The Schweizerische Wagons- und Aufzügefabrik AG (SWS, ''Swiss Railcar and Lift Factory Corporation'', known colloquially as ''"Wagi"''), which was based at

Schlieren Schlieren ( ; , ) are optical inhomogeneities in transparent media that are not necessarily visible to the human eye. Schlieren physics developed out of the need to produce high-quality lenses devoid of such inhomogeneities. These inhomogeneit ...

in the Canton of

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, was a manufacturer of railway

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, Railroad car#Freight cars, freight and Passenger railroad car, passenger cars (or coaches) ...

and lifts. The company was founded in 1895 as ''Firma Geissberger & Cie.'', which opened a wagon factory at Schlieren railway station. In 1899, the company became ''Schweizerische Wagen- und Wagons-Fabrik AG'', based in

. Just one year later, the company moved its base back to Schlieren, and in 1901, there was another renaming, to ''Schweizerische Wagons-Fabrik AG in Schlieren-Zürich'' (SWS). In 1903, the newly formed

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-CFF-FFS) ordered passenger cars from SWS. As early as 1906, the 1,000th item of rolling stock left the SWS workshop, and in 1909 the 2,000th vehicle was delivered to SBB-CFF-FFS. In 1917, SWS took over the lift manufacturing business from the firm ''Aufzüge- und Räderfabrik Seebach AG'' and in 1928 the firm name was changed to ''Schweizerische Wagons- und Aufzügefabrik AG, Schlieren-Zürich''. In 1956 it was announced that Pars Finanz AG – the then holding company of the

Schindler Group Schindler Holding Ltd. is a Swiss multinational company which manufactures escalators, moving walkways, and elevators worldwide, founded in Switzerland in 1874. Schindler produces, installs, maintains and modernizes lifts and escalators in man ...

, which was involved in lift manufacturing and wagon building – had purchased 30% of SWS's share capital. In 1958, Schlieren installed the fastest lift at the time - with speed of 5 m/s (20 ft/s), in

Atomium The Atomium ( , , ) is a landmark modernist building in Brussels, Belgium, originally constructed as the centrepiece of the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (Expo 58). Designed by the engineer André Waterkeyn and the architects André and Jean Pol ...

building in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, the capital of

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. The Schindler Group took the "Wagi" over completely in 1960, and integrated the company into the group as a subsidiary company. When the Swiss rolling stock manufacturing industry was restructured in 1980–1981, SWS changed its rolling stock specialisation to component manufacturing, as well as alterations and revisions. In lift manufacture, the company focused on standard doors and standard cabins. In 1983, Schindler Group announced that SWS would be closed. At the end of August 1985, the closure took place, amidst vehement protests by employees and the public. At the former premises of SWS, which were demolished very soon afterwards, a large new building was constructed, to house a new printing works for the

Neue Zürcher Zeitung The (''NZZ''; "New Newspaper of Zurich") is German language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zurich. The paper was founded in 1780. It has a reputation as a high-quality newspaper, as the German Swiss newspaper of record ...

(NZZ). Other new buildings constructed on the site were, for the most part, taken up by new small businesses. Schindler continues to manufacture lifts today, and is the core product of that company, along with

escalator An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a Electric motor, motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the st ...

s and

moving walkway A moving walkway – also known as an autowalk, moving pavement, moving sidewalk, travolator, or travelator – is a slow-moving conveyor mechanism that transports people across a horizontal or inclined plane, over a short to medium distance. T ...

s. Railway division was divested in 1997 and became part of

ADtranz Adtranz was a multi-national rail transportation equipment manufacturer with facilities concentrated in Europe and the US. The company, legally known as ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation, was created in 1996 as a joint venture between ABB and Daim ...

; Schindler's Altenrhein plant (formerly

Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein AG (FFA) () was a Swiss aircraft and railroad car manufacturing company based at Altenrhein (SG). It was originally part of Dornier Flugzeugwerke, but was split off in 1948. History In the years following World ...

) wasn't included in the transaction and instead was sold to

Stadler Rail Stadler Rail AG is a Swiss manufacturer of railway rolling stock, with an original emphasis on regional train multiple units and trams, but moving also into Rapid transit, mass rapid transit, High-speed rail, high speed, Inter-city rail, interci ...

References

External links

WAGI Museum Website

Official Heritage Website

bahnarchiv.ch – Image database with partial SWS- photo archive
''This article was translated from the German-language version as at August 2010.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Schweizerische Wagons- und Aufzugefabrik AG Schlieren-Zurich Defunct manufacturing companies of Switzerland Rolling stock manufacturers of Switzerland Tram manufacturers Elevator manufacturers Escalator manufacturers Electric vehicle manufacturers of Switzerland Companies based in the canton of Zürich