105-565: The Swiss Central Railway ( Schweizerische Centralbahn ; SCB or S.C.B. ) was one of the five major private railway companies of Switzerland. The SCB with a track length of 332 kilometres was integrated into the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) in 1902. The SCB based in Basel was founded on 4 February 1853 by Johann Jakob Speiser, Achilles Bischoff and Karl Geigy. The shares were mainly owned by Parisian banks. But Basel banks and
210-408: A dense road network. With the rise of industrialisation in the early 19th century, cities became more and more important. In 1860 a drastic population growth of the cities started which lasted for about 100 years. In the 1970s, however, outmigration from the cities started. The municipalities surrounding the cities grew disproportionately, whereas the cities themselves lost inhabitants. In recent times
315-779: A great impact on the SCB. However, a referendum was called to prevent the purchase because of its high cost and it was rejected by the voters. The nationalisation of SCB was only decided in 1898 with the adoption of the repurchase law. The Central Railway became the property of the Confederation in 1902 and became part of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB). In 1882, the company owned 97 locomotives , 195 passenger cars and 1609 freight cars . Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (German: Schweizerische Bundesbahnen , SBB ; French: Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses , CFF ; Italian: Ferrovie federali svizzere , FFS )
420-714: A line from Aarau via Olten through the Gäu to Solothurn and on to Lyss . Along with the NOB, the SCB made daring commitments to build new lines to fight the competition. In 1872, the SCB entered into an undertaking with the canton of Solothurn to build the Gäu Railway ( Gäubahn ; Olten–Solothurn–Lyss, now considered part of the Jura Foot Railway ), along with the Solothurn– Biberist branch line (now considered part of
525-463: A national icon. It is special in that it stops for just over a second at the end of each minute, to wait for a signal from the master clock which sets it going again — thus keeping all station clocks synchronised. The clock owes its technology to the particular requirements of operating a railway. First, railway timetables do not list seconds; trains in Switzerland always leave the station on
630-469: A part in the Swiss Plateau. Entirely situated within the Swiss Plateau are the cantons of Zürich , Thurgau and Geneva ; mostly situated within the Swiss Plateau are the cantons of Lucerne , Aargau , Solothurn , Bern , Fribourg and Vaud ; small portions of the Swiss Plateau are situated in the cantons of Neuchâtel , Zug , Schwyz , St. Gallen and Schaffhausen . The geological layers of
735-458: A short circuit on a long-distance power transmission line in central Switzerland led to a chain reaction. The entire Swiss railway network was out of service during rush hour and an estimated 200,000 people and 1,500 trains were stuck at stations or somewhere on the track. It turned out that the SBB power transmission network was overloaded and did not provide enough redundancy to tolerate the shutdown of
840-474: A small airport, Bern Belpmoos Airport . Härkingen respectively Niederbipp and Zürich are scheduled as one of the eight hubs of the proposed Cargo Sous Terrain , an underground cargo transport system those first phase of about 70 kilometres (43 mi) is planned by the early 2030s. Compared to the Swiss Alps, the plateau, and especially the rural plateau, is less geared towards tourism. It serves as
945-498: A third of its construction costs. The SCB increased its share capital from CHF 37.5 to 50 million in 1873 to finance the construction of new lines and the duplication of parts of the old network. When Alsace-Lorraine was ceded to Germany as a result of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, attempts were made to build a rail link from Delle to Lucerne via Delémont and Langenthal ( Jura–Gotthard Railway ). In addition,
1050-632: A transit region. Visitors mainly come to see the major towns and cities with their historical sights and attractions, especially the Old Towns of Bern and Lucerne, but also Zürich, Biel/Bienne, St. Gallen, Fribourg, Geneva and Lausanne. An important natural touristic attraction is the Rhine Fall near Schaffhausen. The lakes also attract tourists, and then there are several spa towns , Baden , Schinznach-Bad , Yverdon-les-Bains and Zurzach , thanks to their hydrothermal vents . Zürich Wilderness Park
1155-552: Is viticulture . Grassland with dairy farming and beef production is predominant in the eastern plateau and in the higher regions. Especially in the Thurgau, fruit (apples) is important. The forests in the Swiss Plateau are used in forestry. There are many Norway Spruce forestations, often in monoculture because of their valuable timber. With respect to industry , the plateau is the most important region of Switzerland. The traditional textile industries are situated especially in
SECTION 10
#17327809051371260-530: Is 20 °C, alongside the southern edge of the Jura it is 18 – 20 °C, and in higher regions 16 – 18 °C. With regard to mean sunshine duration, the Lake Geneva region is again advantaged with more than 1900 hours, whereas in the rest of the Swiss Plateau, it is between 1600 (especially in the east) and 1900 hours. The annual average rainfall is between 800 millimetres near the Jura, 1200 millimetres in
1365-610: Is French-speaking. The language border has been stable for many centuries even though it falls neither on a geographical nor on a political delimitation. It passes from Biel/Bienne over Murten and Fribourg to the Fribourg Alps. The cities of Biel/Bienne, Murten and Fribourg are officially bilingual. Localities along the language border usually use both names, the German and the French one, officially interchangeable. Thanks to
