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SBB-CFF-FFS
Logo
Locale Switzerland
Dates of operation 1 January 1902–present
Track gauge 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge)
Headquarters Bern

Swiss Federal Railways (German: SBB, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen; French: CFF, Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses; Italian: FFS, Ferrovie federali svizzere; Romansh: Viafiers federalas svizras; the abbreviations VFS (Romansh) and SFR (English) are not in official use) is the national railway company of Switzerland headquartered in Berne. New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC Year 1902 ( MCMII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Rail gauge is the distance between the inner sides of the two parallel rails that make up a railway track. A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit Inches redirects here To see the Les Savy Fav album see Inches. The Millimetre ( American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to The standard gauge (also named the Stephenson gauge after George Stephenson, or Normal gauge) is a widely-used Rail gauge. The city of Berne or Bern (, Berne, Berna, Romansh: Berna, Bernese German: Bärn) is the Bundesstadt ( Federal The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Romansh or Romansch may refer to Romansh language Romansh people "Railroad" and "Railway" both redirect here For other uses see Railroad (disambiguation. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation The city of Berne or Bern (, Berne, Berna, Romansh: Berna, Bernese German: Bärn) is the Bundesstadt ( Federal Formerly a state-owned enterprise, it is since 1999 a special stock corporation with all its shares held by the Swiss Confederation or Swiss Cantons. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation By the end of 2006, the corporation was handed over from the long-term CEO Benedikt Weibel to his successor Andreas Meyer. A chief executive officer ( CEO) or chief executive is typically the highest-ranking corporate officer ( executive) or administrator

The Swiss Federal Railways are divided into three divisions and two groups:

The corporation is led in an enterpreneural manner. SBB Cargo is a subsidiary of Swiss Federal Railways ( SBB) specialising in railfreight A performance agreement between the Swiss Federal Railways and the Swiss Confederation defines the requirements and is updated every four years. At the same time the compensation rates per train and track kilometre are defined.

The subsidiary SBB GmbH is responsible for passenger traffic in Germany. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. It operates the Wiesentalbahn and the Seehas services.

Further subsidiaries are Thurbo, RegionAlps, AlpTransit Gotthard AG, Cisalpino AG and TiLo (the latter in consortium with Italian authorities). Cisalpino AG is a Railway company operating international trains between Switzerland and Italy connecting Basel, Schaffhausen The Swiss Federal Railways hold significant shares of the Zentralbahn and Lyria. The Zentralbahn is a Swiss railway company that was created on January 1 2005, with the merger of the Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn (LSE and the TGV Lyria is service brand used for TGV lines connecting France and Switzerland.

To take care of the historical heritage, the Stiftung Historisches Erbe der SBB ("SBB Historic") was founded in 2002. This foundation takes care of the historic rolling stock and runs a technical library in Berne, a historic archive, a photo archive and the poster collection of the Swiss Federal Railways.

Contents

Figures

The rail network of the Swiss Federal Railways is almost totally electrified. The metre gauge Brünigbahn was the only non-standard gauge railway line of the Swiss Federal Railways. The Brünigbahn (formerly SBB Brünig was until 31 December 2004 the only Narrow gauge railway of the Swiss Federal Railways ( SBB-CFF-FFS) It was out-sourced out and merged with the Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn to form the Zentralbahn, in which the Swiss Federal Railways hold shares. The Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn (LSE is a narrow gauge Rack railway in Switzerland with a Track gauge of. The Zentralbahn is a Swiss railway company that was created on January 1 2005, with the merger of the Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn (LSE and the

