The Gossau–Wasserauen railway line is a

metre-gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

adhesion railway An adhesion railway relies on adhesion traction to move the train, and is the most widespread and common type of railway in the world. Adhesion traction is the friction between the drive wheels and the steel rail. Since the vast majority of railw ...

of the

Appenzell Railways Appenzell Railways (, AB) is a Swiss railway company with headquarters in Herisau. It operates a network of railways and a bus line in the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, St. Gallen and Thurgau. It was founded in 2006 ...

(Appenzeller Bahnen; AB). It runs from Gossau via

Appenzell Appenzell () was a cantons of Switzerland, canton in the northeast of Switzerland, and entirely surrounded by the canton of St. Gallen, in existence from 1403 to 1597. Appenzell became independent of the Abbey of Saint Gall in 1403 and entered ...

to Wasserauen in Switzerland and is given the abbreviation of ''GAW'' by the operator. The connection was built and electrified in several stages by different companies and has been operating continuously since 1949.

History

The line was developed in the following stages: * –, opened on 1 October 1913 by the

(''Appenzeller Bahn'', which has been called the ''Appenzeller Bahnen'' since 1988), replacing the –Herisau section, opened on 12 April 1875 * Herisau–, opened on 21 September 1875 by the ''Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Localbahnen'' (Swiss company for local railways; called the Appenzell Railway from 1885) * Urnäsch–, opened on 16 August (to ) and 29 October 1886 by the Appenzell Railway * Gossau SG–Appenzell has been operated electrically with 1500 volts DC since 23 April 1933 * Appenzell–, opened on 13 July 1912 by the (Säntis Railway) and initially electrified at 1000 volts DC; converted to 1500 volts DC by the Appenzell Railway to allow through operations on 22 April 1949 In order to be able to carry

standard-gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

wagons on the

network, a

Rollbock ''Rollbocks'', sometimes called transporter trailers, are narrow gauge railway trucks or bogies that allow a standard gauge wagon to 'piggyback' on a narrow-gauge line. The Vevey system enables a coupled train of standard gauge wagons to be autom ...

system was opened in Gossau on 1 July 1978, allowing operations on the Gossau–Wasserauen route. Rollbock operations were extended on the Appenzell–Gais– Teufen route from 1989. Goods traffic ended by the end of 2003 and the Rollbock system was taken out of service on 1 August 2010.

Operation

Appenzell Railways operates half-hourly service between and . This is designated as line S23 of the St. Gallen S-Bahn. The S23 is also part of the

Bodensee S-Bahn Bodensee S-Bahn is an international marketing effort grouping various regional rail services (S-Bahn, R/RB, RE, RE/REX) around Lake Constance () in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Cross-border rail and bus services along with Lake Constance ...

. In addition to regular station stops, the S23 stops on request at Gonten Alpsteinblick, between and , to serve the Alpsteinblick

ski lift A ski lift is a mechanism for transporting skiers up a hill. Ski lifts are typically a Lift ticket, paid service at ski resorts. The first ski lift was built in 1908 by German Robert Winterhalder in Schollach/Eisenbach, Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, ...

Route

– – – * Gossau SG * Herisau * (stops only on request) * * (stops only on request) * * (stops only on request) * (stops only on request) * (stops only on request) * Appenzell * (stops only on request) * * (stops only on request) * Wasserauen

References

Footnotes

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gossau-Wasserauen railway line Metre-gauge railways in Switzerland Railway lines opened in 1875 1875 establishments in Switzerland Transport in the canton of St. Gallen