1470-445: Is SBB. While the official Romansh name, Viafiers federalas svizras (VFF), can be found in federal laws and associated documents, as well as Romansh-language media, it is not used by the company itself. Swiss Federal Railways is divided into three divisions and eight groups. The divisions manage the relevant operational businesses. These divisions are: The former division Cargo became an independent group company at
1575-605: Is between 400 metres (1,300 ft) and 700 metres (2,300 ft) AMSL . It is by far the most densely populated region of Switzerland, the center of economy and important transportation. In the north and northwest, the Swiss Plateau is sharply delimited geographically and geologically by the Jura Mountains . In the south, there is no clear border with the Alps . Usually, the rising of the terrain to altitudes above 1500 metres AMSL (lime Alps, partly sub-alpine molasse), which
1680-629: Is considered, the Alpine foreland belongs clearly to the Swiss Plateau. In the southwest, the Swiss Plateau is confined by Lake Geneva , in the northeast, by Lake Constance and the Rhine . Geologically, the Swiss Plateau is part of a larger basin that extends beyond the border of Switzerland. At its southwestern end, in France , the plateau, in the Genevois , ends at Chambéry where Jura and Alps meet. On
1785-797: Is covered by unfolded strata of Mesozoic sediments , which are part of the Helvetic nappes . Its depth gradually decreases from about 2.5 km in the west to 0.8 km in the east. These layers, like the ones of the Jura Mountains, were deposited in a relatively shallow sea, the Tethys Ocean . Above the Mesozoic layers, is the Molasse , consisting of conglomerate , sandstone , marl and shale . The uppermost layer consists of gravel and glacial sediments that have been transported by
1890-568: Is highly developed. The most important transversal, so to speak the backbone of the Swiss Plateau, is the A1 motorway that connects all the big cities going from Geneva over Lausanne, Bern, Zürich and Winterthur to St. Gallen. The A2, the Swiss north-south axis, crosses the plateau from Olten to Luzern. The railway network is very dense. All major cities are connected, and between Olten and Lausanne, there are two main lines: One passing over Bern and Fribourg,
1995-631: Is responsible for passenger traffic in Germany. It operates the Wiesentalbahn and the Seehas services. Other subsidiaries are THURBO , RegionAlps , AlpTransit Gotthard AG , Cisalpino , and TiLo (the latter in conjunction with Italian authorities). Swiss Federal Railways hold significant shares of the Zentralbahn and Lyria SAS . The Stiftung Historisches Erbe der SBB (" SBB Historic ")
2100-688: Is stamped by the Gros-de-Vaud plateau (up to 600 meters AMSL) and the Jorat molasse hills (up to 900 meters AMSL) but is sometimes intersected by deep valleys. Only near the Jura, there is an almost continuous dip consisting of the Venoge and the Orbe valleys which are separated by the Mormont hill, the main watershed between Rhône and Rhine, at only 500 m AMSL. The Seeland ('lake land'), characterized by
2205-657: Is the national railway company of Switzerland . The company, founded in 1902, is headquartered in Bern . It used to be a government institution , but since 1999 it has been a special stock corporation whose shares are held by the Swiss Confederation and the Swiss cantons . It is currently the largest rail and transport company of Switzerland; it operates on most standard gauge lines of the Swiss network . It also heavily collaborates with most other transport companies of
SECTION 20
#17327809051372310-655: Is very abrupt in certain places, is taken as a criterion for delimitation. Occasionally the regions of the higher Swiss Plateau, especially the hills of the canton of Fribourg , the Napf region, the Töss region, the (lower) Toggenburg , and parts of the Appenzell region are considered to form the Swiss Alpine foreland in a narrow sense. However, if a division into the three main regions Jura Mountains, Swiss Plateau and Alps
2415-743: The Bern-Lucerne Railway ( Bern-Luzern-Bahn ; BLB) planned a line to the Gotthard via Langnau . To defend against this double competition, the SCB began construction of the Langenthal–Wauwil railway . It would have connected the Olten–Bern and the Olten–Lucerne lines and significantly shortened the detour via Aarburg. However, the raising of additional funds was difficult due to the economic crisis and led to significant restrictions on
2520-580: The Federal Assembly approved the purchase of Schweizerische Centralbahn (SCB) to operate trains on behalf of the federal government. The first train running on the account of the Swiss Confederation ran during the night of New Year's Eve 1900/New Year's Day 1901 from Zürich via Bern to Geneva , and received a ceremonial welcome upon arriving in Bern. SBB's management board was first formed in mid-1901, and added Schweizerische Nordostbahn (NOB) to
2625-470: The Lake Baldegg . Another reminder of the glaciation are glacial erratics which are found all over the Swiss Plateau. These rocks, sometimes of enormous size, are of alien stones, mostly granite and gneiss from the central crystalline Alps. Taken together, they were one of the clues that led to the substantiation of the glaciation theory in the 19th century since transport by water or by volcanism
2730-411: The Rhine advanced sometimes as well until the Jura. The glaciers formed the land by erosion, but also by base moraines (very fine stone meal) often several meters thick, and by the meltwater streams depositing gravel. Traces of the older Günz and Mindel glaciation are only left in a few places because most have been removed or transferred by the later glaciations. The greatest extension was reached by