ICN between Zurich and Winterthur
ICN between Zurich and Winterthur

History

In the 19th century, all Swiss railways were owned by private ventures. The ICN (short for Intercity-Neigezug, German for Intercity Tilting Train) Series SBB RABDe 500, is a Swiss High-speed train The economic and political interests of these companies led to lines being built in parallel and in the subsequent ruinous competition, some companies were driven into bankruptcy. On 20 February 1898 the Swiss people agreed in a referendum to the creation of a state-owned railway company. Events 1472 - Orkney and Shetland are left by Norway to Scotland, due to a Dowry payment Year 1898 ( MDCCCXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common A referendum (plural referendums or referenda) ballot question, or plebiscite (from Latin plebiscita The first train running on the account of the Swiss Confederation ran during the night of New Year's Day in 1901 from Zurich via Berne to Geneva. Zürich (, Zürich German: Züri, Zurich, Zurigo; in English generally Zurich) is the largest city in Switzerland and capital of the The city of Berne or Bern (, Berne, Berna, Romansh: Berna, Bernese German: Bärn) is the Bundesstadt ( Federal Geneva (Genève is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and is the most populous city of Romandy (the French -speaking January 1, 1902 is regarded as the official birth date of the Swiss Federal Railways. New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC Year 1902 ( MCMII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting In the meantime, the trains were run by the Swiss Confederation on behalf of the private companies.

The following railway companies were nationalised:

Other companies were included later, and the rail network was extended. Aargauische Südbahn is a former railway company in Switzerland. The Brünigbahn (formerly SBB Brünig was until 31 December 2004 the only Narrow gauge railway of the Swiss Federal Railways ( SBB-CFF-FFS) It is still growing today.

First class compartments were discontinued on 3 June 1956, and second and third class accommodation was reclassified as first and second class. Events 350 - Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, proclaims himself Roman Emperor, entering Year 1956 ( MCMLVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

In 1982 SBB-CFF-FFS introduced the Taktfahrplan ("regular interval schedule"), with trains for certain destinations leaving every 60 minutes, greatly simplifying the timetable.

On December 12, 2004 the first phase of Rail2000, an ambitious programme to improve the company's services, was put into effect. Events 627 - Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II 's Persian "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " The core element was the Zurich-Berne-Basel triangle, where travel times between the cities was reduced to under one hour, resulting in good connections from these stations for most trains. Zürich (, Zürich German: Züri, Zurich, Zurigo; in English generally Zurich) is the largest city in Switzerland and capital of the The city of Berne or Bern (, Berne, Berna, Romansh: Berna, Bernese German: Bärn) is the Bundesstadt ( Federal "Basilia" redirects here For the Fly Genus, see Basilia (fly. Some connections between cities got two trains in each direction per hour or more, and the S-Bahn services were intensified to four or more trains per hour. Because of these changes 90% of the timetable was changed, 12% more trains were scheduled and travel times generally improved. It was the greatest timetable change since the introduction of the Taktfahrplan.

For this change to be possible, large parts of the infrastructure had to be modified and many stations were rebuilt, for instance the line from Ziegelbrücke to Sargans or Berne main station which got the "wave of Berne", a platform over the tracks to provide better access to the platforms and the city centre. Sargans is a municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency of Sarganserland in the canton of St Bern is a Swiss Federal Railways station in Berne, Switzerland.

On 22 June 2005 a short circuit on a long distance power transmission line in central Switzerland led to a chain reaction. Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The entire Swiss Federal Railways network was out of service during rush hour and an estimated 200,000 people and 1500 trains were stuck at stations or somewhere on the track. It turned out that the power transmission network of the SBB-CFF-FFS was overloaded and did not provide enough redundancy to tolerate the shutdown of the 4 cable Amsteg-Steinen power line due to construction works. Silenen is a municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland. For the German municipality see Steinen Baden-Württemberg. Steinen is a municipality in the district of Schwyz So, the power grid was split in two parts, the northern half being overloaded and the southern half having a load reduction for the SBB power plants are situated in the southern part (the Alps), while most of the power is needed in the northern part (the Swiss plateau). The Swiss Plateau ( plateau suisse in French, Schweizer Mittelland in German) constitutes one of the three major landscapes in The situation led to high voltage fluctuations and finally breakdown and emergency shutdown of the entire power supply.

