 December 2006 were as railroads. Since then, they are subject, together with the cable cars to the new cable car Act ( SEBG).

Companies

Swiss Federal Railways

The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB ) originated from 1901 through nationalization of the most important former private railways. Official founding date is January 1, 1902, but there are certain lines were executed in 1901 commissioned by the state. Effective 1 January 1999, they were converted to a special statutory corporation. SBB is entirely in federal ownership, but today the " Private Companies " in most areas pari passu ( main difference is the staff right ).

Concessionary transport companies

In addition to the SBB a large number of licensed carriers exist ( KTU ). KTU of rail transport are also known as private railways. Together they operate a large part of the Swiss rail network. Here, the term " private company " more on the right than on the form of ownership, because these pathways have long been the majority in the possession of the public - the Confederation, cantons and municipalities. Thus, for example, maintains on the important BLS, the federal government 21% of the share capital and the canton of Bern at 55% even the majority, while individuals have only a negligible minority of the shares. The Rhaetian Railway is part of the majority of the canton of Graubünden and is therefore referred to as " state railway in the canton of Graubünden ."

Some of the more important KTU are:

• BLS AG operators of the Lötschberg line and the S- Bahn Bern and some lines in the Bernese Oberland, Upper Aargau, Emmental and the Lucerne hinterland (not Transport and Infrastructure congruent )
• Swiss South Eastern Railway: standard gauge operates routes in the Bodensee - Toggenburg - Schwyz and operates the Pre-Alpine Express from St. Gallen to Lucerne
• Rhaetian Railway: Narrow gauge railway in the Canton of Grisons
• Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn: narrow gauge line from Zermatt via Andermatt to Disentis, adjoins the Rhaetian Railway
• Montreux- Bernese Oberland Railway: Narrow Gauge line from Lake Geneva to the Bernese Oberland
• Central Railway: Brünigbahn and Engelbergbahn

Timetable and fare

The whole public transport in Switzerland bears the hallmarks of a " transport system ": a coordinated, jointly published schedule ( course book ), general ticket and Half-Fare Card is valid for all companies except tourism tracks.

The timetable of the Swiss Railways shall be based on the following principles:

• Integral timetable on all routes with uniform symmetry minute; the node principle of Rail 2000 guaranteed hourly and half-hourly, in the direction and the opposite direction is always the same mirror-image connections in all major railway stations in the country
• Link by tram and bus
• Timetabling process with the participation of the cantons with public edition of the roadmap draft

Traffic Statistics

In international comparison, Switzerland is located in the back approved annually by rail passenger-kilometers, along with Japan at the top. Average undertakes any Swiss 47 rides per year. With a distance traveled per capita in 2004, with Switzerland is 1,739 kilometers behind Japan, the world's leading with 1,897 annual passenger-km rail passengers nation. In this evaluation, in both countries, only members of the UIC, ie the State Railways and their successors are considered. Since there is a high proportion of private railways in both countries, the effective values ​​in both countries are significantly higher. Comparable statistics for this purpose are not available.

History

Policy

The current transport policy in Switzerland is the rail traffic towards fundamentally positive. Keywords from the current policy are:

• Transfer policy
• Railway Reform
• Free network access with the EU
• Financing of public transport ( FinöV )
• New Rail Link through the Alps (NEAT ), ZEB

Financing

The most important role in the financing of railway infrastructure plays the covenant. He financed the major projects, the SBB infrastructure and some private rail infrastructure (mainly the transit axis Lötschberg ). The remaining private railway infrastructure it financed together with the cantons. An expansion projects in urban areas (for example, Tram Bern West, Glattalbahn, M2 in Lausanne ), he contributes up to 50 %.

The long-distance railway as a whole must be self-supporting (but not pay full cost for track use ). The regional transport of all modes of transport (train, bus, boat, cable car ) finance Confederation and the cantons according to uniform principles in common. The local traffic is the responsibility of the cantons or municipalities.

Authorities

The Federal Office of Transport (FOT ) is the supervisory authority of all rail transport.

Legal bases of rail transport

See: Systematic collection of federal law, railroads

Technology, standards

Type names for vehicles

See: Type designations of the Swiss locomotives and railcars

Power Systems

Most standard gauge tracks and some meter gauge railway (eg, TRAVYS, MBC) of Switzerland are electrified at 15 kV 16.7 Hz. Although voltage and frequency match, Lokomotiv passes are possible to and from Germany and Austria because of the different clearance profile not readily available. The head width of the pantograph is 1450 mm significantly narrower than in the two neighboring countries in Switzerland.

The Narrow Gauge Railways RhB and 11 kV 16.7 Hz MGB use and are connected to the traction power network of standard gauge railways. The remaining narrow gauge railways and some special standard gauge (OC, TSOL, LO, RB) using DC current into the voltages from 600V to 1500V. The cog railways Gornergrat Railway and the Jungfrau Railway have a three-phase supply.

A few hundred meters of track in the border station of Chiasso are electrified with the power system of the FS DC 3000V. Along the border with France are the current systems of this country, DC 1500 V and AC 25 kV 50 Hz to find.

Command

SBB and standard gauge private railways led since 1933 on its entire network Signum train protection a. It was the world's first non-contact command, which is characterized by simplicity and robustness. However, this system does not meet the now prevailing heavy traffic in many places. Therefore, it was supplemented at danger points by the more modern system ZUB 121 from the nineties. Today, instead of Signum and ZUB- Magnets a eurobalise is used with the same information, the so-called Euro-Signum/Euro-ZUB ( based on protocol 44). In the future, the European ETCS is to be used. It is incorporated with Level 2, for the time being on the new line of railway in 2000 and the NEAT. Later, it should, at Level 1, combined with Euro-Signum/Euro-ZUB be used throughout the network.

In the narrow-gauge railways usually a point-like command according to the standard ZSI -90 or ZST -90 is installed. RBS, WSB and FB have ZSL 90, which is a line cable system, the line manager may have gaps. Finally has come for installation at the central railway and the BOB ZSI 127. This command works with the hardware components of ETCS, but notwithstanding programmed to cover the requirements of gear operation. In addition, the eurobalises are arranged off-center because of the gear operation. ZSI 127 is expected to gradually replace the older systems, as the first track, the meter gauge line was Dietikon - Wohlen the BDWM upgraded.

Industry

For a long time the Swiss locomotives - and with them the local rolling stock industry - part of national pride. Thus, the Landi -Lok was as at that time most powerful locomotive in the world ( although it was a flop economically ) a symbol of spiritual defense against Nazism and fascism. In the heyday of the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works and the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon exported their products to the whole world.

With the competitive pressure from the east and advancing globalization, the pressure rose to mergers with international corporations. The production sites in Switzerland were shut down. As the only domestic producer of rail vehicles, Stadler Rail has been preserved, which was able to hold in niche markets.

The interlocking Switzerland was long dependent on the German industry, which sold its products through the Signum AG in Wallisellenstrasse. With the first inductive command of this company succeeded in 1933 the first big success and international recognition. The Integra - Signum AG supplied interlockings for the majority of stations in Switzerland until it was taken over in the nineties by Siemens after her had not succeeded in the development of the electronic interlocking.