2835-787: The Schweizerische Ostwestbahn (Swiss East-West Railway). In the same year, the Chemins de fer de l'Est linked its network in Basel with the Central Railway, giving the SCB a direct connection to the international rail network. In Olten there is a stone relief documenting the zero point of the distance measurement of the railway lines prescribed by the Federal Government. From the starting point in Olten,
2940-670: The Solothurn–Langnau railway ). In return, Solothurn demanded the creation of the Waterfalls Railway ( Wasserfallenbahn ) from Liestal through the Jura to Solothurn and its continuation from Solothurn to Schönbühl near Bern. The SCB also committed to build a local railway ( Lokalbahn ) from Liestal to Waldenburg and to participate in the Sissach–Gelterkinden tramway ( Sissach-Gelterkinden-Bahn ), including funding
3045-842: The Suhre , the Seetal , the Reuss and the Limmat ). The Rhine Glacier has mostly left traces that trend west: The eastern Swiss Plateau of the Thur Valley and Lake Constance. In certain places, there are characteristic drumlins of the base moraine, often clustered, especially in the highlands of Zürich, in the Hirzel region, in the Lake Constance region and between the Reuss Valley and
3150-408: The Zentralbahn , in which SBB holds shares. In the 19th century, all Swiss railways were owned by private ventures. The economic and political interests of these companies led to lines being built in parallel and some companies went bankrupt in the resulting competition. On 20 February 1898 the Swiss people agreed in a referendum to the creation of a state-owned railway company. Later that year,
3255-503: The cantons of Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft were also involved. The issue of shares worth Swiss Francs (CHF) 36 million and bonds worth CHF 12 million were planned. Speculation on the Paris stock exchange, however, led to a sharp fall in prices. Thus, the value of the SCB shares fell from CHF 500 to 200 and the share capital finally amounted to only CHF 14.5 million. The cantons of Luzern and Bern and Bernese municipalities rescued
Swiss Central Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
3360-503: The glaciers of the ice ages . Geologically the most important layer of the Swiss Plateau is the thick molasse sequence that accumulated at the border of the Alps due to the rapid erosion of the concurrently uplifted mountains. The thickness of the molasse increases from west to east (at the same distance from the Alps). The former alpine rivers built huge fans of sediment at the foot of
3465-685: The Aare orifice and Schaffhausen, the predominant trees are oak , tilia and maple . Humans began to settle the plateau in the Neolithic , starting with the banks of lakes and rivers. Major oppida were built after the Celts appeared in the 3rd century BC. Urban settlements with stone houses were built during the Roman Empire . The Swiss Plateau became a part of the Roman Empire in 15 BC when
3570-469: The Alps and the Jura can have the brightest sunshine. Typical for the high fog is the bise , a cold wind from the northeast. Since it is channelled by the Swiss Plateau narrowing in the southwest, it reaches its major strength in the Lake Geneva region where wind speeds of 60 km/h with top speeds of more than 100 km/h are usual in typical bise weather. The regions near the Alps of the central and eastern plateau sometimes have temperature rises due to
3675-510: The Alps. The central Swiss Plateau is characterised by a number of ranges and broad valleys, some of them with lakes, that run northwest. The last of them is the Albis range, which together with the Heitersberg range forms a bar from the Alps to the Jura that the major transportations bypass only in a few places, mostly in tunnels. The eastern Swiss Plateau is structured by the valleys of
3780-837: The Central Railway, from 1873 to 1882. The opening of these two lines led to a decline in traffic on the Hauenstein line. The construction of the Basel Connecting Line also occurred in this period. In the Treaty on the Construction and Operation of the Gotthard Railway , Switzerland undertook to connect its network with the Baden Railways by rail over the Rhine. The Basel Connecting Line was built by
3885-723: The French-speaking part of Switzerland. Another integrated control centre will be opened in Zürich. All trains and most buildings have been made non-smoking since the timetable change of 11 December 2005. By the end of 2006, the corporation was handed over from the long-term CEO Benedikt Weibel to his successor Andreas Meyer . On 13 January 2019, Bloomberg reported that SBB was in talks with German aviation company Lilium GmbH to create air taxis to carry customers from train stations to their final destination. The Swiss Federal Railways clock designed by Hans Hilfiker has become
3990-610: The Gütsch tunnel near Lucerne. Seven railway workers were killed immediately and four seriously injured. On 4 June 1899, the Zurich– Geneva night express of the NOB ran past a designated stopping point in Aarau and ran into two stationary Central Railway locomotives. The accident caused two deaths and three serious injuries. In 1891, a banking consortium offered the federal government the majority of shares in SCB. The policy would have had
4095-472: The Hauenstein line to Olten. It wanted to ensure that a direct Olten– Solothurn – Biel/Bienne line was built instead of a branch line from Herzogenbuchsee to Solothurn. The issue of concessions for railway lines in Aargau was also controversial because there was a fight between the interests of Basel and Zürich in this canton. Zürich and Neuchâtel planned a link via Les Verrières to France, competing with
4200-416: The Ice Age glaciers, there is plenty of gravel and clay. The gravel digging in the Ice Age gravel terraces all over the Swiss Plateau covers the demands of the construction industry. Numerous hydroelectric power plants in the rivers produce electricity. All four Swiss nuclear power plants are situated on the plateau. Because of the comparatively easy topography and the dense population, the transport network