In the same year, the Swiss Federal Railways received the Wakker Prize, an award given out by the Swiss Heimatschutz (an institution aiming to preserve the view of cities and villages in terms of buildings), which is usually only granted to communes, for their extraordinary efforts. The Wakker Prize (in German Wakkerpreis, in French Prix Wakker, in Italian Premio Wakker) is awarded annually by the Swiss Heritage Society The Swiss Federal Railways have many high-class {listed) buildings from well-known architects such as Herzog & de Meuron, Santiago Calatrava or Max Vogt. Herzog & de Meuron Architekten BSA/SIA/ETH ( HdeM) is a Swiss Architecture firm founded and headquartered in Basel, Switzerland in Santiago Calatrava Valls (born July 28, 1951) is an internationally recognized and award-winning Valencian Spanish Architect,

Since the timetable change of 11 December 2005 all trains and most buildings are non-smoking. Events 359 - Honoratus, the first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople, takes office Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

Rolling Stock

See also ‎List of stock used by Swiss Federal Railways

Mainline locomotives

Steam engines of the early days of the Swiss federal railways were, among others, the Ed 2x2/2, E 3/3, A 3/5, B 3/4 and C 5/6. Incomplete list of locomotives and multiple units used by the Swiss Federal Railways. A steam engine is a Heat engine that performs Mechanical work using Steam as its Working fluid.

The first electric trial runs using single-phase alternating current were made in 1903 on the line Seebach - Wettingen together with the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon (MFO), using the future Ce 4/4 locomotives ("Eva" and "Marianne"). An alternating current ( AC) is an Electric current whose direction reverses cyclically as opposed to Direct current, whose direction remains constant Year 1903 ( MCMIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar or a Common year starting Wettingen is a municipality in the district of Baden in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. The electrification of the network started 1919, motivated by the coal shortages during the First World War, and new electric locomotives were introduced: Ce 6/8 II/Ce 6/8 III "Crocodile" (1920/1926), Be 4/6 (1920), Be 4/7 (1921), Ae 3/6 I (1921), Ae 3/6 II (1924), Ae 3/6 III (1925), Ae 4/7 (1927) and Ae 4/6 (1941). Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All A shift of paradigms happened in 1946, when the age of modern bogie-based locomotives without trailing axles started with the Re 4/4 I (1946), followed by the Ae 6/6 (1952), Re 4/4 II/Re 4/4 III (1964/1971), Re 6/6 (1972), Re 450 (1989) and Re 460/Re 465 "Lok 2000" (1992/1994). History Before the advent of the Ae 6/6 trains on the Gotthard route were pulled mainly by Ae 4/6, Ae 4/7 and Be 6/8 ("crocodile", which Construction and Technology To reach the necessary tractive effort a construction comprising six driven axles was necessary The Re 460 (popularly known as the Lok 2000) series are modern four-axle electric locomotives of the Swiss Federal Railways.

The delivery of the last Re 465 marked the end of the Swiss locomotive industries with the closure of the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works. Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works (German Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik or SLM) were a railway equipment manufacturer based in Winterthur The Swiss Federal Railways were split into three divisions - Passenger, Freight and Infrastructure, each with independent locomotive supply policies. Because the Passenger division got all modern Re 460 and opted for multiple unit trains, mainline locomotives were bought only by the Cargo division, namely Re 482 "Traxx F140 AC" (2002), Re 484 "Traxx F140 MS" (2004) and Re 474 "ES64 F4" (2004). TRAXX is a family of electric and Diesel locomotives built by Bombardier Transportation for railways in Germany, Switzerland,

