Schwyz railway station (german: Bahnhof Schwyz) is a railway station in the municipality of Schwyz, the capital of the canton of Schwyz 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 ...

. Opened in 1882, it is owned and operated by the

Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (german: link=no, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen, ''SBB''; french: link=no, Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses, ''CFF''; it, Ferrovie federali svizzere, ''FFS'') is the national railway company of Switzerland. It is usuall ...

, and forms part of the

Gotthard railway The Gotthard railway (german: Gotthardbahn; it, Ferrovia del Gottardo) is the Swiss trans-alpine railway line from northern Switzerland to the canton of Ticino. The line forms a major part of an important international railway link between no ...

, which links northern Switzerland and Immensee with Chiasso and Italy, via the

Gotthard Tunnel , it, Galleria del San Gottardo , other_name = , line = Gotthard Line , location = Traversing the Saint-Gotthard Massif in the middle of the Swiss Alps , coordinates = , os_grid_ref = , status = , system ...

. The station is located in the village of Seewen in the middle of the Schwyz valley, about northwest of the town centre, between the

Grosser Mythen The Grosser Mythen (also ''Grosse Mythe'') is a mountain in the Schwyzer Alps of Central Switzerland. The mountain lies in the canton of Schwyz, to the east of the town of Schwyz, and to the south of the village of Alpthal in the valley of the r ...

and the Urmiberg.

History

Schwyz railway station was opened in 1882, as the Gotthardbahn began operations. When the Gotthardbahn was nationalised in 1909, the station came into the ownership of the SBB-CFF-FFS. In 1900, the Schwyzer Strassenbahnen

electric tramway A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

opened their first line, from the station to the ''Schwyz Post'' stop in the town centre. In 1914 and 1915, the line was extended through the town centre to Brunnen railway station and the Brunnen ferry terminal. The line closed in 1963, and was replaced by bus services. In 1979 and 1980, the entire station was redeveloped. The

station building A station building, also known as a head house, is the main building of a passenger railway station. It is typically used principally to provide services to passengers. A station building is a component of a station, which can include tracks, p ...

was demolished and replaced with the present, post-modern buildings. Also, the platform system was renewed, and the sidings removed.

Facilities

The railway facilities at the station include four through tracks, three of which face a railway platform. However, only the middle platform facing tracks 2 (towards Brunnen) and 3 (towards Steinen/ Arth-Goldau) is used for scheduled passenger trains. Track 1, facing the main platform, and track 4, which has no platform, are used for overtaking trains. There are also still some sidings and connecting tracks, mainly for the Schwyzerland cheese factory, KIBAG, Arthur Weber Stahl and Zeughausareal Seewen.

Services

the following services stop at Schwyz: * InterRegio: hourly service between and ; trains continue to or Zürich Hauptbahnhof. * Zug Stadtbahn : hourly service between and . *

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 ...

: hourly service between and Brunnen.

Bus traffic

The bus station is next to the station building and has three bus platforms. Several bus routes operated by the Auto AG Schwyz company link the station with the Schwyz town centre in about five minutes: * Line 1:

Lauerz Lauerz is a village and municipality in the Schwyz District of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. It adjoins Lake Lauerz (''Lauerzersee''). History Lauerz is first mentioned in 1306 as ''Lowertz''. In September 1806, the village was very badly ...

– Schwyz – Muotathal * Line 3: Seewen – Ibach – Schwyz – Rickenbach

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwyz Railway Station Railway stations in the canton of Schwyz Swiss Federal Railways stations Schwyz Railway stations in Switzerland opened in 1882