4305-454: The Jura between Sissach and Olten with gradients of up to 2.6% and passed through the 2.5 km-long Hauenstein Tunnel from Läufelfingen to Trimbach , Switzerland's longest tunnel at the time. Cost overruns and building delays of more than a year brought the SCB close to bankruptcy. CHF 4 million of investment aid from the federal government and bonds worth CHF 12 million from Basel and Stuttgart banks secured further funding in 1857. SCB
Swiss Central Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
4410-413: The Jura, clays and marl. During the Tertiary orogenic uplift , around 60 – 40 million years ago, the area of today's Swiss Plateau was a Karst plateau somewhat inclined to the south. Through processes of rising and lowering that were brought by the folding of the Alps, the area was twice flooded by a sea. The corresponding sediments are distinguished as sea molasse and freshwater molasse, even though
4515-447: The Limmat (including Lake Zurich ), the Glatt , the Töss , the Murg , the Thur , and the Sitter . Between them there are hill countries, in the canton of Thurgau also the broad molasse ranges of Seerücken (lit.: 'back of the lake') and Ottenberg north of the Thur, and the hilly ranges between the Thur and the Murg. This area is colloquially also known as Mostindien (lit.: 'Cider India'). Two hill countries get out of line with
4620-402: The Murten, Neuchâtel and Biel lakes, represents the biggest plain of the Swiss Plateau, though it is also interrupted by isolated molasse ranges. In the east, it is neighboured by various hill countries the height of which decreases to the north. Another major plain is the Wasseramt where the Emme runs. In a broad valley alongside the Jura, the Aare collects all the rivers that come down from
4725-555: The Passenger division got all modern Re 460s and opted for multiple unit trains, mainline locomotives were bought only by the Cargo division, namely Re 482 "Traxx F140 AC" (2002), Re 484 "Traxx F140 MS" (2004) and Re 474 "ES64 F4" (2004). The first multiple units originated from the Seetalbahn , which was formed in 1922. Larger series were uncommon until after 1950: Be 4/6 (1923), De 4/4 (1927), BDe 4/4 (1952), RBe 4/4 (1959), RBDe 560 "NPZ" (1984) and RABe 520 " GTW " (2002). The first multiple unit trainsets were bought for
4830-405: The Romans occupied the land of the Helvetii under the reign of Augustus , and it remained Roman until the end of the 3rd century. The most important Roman cities in the Swiss Plateau were Auenticum (today Avenches ), Vindonissa (today Windisch ), Colonia Iulia Equestris or, by its Celtic name, and Noviodunum (today Nyon ). They were well connected by a net of Roman roads . After
4935-512: The SCB measured line distances in hours. However, the stone never marked kilometre 0 for the SCB. When the old Swiss measures were metricised in 1877, the Central Railway changed the distance designation of its railway lines. Since then, the metric chainage of the SCB lines has had its starting point in Basel. The SCB built its main workshop at Olten station around 1855. This, in addition to the usual maintenance work, also produced new locomotives and freight wagons. The modern SBB workshop emerged from
5040-427: The SCB together with the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways and put into operation on 3 November 1873. A year before, the section of the Strasbourg–Basel railway from the French border at St. Ludwig to the Centralbahnhof was transferred from the Chemins de fer de l'Est to the SCB under a federal decree. The Salinenbahn (Salt Railway) from Pratteln to the Schweizer Salinen (Swiss salt works) at Schweizerhalle
5145-417: The SCB workshop. SCB's annual reports provide information on the rapidly growing volume of rail traffic on the network. The capacity of the Hauenstein line, at that time the only railway connection from the Rhine Valley to the Swiss Plateau , proved inadequate after just a few years. The SCB was of vital importance for supplying Switzerland with imported goods such as grain or coal. As a result goods traffic
5250-420: The SCB. The canton of Basel-Landschaft refused to issue a concession for a Bötzberg Railway , which caused considerable disagreement in Aargau. Nevertheless, the SCB finally received a concession for the Olten– Murgenthal and Aarburg – Zofingen sections. The section from Aarau to the canton border near Wöschnau was, on the other hand, given to the Northeastern Railway ( Nordostbahn ; NOB). The line crossed
5355-616: The Swiss Federal Railways announced its largest order of rolling stock; buying 59 double-deck EMUs ( Twindexx ) from Bombardier, plus an option for another 100 trainsets. The new trains were originally intended to be delivered starting in 2012, but due to several delays, deliveries began in 2017 and end by 2020. In addition, SBB has received and, as of 2016, is still in the process of delivering, New Pendolinos and has ordered 29 SMILEs , with an option for 92 more, expected to enter service in 2019. SBB uses three official languages: German, French, and Italian. The Romansh -speaking regions in
SECTION 50
#17327809051375460-424: The Swiss Plateau are relatively well known. The base level is crystalline basement which outcrops in the central crystalline Alps as well as in the Black Forest and the Vosges mountain range but forms a deep geosyncline in the Swiss Plateau and in the Jura (see also Jurassic ). Around 2500 – 3000 metres below the surface, but considerably deeper near the Alps, the drillings have hit the crystalline basement. It
5565-550: The age of modern bogie-based locomotives without trailing axles started with the Re 4/4 (1946), followed by the Ae 6/6 (1952), Re 4/4 / Re 4/4 (1964–1971), Re 6/6 (1972), Re 450 (1989) and Re 460 / Re 465 "Lok 2000" (1992–1994). The delivery of the last Re 465 marked the end of the Swiss locomotive industries with the closure of the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works . The Swiss Federal Railways were split into three divisions: Passenger, Freight and Infrastructure, each with independent locomotive supply policies. Because
