The Swiss National Railway (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

: ''Schweizerische Nationalbahn'', SNB) was a railway company in

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 ...

. 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 , neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell , twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austria), La ...

Democratic Party promoted a railway funded by some communities and cantons to build a railway from

Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...

Lake Geneva , image = Lake Geneva by Sentinel-2.jpg , caption = Satellite image , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = Switzerland, France , coords = , lake_type = Glacial lak ...

to compete with the

Swiss Northeastern Railway The Swiss Northeastern Railway (''Schweizerische Nordostbahn''; NOB) 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 ...

(German: ''Schweizerische Nordostbahn'', NOB). This new line across of the

Swiss plateau The Swiss Plateau or Central Plateau (german: Schweizer Mittelland; french: plateau suisse; it, altopiano svizzero) is one of the three major landscapes in Switzerland, lying between the Jura Mountains and the Swiss Alps. It covers about 30% of ...

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 Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

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 Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...

Lenzburg Lenzburg is a town in the central region of the Swiss canton Aargau and is the capital of the Lenzburg District. The town, founded in the Middle Ages, lies in the Seetal valley, about 3 kilometres south of the Aare river. Lenzburg and the neigh ...

Zofingen Zofingen (french: Zofingue) is a city in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. It is the capital of the district of Zofingen. Zofingen is a walled city and home of an ancient monastic settlement. History In ancient times Zofingen was a settleme ...

did not finish paying off the debts that they had incurred from investing in the SNB until the 20th Century. In 1877, the SNB built a railway through the

Furttal Furttal is the name of a valley region in Switzerland between Lägern and Altberg in the Dielsdorf district of the canton of Zurich. The area's name stems from the German word for ford, or ''furt'', and is named after the crossing over the Lim ...

(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 locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or gas ...

s from the nearby Oerlikon locomotive works. The Zofingen–Lenzburg line is generally known in vernacular Swiss as the "Nazeli", derived from the ''Nationalbahn''.

Lines

* Aarau–Suhr railway * Zofingen–Wettingen railway * Wettingen–Effretikon railway (also known as the Furttal Bahn) * Winterthur–Etzwilen railway *

Etzwilen–Konstanz railway The Lake Line
at www.sbb.ch. Accessed on 13 Jan 201 ...

* Etzwilen–Singen railway * Kreuzlingen–Kreuzlingen port railway

References

{{Authority control Defunct railway companies of Switzerland