Multiple units

The first multiple units originated from the Seetalbahn, which was formed in 1922. The Seetalbahn is a standard-gauge Railway of the Swiss Federal Railways between Lenzburg and Lucerne in Switzerland. Larger series were uncommon until after 1950: Be 4/6 (1923), De 4/4 (1927), BDe 4/4 (1952), RBe 4/4 (1959), RBDe 560 "NPZ" (1984) und RABe 520 "GTW" (2002). Operation The RBe 540 are usually used together with one or more Einheitswagen ("standard coaches" I or II as well as a control car BDt General information In 1984 four prototypes of this locomotive and steuerwagen were delivered The Stadler GTW, sold by Stadler Rail, Switzerland, is one of the best-selling Articulated local transport Railcars in Europe

The first multiple unit trainsets were bought for the introduction of the Taktfahrplan on the line Zürich–Meilen–Rapperswil in 1967: RABDe 12/12 "Mirage" (1965) and RABDe 8/16 "Chiquita" (1976). Introduction For the introduction of more frequent service (every half an hour on the "Golden Coast Line" ("Goldküstenlinie" Zürich – Construction and technology To achieve the low weight of 149 tonns for a trainset consisting of four cars the cars were consistently built in a lightweight mode of construction Multiple unit trainsets started to prevail in the 1990s, especially for commuter traffic: RABDe 500 "ICN" (1999), RABe 523 (et al) "FLIRT" (2004) and RABe 514 "DTZ" (2006). The ICN (short for Intercity-Neigezug, German for Intercity Tilting Train) Series SBB RABDe 500, is a Swiss High-speed train While locomotive-hauled trains are rarely seen in commuter traffic nowadays, they are still the usual in intercity traffic.

Some of the most popular historic multiple unit trainsets are the Roten Pfeile ("Red Arrows") (RAe 2/4) and the "Churchill-Pfeil" (RAe 4/8). In international traffic the Trans-Europ-Express (TEE) diesel trainsets appeared in 1957, but were quickly replaced by four-systems electric trainsets RAe TEEII in 1961. The Trans Europ Express is a former international Train network in Europe.

Languages

Distribution of Languages in Switzerland
Distribution of Languages in Switzerland

Switzerland has four official languages. The SBB operates in three languages, as the SBB does not serve the Romansh-speaking part of Switzerland; that area is served by the RhB. The RhB (Rhaetian Railway / Rhätische Bahn ( German) / Ferrovia Retica ( Italian) / Viafier Retica ( Romansh) has the Stations are usually named with the abbreviation corresponding to, and signposted exclusively in, the language of the locality. Trains are labelled "SBB CFF FFS".

Announcements for local trains are made in the local language, those for long-distance trains and for trains which cross the language border in both appropriate languages. Long-distance trains to and from airports also have announcements in English. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States

Services

Re 450 between Winterthur and Zurich is one of the most important trains using in S-Bahn Zurich
Re 450 between Winterthur and Zurich is one of the most important trains using in S-Bahn Zurich

The SBB has the following services:

Regional trains are sometimes operated by another Swiss railways operator (for example, the Bern S-Bahn services operated by the BLS. The city of Berne or Bern (, Berne, Berna, Romansh: Berna, Bernese German: Bärn) is the Bundesstadt ( Federal This article has been partially translated from the German Wikipedia article The Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon (BLS railway, known since the merger of the "old" BLS with the Bern-Neuenburg-Bahn (BN the Gürbetal-Bern-Schwarzenburg-Bahn (GBS and the ) (CityNightLine is a Zürich-based night train operator, and a partner of the SBB. )

The SBB also operates international EuroCity and EuroNight trains while within Switzerland. EuroCity, abbreviated EC, denotes an international Train service within the European Inter-city rail network EuroNight, abbreviated EN, denotes all main-line national and international night Train services within the (mostly Western European Inter-city

Trivia

See also

External links

The Railways of Switzerland include Standard gauge (ie1435 milimetres (4 ft 8½ ins) and narrow gauge (usually, occasionally less Gotthardbahn (German for "Gotthard railway" was the name of a private Swiss railway company which operated the railway line from Immensee ( Canton Incomplete list of locomotives and multiple units used by the Swiss Federal Railways. A Postbus is a public Bus service that is operated as part of local Mail delivery
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