5670-477: The beginning of 2019. SBB's eight groups manage the company and support the operational business of the divisions with service and support functions. These groups are: The corporation is led in an entrepreneurial manner. A performance agreement between Swiss Federal Railways and the Swiss Confederation defines the requirements and is updated every four years. At the same time the compensation rates per train and track-kilometre are defined. A subsidiary, SBB GmbH ,
5775-402: The canton of Grisons of Switzerland is served mostly by the Rhaetian Railway . Trains are branded "SBB CFF FFS". Stations are named and signposted exclusively in the language of the locality. Stations of bilingual cities are named and signposted in both local languages (e.g. Biel/Bienne and Fribourg/Freiburg). The timetable only uses such official names regardless of the languages of
5880-514: The central and eastern regions. During the last decades, however, it lost importance. Today's most important industries are the machine industry, the automotive industry, the electrical industry, the fine & micro mechanical, watch & electronic industries, next to the optical and metal construction. The food industry processes domestic as well as foreign produces. Furthermore, wood processing and paper converting are also important. Like all of Switzerland, there are few mineral resources. Thanks to
5985-399: The cities was reduced to under one hour, resulting in good connections from these stations for most trains. Some connections between cities got two trains in each direction per hour or more, and the S-Bahn services were intensified to four or more trains per hour. Because of these changes 90% of the timetable was changed, 12% more trains were scheduled and travel times generally improved. It was
6090-410: The company by buying shares and subsidies totaling CHF 6 million. The main goal of the SCB was the construction of a railway network in the shape of a cross with its centre at Olten . Its intention was to forestall Zürich interests who wanted to build a line via Turgi to Waldshut on the Baden bank of the Rhine to Basel. The Canton of Solothurn initially wanted to grant a concession only for
6195-438: The concession. The construction of the Waldenburg Railway was left to a special undertaking. The SCB had more success with the joint ventures with the NOB. The SCB together with the NOB built the Bötzberg Railway from Pratteln to Brugg AG from 1871 to 1875 and the Aargau Southern Railway ( Aargauische Südbahn ), which connected their lines to the Gotthard Railway from Rupperswil via Wohlen to Immensee , operated by
6300-425: The construction program. The construction of the Waterfalls Railway and the Langenthal–Wauwil line, in which CHF 3.5 million had already been invested, had to be abandoned. The payment of dividends was discontinued and the net income of 2 ½ years was used to write off the construction costs of the discontinued lines. In 1881, the unrealised Waterfalls Railway cost the SCB the deposit of CHF 125 000 that it had paid for
6405-575: The country serving Swiss cities such as Interlaken , Bern , Basel , Zurich , and Chur . Under the name TGV Lyria the French railway company SNCF operates TGV connections to Switzerland. Lyria SAS, a company established under French law, is a subsidiary of the French National Railway Company, SNCF, which owns 74%, and the Swiss Federal Railways, which owns 26%. TGV Lyria serves several Swiss cities including Geneva , Lausanne , Basel, Zurich, Bern, and Interlaken. It also provides services to certain locations including Brig ( Valais ), especially during
SECTION 60
#17327809051376510-440: The country's major agglomerations, the range of services (in Switzerland) of which is located between InterRegio (IR) (inter-regional) and EuroCity (EC). Swiss Plateau The Swiss Plateau or Central Plateau is one of the three major landscapes in Switzerland , lying between the Jura Mountains and the Swiss Alps . It covers about 30% of the Swiss surface area, and is partly flat but mostly hilly. The average height
6615-416: The country, such as the BLS , one of its main competitors, to provide fully integrated timetables with cyclic schedules . SBB was ranked first among national European rail systems in the 2017 European Railway Performance Index for its intensity of use, quality of service, and safety rating. While many rail operators in continental Europe have emphasised the building of high-speed rail , SBB has invested in
6720-555: The entire power supply. In the same year, the Swiss Federal Railways received the Wakker Prize , an award given out by the Swiss Heimatschutz (an institution aiming to preserve significant buildings), which is usually only granted to communes, for their extraordinary efforts. The Swiss Federal Railways have many listed buildings from well-known architects such as Herzog & de Meuron , Santiago Calatrava , and Max Vogt . In May 2010, SBB's first integrated network control centre opened in Lausanne , to supervise all of SBB's network in
6825-425: The favourable climate and fertile grounds, the lower western plateau is the most important agricultural region of Switzerland . The most important cultures are wheat , barley , maize , sugar beet and potato ; especially in the Seeland , vegetables are very important, too. Along the northern shores of the lakes of Geneva , Neuchâtel , Bienne , Morat , as well as in the Zürich Weinland and Klettgau , there
6930-440: The four cable Amsteg - Steinen power line due to construction work. So, the power grid was split in two parts, the northern half being overloaded and the southern half having a load reduction for the SBB power plants are situated in the southern part (the Alps ), while most of the power is needed in the northern part (the Swiss plateau ). The situation led to high voltage fluctuations and finally breakdown and emergency shutdown of
