The Koblenz–Stein-Säckingen railway line is a standard gauge railway line in the

canton of Aargau Aargau ( ; ), more formally the Canton of Aargau (; ; ; ), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capital is Aarau. Aargau is one of the most northerly cantons of Switzerland, by th ...

in Switzerland. It runs from a junction with the Bözberg line at to

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

and a junction with the Turgi–Koblenz–Waldshut line.

Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (, SBB; , CFF; , FFS) is the national railway company of Switzerland. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Bern. It used to be a State-owned enterprise, government institution, but since 1999 it has be ...

(SBB) owns and operates the line. Although the line forms part of the most direct route between

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

and

Winterthur Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as well as its ninth-largest agglomeration with about 14 ...

, through passenger service ended in 1994. The

Basel S-Bahn The Basel S-Bahn (, ) has provided an S-Bahn-style rail service connecting the Basel metropolitan area since 1997 in Switzerland, Germany and France. It consists of eight suburban train lines, including four that operate across borders. The S-Ba ...

operates as far east as Laufenburg. There are periodic discussions about restoring through passenger service over the entire route.

History

The Bötzberg Railway (), a joint venture of 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 ...

and

Swiss Central Railway 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 ...

, opened the line on 1 August 1892. All three companies were incorporated into

on its creation on 1 January 1902. The line was electrified at in 1944. Passenger service between Laufenburg and Koblenz ended on 28 May 1994. Since the withdrawal of through passenger service in 1994, various localities have advocated for its reintroduction. One proposal would have regular

InterRegio The InterRegio, often shortened to IR, is a train categories in Europe, train category for mainly domestic train services in use in some European countries, with Swiss Federal Railways operating the most dense network. InterRegio trains are semi ...

service between Basel and Winterthur, using this line and then the Winterthur–Bülach–Koblenz line east of Koblenz. Supporters of the concept point to the growth potential of the

Fricktal The Fricktal ("Frick Valley") is a region on Northwestern Switzerland, comprising the Laufenburg and Rheinfelden districts of the Swiss canton of Aargau. The region was known as ''Frickgau'' in the medieval period, ultimately from a Late Lati ...

region and consider the replacement bus service inadequate. , neither the cantonal government nor the Federal Council has supported resuming service.

Route

The line begins at , splitting off from the Bözberg line just east of the station. It is single-tracked with passing sidings. For most of its route it runs parallel to the

High Rhine High Rhine (, ; kilometres 0 to 167 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between Lake Constance () and the city of Basel, flowing in a general east-to-west direction and forming mostly the Germany–Switzerland border. It is the first of fo ...

river. The only intermediate station that still sees service is Laufenburg, east of Stein-Säckingen. Laufenburg is the eastern terminus of passenger service over the line; from there to Koblenz it has been freight-only since 1994. Just outside Koblenz the

Koblenz Aare railway bridge The Koblenz Aare railway bridge, also known as the Koblenz–Felsenau railway bridge or the ''Aarebrücke Koblenz'', is a single-track railway bridge which carries the Koblenz–Stein-Säckingen railway line, Koblenz to Stein-Säckingen line acro ...

carries the line over the

Aare The Aare () or Aar () is the main tributary of the High Rhine (its discharge even exceeds that of the latter at their confluence) and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to i ...

river. After crossing the river, the line joins the Turgi–Koblenz–Waldshut line just south of

station.

Operation

SBB operates the S1 line of the

to Laufenburg, providing hourly service to . Further connections are available at . , most services are operated by multiple units. There continues to be regular freight service over the route.

PostAuto Schweiz PostAuto Switzerland, PostBus Ltd. (known as in Swiss Standard German (), in Swiss French (), in Swiss Italian (), and in Romansh () is a subsidiary company of the Swiss Post, which provides regional and rural bus services throughout Switz ...

operates bus services between Laufenburg and Koblenz.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Koblenz-Stein-Säckingen railway line Railway lines in Switzerland Railway lines opened in 1892 1892 establishments in Switzerland 15 kV AC railway electrification Swiss Federal Railways lines