Schweizerische Ost-West-Bahn-Gesellschaft 1860

The Swiss East–West Railway (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: ''Schweizerische Ostwestbahn'', OWB) was a former

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

rail company, which planned to build a line to compete with the network of the

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 ...

(German: ''Schweizerische Centralbahn'', SCB) in central Switzerland on which construction commenced in 1857.

Jakob Stämpfli Jakob Stämpfli (23 February 1820 – 15 May 1879) was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1854–1863). He was elected to the Federal Council of Switzerland on 6 December 1854, and handed over office on 31 December 1863. ...

, a federal politician, established the company to build a line between

La Neuveville La Neuveville (; ) is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland, located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (''Jura Bernois''). History La Neuveville is first mentioned in 1314 as ''Nova ...

(on

Lake Biel __NOTOC__ Lake Biel or Lake Bienne (; ) is a lake in western Switzerland. Together with Lake Morat and Lake Neuchâtel, it is one of the three large lakes in the Jura region of Switzerland. It lies on the language boundary between German and F ...

in western Switzerland) and Zürich via Bern,

Langnau im Emmental Langnau im Emmental () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Emmental (administrative district), Emmental in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern in Switzerland. It is situated i ...

, Luzern and Zug. It began construction without raising sufficient finance to guarantee its completion. It opened a line between Frienisberg (near

Le Landeron Le Landeron is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Neuchâtel (canton), Neuchâtel. History Le Landeron is first mentioned about 1209 as ''Landiron''. Prehistory The first tra ...

) and Biel (now part of the

Jura foot line The Jura Foot Line (, ) or Jura South Foot Line, is a railway line in Switzerland. It runs from Olten along the foot of the southern Jura range through Solothurn, Grenchen, Biel/Bienne, Neuchâtel, Yverdon-les-Bains and Morges to Lausanne. It is ...

on 3 December 1860, but then went bankrupt. The completed section from La Neuveville and Langnau line was taken over by the

canton of Bern The canton of Bern, or Berne (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. The bear is the heraldic symbol of the c ...

and incorporated as the Bernese State Railway (German: ''Bernische Staatsbahn'', BSB) in June 1861, which continued building the line to Lucerne. The concession for the section from Lucerne to Zürich via Affoltern am Albis was bought out of the bankrupt estate by the

Swiss Northeast 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'') and established as a subsidiary, the Zürich–Zug–Lucerne Railway (German: ''Zürich–Zug–Luzern-Bahn'', ZZL). Construction of the line was completed in 1864 and shortly later it was connected to SCB's Olten–Lucerne line to Lucerne station, which had opened in 1856 on the edge of the lake, across the

Reuss Reuss may refer to: *Reuss (surname) * Reuss (river) in Switzerland * Imperial County of Reuss or Reuß, several former states or countries in present-day Germany, and the People's State of Reuss * Principality of Reuss-Greiz and Principality of R ...

from the centre of the town. Part of this line now forms part of the

Zug–Lucerne railway The Zug–Luzern railway is a mainline railway line in Switzerland, connecting the cities of Zug and Lucerne. It was opened on 1 June 1864 by the Zürich–Zug–Lucerne Railway (''Zürich-Zug-Luzern-Bahn''). The Zürich–Zug railway was opene ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swiss East-West Railway Defunct railway companies of Switzerland