7035-442: The full minute. Secondly, all the clocks at a railway station have to run synchronously in order to show reliable time for both passengers and railway personnel anywhere on or around the station. The station clocks in Switzerland are synchronized by receiving an electrical impulse from a central master clock at each full minute, advancing the minute hand by one minute. The second hand is driven by an electrical motor independent of
7140-399: The glaciers of the Riss glaciation, when the entire Swiss Plateau was covered with ice except for the Napf and Töss regions. Most notable are the traces of the Würm glaciation about 15 000 years ago. The end moraines of different glacial retreats have been conserved. A look at a map still reveals the directions where the ice age glaciers ran. The farthest expansion of the Rhône Glacier to
7245-406: The glaciers receded to the high alps (sometimes more than today) and subtropical vegetation spread in the plateau. During the ice ages, the Rhône glacier split into two branches when leaving the Alps, covering the whole western Swiss Plateau and reaching today's regions of Solothurn and Aarau . In the region of Bern, it merged with the Aar Glacier . The glaciers of the Reuss , the Limmat and
7350-410: The greatest timetable change since the introduction of the Taktfahrplan . For this change to be possible, large parts of the infrastructure had to be modified and many stations were rebuilt, for instance the line from Ziegelbrücke to Sargans or Bern main station which got the "wave of Bern", a platform over the tracks to provide better access to the platforms and the city centre. On 22 June 2005
7455-454: The higher regions and 1400 millimetres at the edge of the Alps. The driest regions of the plateau are in the lee of the High Jura between Morges and Neuchâtel. In the warmest regions at the lakes of Geneva and Neuchâtel, there are less than 20 days with a snow cover, whereas, in the rest of the plateau, it is between 20 and 40, depending on the height. In the winter half-year, the air on the Swiss Plateau can stay still, with little exchange for
7560-405: The higher terraces of Riss glaciation terraces. Sometimes, there is also gravel from older glaciations. Even though the Swiss Plateau forms a basin, it is by no means a flat territory, but depending on the region, it has a manifold structure. Important elements are the two big lakes, Lake Geneva and Lake Constance that delimit the Swiss Plateau in the southwest and the northeast. The western plateau
7665-509: The introduction of the Taktfahrplan on the line Zürich–Meilen–Rapperswil in 1967: RABDe 12/12 "Mirage" (1965) and RABDe 8/16 "Chiquita" (1976). Multiple unit trainsets started to prevail in the 1990s, especially for commuter traffic: RABDe 500 "ICN" (1999), RABe 523 (et al.) " FLIRT " (2004), RABe 514 "DTZ" (2006), and RABe 503 (2008). While locomotive-hauled trains are rarely seen in commuter traffic nowadays, they are still
7770-407: The latter consists rather of fluvial and eolian sediments (a kind of mainland molasse ). In the following time, especially the western part of the plateau was again significantly risen, so that in this area, the sediments of the upper sweetwater molasse and the upper sea molasse have been largely eroded. A characteristic of the sea molasses is fossil snails, shells and shark teeth, whereas in
7875-662: The line Seebach – Wettingen together with the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon (MFO), using the future Ce 4/4 locomotives ("Eva" and "Marianne"). The electrification of the network started 1919, motivated by the coal shortages during the First World War , and new electric locomotives were introduced: Ce 6/8 / Ce 6/8 "Crocodile" (1920–1926), Be 4/6 (1920), Be 4/7 (1921), Ae 3/6 (1921), Ae 3/6 (1924), Ae 3/6 (1925), Ae 4/7 (1927) and Ae 4/6 (1941). A shift of paradigms happened in 1946, when
7980-661: The master clock. It requires only about 58.5 seconds to circle the face, then the hand pauses briefly at the top of the clock. It starts a new rotation as soon as it receives the next minute impulse from the master clock. This movement is emulated in some of the licensed timepieces made by Mondaine . Steam engines of the early days of the Swiss Federal Railways were, among others, the Ed 2x2/2 , E 3/3 , A 3/5 , B 3/4 and C 5/6 . The first electric trial runs using single-phase alternating current were made in 1903 on
8085-550: The mentioned landscapes: The Napf region (with 1408 me AMSL the highest point of the Swiss Plateau) and the Töss region (up to 1300 meters AMSL), both of them the remains of Tertiary conglomerate sediment fans. Since they were not glaciated, they have only been eroded by water, resulting in a dense net of deep, narrow valleys. The Swiss Plateau is situated within a transition zone between humid oceanic climate and continental temperate climate. The predominant wind comes from
8190-554: The most populous areas. Other densely populated areas are located at the south edge next to the Jura, and the agglomerations of Lucerne , Winterthur and St. Gallen . Regions of the higher Swiss Plateau like the Jorat region, the Napf region or the Töss region are comparatively scarcely populated with little farming villages and scattered farms. A majority is German-speaking, though the west
8295-668: The mountains. The most important examples are the Napf fan and the Hörnli fan; other sedimentary fans exist in the Rigi region, in the Schwarzenburg region and in the region between the eastern lake Geneva and the middle reaches of the Saane/Sarine . The eroded material has been sorted by grain size. The coarse material was predominantly deposited near the Alps. In the middle of the plateau, there are finer sandstones and near
