The Compagnie de la Ligne d’Italie (Railway of Italy Company, ''LdI''), or Ligne d’Italie for short, was a former Swiss railway company that established in 1859. In 1874, the Ligne d'Italie became part of the Compagnie du Simplon (Simplon Company, S). The Compagnie du Simplon, Ligne du Simplon or Simplon for short, merged into the

Western Swiss Railways The Western Switzerland Railways (''Chemins de fer de la Suisse Occidentale'', shortened to ''Suisse-Occidentale''; SO or S-O), were initially a joint operation of three Swiss railway companies, but these companies merged on 1 January 1872. The co ...

(''Chemins de fer de la Suisse Occidentale'', SO) in 1881.

History

Ligne d’Italie

Although a line on the St. Gingolph–Saint-Maurice –Brig route was technically easy to build, the

Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

government was unable to attract enough Swiss investors to build the line. The

share capital A corporation's share capital, commonly referred to as capital stock in the United States, is the portion of a corporation's equity that has been derived by the issue of shares in the corporation to a shareholder, usually for cash. ''Share ...

came from France. The driving force behind the project was the speculator Count Adrien de Lavalette (Fr). The company gained a concession for a line from Le Bouveret to Sion in 1853. The object of the ''Ligne d’Italie'' company founded in 1856 was to build a connection between

Romandy Romandy ( or ; Arpitan: ''Romandia'')Before World War I, the term French Switzerland () waalso used ( or , , ) is the French-speaking historical and cultural region of Switzerland. In 2020, about 2 million people, or 22.8% of the Swiss pop ...

and Italy through the

Canton of Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

and the Simplon. The connection to

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

and France was planned to run along the southern shore of

Lake Geneva Lake Geneva is a deep lake on the north side of the Alps, shared between Switzerland and France. It is one of the List of largest lakes of Europe, largest lakes in Western Europe and the largest on the course of the Rhône. Sixty percent () ...

. After several requests, de Lavalette commenced construction. The Ligne d’Italie opened its first section from Le Bouveret (at the southeastern end of Lake Geneva) to

Martigny Martigny (; , ; ) is the capital city of the district of Martigny (district), Martigny, cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Valais, Valais, Switzerland. It lies at an elevation of , and its population is approximately 20,000 inhabitants ( ...

via Saint-Maurice on 14 July 1859. The line was extended to Sion on 10 May 1860. On 2 April 1861, the

opened the last section of its line from

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

to Les Paluds near Saint-Maurice, giving the Ligne d'Italie access to the Swiss railway network. The next section from Sion to

Sierre Sierre (; ; ) is the capital municipality of the district of Sierre, located in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. It has a population of 18,020. Sierre is nicknamed City of the Sun () for its average of 300 days of sunshine a year. It is t ...

opened after some delay on 15 October 1868, bringing the total length of the line to 79.5 km. The company, which opened up the very agricultural canton of Valais, was not successful. In addition,

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

ceded

Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

to France in 1860 and, with the opening of the

Fréjus Rail Tunnel The Fréjus Rail Tunnel (also called Mont Cenis Tunnel) is a rail tunnel of length in the European Alps, carrying the Turin–Modane railway through Mont Cenis to an end-on connection with the Culoz–Modane railway and linking Bardonecc ...

in 1871, a line was opened from

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, which competed directly with the projected line. The Ligne d'Italie was liquidated in 1871 and a new company was established under the same name.

Compagnie du Simplon

The LI had to be liquidated for the second time and it was sold on 1 June 1874 to the new ''Compagnie du Simplon'' (S) for a symbolic price of CHF 202,422 plus CHF 500,000 of bonds. The shareholders lost all their capital and the work, which had cost almost CHF 25 million. The operations of the Compagnie du Simplon were managed by the

(SO). The line was extended from Sierre to

Leuk Leuk () is a municipality in the district of Leuk in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013, the former municipality of Erschmatt merged into the municipality of Leuk.Domodossola Domodossola (; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, in the region of Piedmont, northern Italy. It was also known as Oscela, Oscella, Oscella dei Leponzi, Ossolo, Ossola Lepontiorum, and Domo d'Ossola (due to it ...

, sufficient finance did not become available for the time being. The line remained a branch line and the operation's results were insufficient to cover interest charges. Nevertheless, the Simplon Railway led to significant economic progress in the Valais. On 1 July 1881, the Compagnie du Simplon was bought by the Western Swiss Railways, which then changed its name to the Western Switzerland–Simplon Company (''Suisse-Occidentale–Simplon'', SOS). The short Le Bouveret–

Saint-Gingolph Saint-Gingolph is a small town situated on the south bank of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman). It sits at the France–Switzerland border and is administratively divided into Saint-Gingolph, Switzerland, Saint-Gingolph, Valais (Switzerland) and Saint-Gingol ...

branch line opened on 1 June 1886, connecting with the line of the

Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée The Chemins Company is a dietary supplement manufacturer based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The company, founded in 1974 by James Cameron, became embroiled in a series of criminal investigations in 1994 after a woman died and more than 100 other ...

in Savoy. In 1890, the SOS merged with the Jura-Simplon-Bahn (JS), which significantly accelerated the efforts to construct the

Simplon Tunnel The Simplon Tunnel (''Simplontunnel'', ''Traforo del Sempione'' or ''Galleria del Sempione'') is a railway tunnel on the Simplon railway that connects Brig, Switzerland, Brig, Switzerland and Domodossola, Italy, through the Alps, providing a shor ...

Rolling stock

The following is a list of the locomotives of the Ligne d'Italie and the Ligne du Simplon:

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Compagnie de la Ligne d'Italie Defunct railway companies of Switzerland Swiss companies established in 1859 Railway companies established in 1859