Alpnach is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in the canton of

Obwalden Obwalden, also Obwald (german: Kanton Obwalden, rm, Chantun Sursilvania; french: Canton d'Obwald; it, Canton Obvaldo), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of seven municipalities and the seat of the govern ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. It comprises the villages of Alpnach Dorf, Alpnachstad and Schoried.

History

Alpnach is first mentioned about 870 as ''Alpenacho''.

Geography

Alpnach has an area, , of . Of this area, 32.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 54.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 5% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (8.9%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). The municipality is located on the heights above two streams, the Large and Small Schliere. During the mid-19th Century the village became a

linear village Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship (''function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear r ...

. While in the 20th Century, it expanded into a ''Haufendorf'' (an irregular, unplanned and quite closely packed village, built around a central square). It consists of the villages of Alpnach Dorf, Alpnachstad and Schoried.

Demographics

Alpnach has a population (as of ) of . , 13.2% of the population was made up of foreign nationals.Canton Obwalden Statistics
accessed 2 September 2009 Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 11.1%. Most of the population () speaks German (89.7%), with Albanian being second most common ( 2.3%) and Portuguese being third ( 1.8%).
accessed 03-Sep-2009 the gender distribution of the population was 50.8% male and 49.2% female. there are 1,828 households in Alpnach. In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 34.1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (33.6%), the Other (23.2%) and the

SPS SPS may refer to: Law and government * Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the WTO * NATO Science for Peace and Security * Single Payment Scheme, an EU agricultural subsidy * The Standard Procurement System, fo ...

(9%). In Alpnach about 67.2% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a ''

Fachhochschule A ''Fachhochschule'' (; plural ''Fachhochschulen''), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts ...

''). Alpnach has an unemployment rate of 1.55%. , there were 228 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 91 businesses involved in this sector. 839 people are employed in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...

and there are 81 businesses in this sector. 952 people are employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

, with 144 businesses in this sector. The historical population is given in the following table:

Transport

Alpnach is served by Alpnach Dorf station and Alpnachstad station on the Brünig line, an inter-regional

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

from

Interlaken , neighboring_municipalities= Bönigen, Därligen, Matten bei Interlaken, Ringgenberg, Unterseen , twintowns = Scottsdale (USA), Ōtsu (Japan), Třeboň (Czech Republic) Interlaken (; lit.: ''between lakes'') is a Swiss town and mun ...

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

. The half-hourly

Lucerne S-Bahn The Lucerne S-Bahn (german: S-Bahn Luzern) is an S-Bahn-style commuter rail network focusing on Lucerne, Switzerland. Opened on 12 December 2004, the network forms part of the Central Switzerland S-Bahn project (german: S-Bahn Zentralschweiz, link ...

S5 service between

Giswil Giswil is a municipality in the canton of Obwalden in Switzerland. History Giswil is first mentioned in the 11th century, as ''Kisevilare''. Geography The municipality is located on the southern end of Lake Sarnen. It consists of the villag ...

and Lucerne stops at both stations, whilst the hourly InterRegio train between Interlaken and Lucerne normally stops only at Alpnach Dorf station. Alpnachstad is also served by

Lake Lucerne __NOTOC__ Lake Lucerne (german: Vierwaldstättersee, literally "Lake of the four forested settlements" (in English usually translated as ''forest cantons''), french: lac des Quatre-Cantons, it, lago dei Quattro Cantoni) is a lake in central ...

shipping services of the

Schifffahrtsgesellschaft des Vierwaldstättersees The ''Schifffahrtsgesellschaft des Vierwaldstättersees'' or Lake Lucerne Navigation Company (commonly abbreviated to SGV) is a public Swiss company operating passenger ships and boats on Lake Lucerne. The company is based in the city of Lucerne ...

(SGV), providing an alternative connection to Lucerne and other lakeside communities. Alpnachstad PB railway station, located across the street from Alpnachstad station, is the terminus of the

Pilatus Railway The Pilatus Railway (german: Pilatusbahn, links=no, PB) is a mountain railway in Switzerland and the steepest rack railway in the world, with a maximum gradient of 48% and an average gradient of 35%. The line runs from Alpnachstad, on Lake Al ...

to the summit of

Mount Pilatus Pilatus, also often referred to as Mount Pilatus, is a mountain massif overlooking Lucerne in Central Switzerland. It is composed of several peaks, of which the highest () is named ''Tomlishorn''. Geography and transport The whole mountain ...

. Alpnach is also home to the

Alpnach Air Base The Air Base Alpnach ( ICAO code LSMA) is a Swiss Air Force airfield near the town Alpnach in Canton of Obwalden in Switzerland. It has a concrete runway with a length of and a width of , as well as several taxiways and hangars. History As ...

of the Swiss Air Force.

Sights

The main sights of Alpnach include the world's steepest

rack railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with ...

to the mountain Pilatus, a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

History

Geography

Demographics

Transport

Sights

References

Notes

External links