8400-487: The music correspond to the acronyms SBB CFF FFS, transposed by means of the German notes "Es - B - B" (E ♭ , B ♭ , B ♭ ), "C - F - F" (C, F, F) and "F - F - Es" (F, F, E ♭ ). For the German acronym, as there is no "S" note, the "Es" was used. And for the last letter, it is the B ♭ /G ♭ chord that is played. The melody is played on a vibraphone . The melody played depends on which canton (or country onboard international services)
8505-670: The northeast is indicated by way the western Swiss Plateau valleys trend: The valleys of the Broye and the Glâne as well as Lake Murten , Lake Neuchâtel , and Lake Biel that trend all northeast, parallel to the Jura and to the Alps . The glaciers of the Reuss and the Limmat have carved the valleys of the central Swiss Plateau that trend northwest (among others including the valleys of the Wigger ,
8610-455: The other passing over the edge of the Jura with Solothurn, Biel, Neuchâtel and Yverdon-les-Bains. The train ride from Zürich to Bern takes one hour; crossing the entire Swiss Plateau from St. Gallen to Geneva takes four hours. The two most important Swiss airports are situated on the plateau, Zurich Airport and Geneva Cointrin Airport . The de facto capital of Switzerland, Bern, has only
8715-497: The other side of Lake Constance, the plateau continues in the German and Austrian Pre-Alps . Within Switzerland, the Swiss Plateau has a length of about 300 kilometres (190 mi), and its width increases from the west to the east: In the Geneva region, it is about 30 kilometres (19 mi), at Bern about 50 kilometres (31 mi) and in eastern Switzerland about 70 kilometres (43 mi). Many cantons of Switzerland include
8820-502: The outmigration has moved farther away from the cities. Even though the Swiss Plateau takes only about 30% of the surface of Switzerland, 5 million people live there, which constitutes more than two-thirds of the Swiss population. The population density is 380 people per square kilometre. All the Swiss cities with more than 50 000 inhabitants except Basel and Lugano are situated in the plateau, especially Bern , Geneva , Lausanne and Zürich . The agglomerations of these cities are
8925-466: The pre-recorded local language of the town. For stations of bilingual cities, the language of announcement changes at the time of stop: when trains travelling from the French-speaking region to the German-speaking region via the bilingual city of Biel/Bienne , announcements are made in French until arriving at Bienne, and then switch to German after departing from Biel. Upon arriving at big hubs,
9030-541: The reliability and quality of service of its conventional rail network, on both national and regional scales. In addition to passenger rail, SBB operates cargo and freight rail service, through its subsidiary SBB Cargo , and has large real estate holdings in Switzerland. The company is commonly referred to by the initials of its three official names (in German, French, Italian) – defined by federal law SR/RS 742.31 (SBBG/LCFF/LFFS) Art. 2 §1 – either as SBB CFF FFS , or used separately. The official English abbreviation
9135-421: The rest of the atmosphere, building a lake of cold air on the plateau and often a ceiling of high fog. The clouds look like an ocean of fog when seen from above, (usually around 800m) and hence are called the 'nebelmeer'. This weather is called inversion because the temperature below the fog is lower than the temperature above. Sometimes, it lasts for days or even for weeks, during which the neighbouring regions of
9240-523: The retreat of the Roman Empire, the romanized Burgundians occupied the western Swiss Plateau, while the Alamanni settled in the central and eastern portions. The language border between French and German dialects originated in this contrast. During the Middle Ages many towns were founded, especially in the climatically more favoured lower plateau. In 1500 there were already 130 towns, connected by
9345-585: The station or train is located in, and manual announcements play the three-language melody in the file above. SBB has the following services: Several services are currently operated by other railway companies , including subsidiaries of Swiss Federal Railways (e.g. Thurbo ). Some services are also jointly operated with other companies (e.g. Treno Gottardo ). SBB-CFF-FFS also operates international EuroCity (EC) and EuroNight (EN) trains while within Switzerland, while Deutsche Bahn operates Intercity Express (ICE) services to, from, and (a few services) within
9450-558: The stock market. The new majority of foreign shareholders considered short-term profit maximisation to be the main priority of the company. In 1887 and 1896, the management was replaced by a president who was more comfortable with the banks. On 30 May 1898, a group of track workers employed by the Swiss Central Railway was run over by a passenger train of the Northeastern Railway at the southern exit from
9555-418: The sweetwater molasse, fossils of typical land mammals and former subtropical vegetation (for instance palm leaves) are found. The contemporary landscape of the Swiss Plateau has been shaped by the ice age glaciers. During all the known alpine glaciations ( Günz glaciation , Mindel glaciation , Riss glaciation and Würm glaciation ), huge glaciers penetrated the Swiss Plateau. During the warm interglacials,
9660-762: The system on 1 January 1902. This date is now observed as the "official" birthday of SBB. The following railway companies were nationalised: Other companies were included later, and the rail network was extended. It is still growing today. On 1 January 1999 the Swiss Federal Railway has been excluded from the Federal Administration and became a fully state-owned (the federal state owns 100% of all shares) limited company regulated by public law (German: Spezialgesetzliche Aktiengesellschaft ). First class compartments were discontinued on 3 June 1956, and second and third class accommodation
9765-454: The timetable. Announcements in stations are usually made in local languages. However, in stations frequently used by foreigners (airports or tourism regions), in-station announcements are also made in English. On-board welcome announcements are made in all official languages of the regions served by that train, with the additional English ones onboard IC trains. Then the stops are announced in
9870-781: The train conductor takes the microphone to announce in all official languages of the regions served by that train (plus English onboard IC trains) that the train is arriving, if the train is on time or not, and next connections at the station. For instance, the main station in the German-speaking Zürich is signposted as Zürich HB (short for Zürich Hauptbahnhof) exclusively in German, while its French name (Zürich gare centrale), Italian name (Zurigo stazione centrale), and English name (Zürich Main Station) are used in websites and announcements in respective languages. Since 2002, SBB has used music in train announcements. The notes in
9975-683: The usual in intercity traffic. In 2011, Stadler's RABe 511 were introduced in Zürich's S-Bahn and in 2012 was introduced as a Regional Express between Geneva and Romont and Geneva and Vevey and Bern and Biel . Some of the most popular historic multiple unit trainsets are the Roten Pfeile ("Red Arrows") ( RAe 2/4 ) and the " Churchill-Pfeil " (RAe 4/8). In international traffic the Trans-Europ-Express (TEE) diesel trainsets appeared in 1957, but were replaced by four-systems electric trainsets RAe TEE in 1961. On 12 May 2010,
10080-526: The warm foehn wind . The dominating vegetation in the Swiss Plateau is a mixed broadleaf forest with European beeches and silver firs . For forestry , there are major plantations of Norway spruces in many places, though the Norway spruce naturally only grows in the mountains. In certain favoured spots that are warmer and drier, in the Lake Geneva region, in the Seeland and in the northern plateau between
10185-428: The west. In the lower plateau, the mean annual temperature is about 9 – 10 °C. In January, the Lake Geneva region and the watersides of lake Neuchâtel and Lake Biel have the highest mean temperature of about +1 °C. At the same height as AMSL, the temperature is decreasing towards the east. In the Lake Constance region, the mean temperature of the coldest month is -1 °C. In July, the mean temperature of Geneva
10290-546: The winter season, to provide a connection for tourists mainly visiting the south-eastern Swiss Alps. These connections are marketed under the name of TGV Lyria des Neiges . Since 2018, the SBB uses numbers and distinct colors for all its InterCity (IC) and InterRegio (IR) lines (like a subway network) to ease connections. The IC, IR and RE ( RegioExpress ) lines (including alternative routes) are as follows: The InterCity are mainline trains in Switzerland connecting
10395-536: Was able to build lines from Basel via Liestal and Olten to Bern , Aarau , Thun , Biel/Bienne and Lucerne . In 1858, after the construction of the Schanzen tunnel, the SCB network was connected with the NOB network at Aarau. In 1860, SCB's network connected on the cantonal border near Bern with the Lausanne–Fribourg–Bern Railway ( Chemin de fer Lausanne–Fribourg–Berne ) and on Lake Biel with
10500-416: Was again able to pay dividends to shareholders, which reached nine or more percent of the capital value of shares between 1898 and 1900. These high payments to shareholders shortly before the nationalisation did not meet with approval everywhere. The railway crisis caused many domestic shareholders to sell their shares to domestic and foreign banks. The railway shares played an important role in speculation on
10605-501: Was founded in 2002. This foundation takes care of historic rolling stock and runs a technical library in Bern, document and photographic archives, and the SBB poster collection. All figures from 2021: The Swiss Federal Railways rail network is totally electrified. The metre gauge Brünigbahn was SBB's only non-standard gauge line, until it was out-sourced and merged with the Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn to form
10710-554: Was large and grew steadily. The improvement in the company’s financial situation, led to calls for further expansions of its network. From 1872, the Swiss National Railway ( Schweizerische Nationalbahn ; SNB) tried to establish competition with the existing railway companies with a second rail link between Lake Geneva and Lake Constance ( Bodensee ). Originally, the National Railway planned
10815-407: Was opened on 28 October 1872. The opening of the Gotthard Railway gave the SCB a strong boost from 1882 onwards. Both passenger and freight traffic increased strongly and permanently. The SCB received half the profits of the highly profitable Bötzberg Railway. Also, the initially loss-making Southern Railway produced abundant profits from 1882, half of which were paid to the SCB. As early as 1873, SCB
10920-409: Was physically impossible. Gravel deposits in the bottoms of the valleys are another testimonial of the glaciation. During the advances and withdrawals of the glaciers, gravel layers were deposited in the valleys, sometimes quite thick, though most of it eroded in the subsequent interglacials . Therefore, many valleys have characteristic terraces, the lower terraces consisting of Würm glaciation gravel,
11025-495: Was reclassified as first and second class, respectively. In 1982 SBB introduced the Taktfahrplan ( clock-face schedule ), with trains for certain destinations leaving every 60 minutes, greatly simplifying the timetable. On 12 December 2004 the first phase of Bahn2000, an ambitious programme to improve the company's services, was put into effect. The core element was the Zürich - Bern - Basel triangle, where travel times between
#136863