Swiss Northern Railway
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The Swiss Northern Railway ( German: ''Schweizerische Nordbahn'', SNB), informally known as the ''Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn'', opened the first railway line within
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 ...
in 1847, the Zürich–Baden line. This followed the extension of a French railway to Basel in 1844. The original line generally followed the south bank of the
Limmat The Limmat is a river in Switzerland. The river commences at the outfall of Lake Zurich, in the southern part of the city of Zurich. From Zurich it flows in a northwesterly direction, continuing a further 35 km until it reaches the river A ...
from Zürich to near its confluence with the Aar near
Brugg Brugg (sometimes written as Brugg AG in order to distinguish it from other ''Brugg''s) is a Switzerland, Swiss Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and a List of towns in Switzerland, town in the canton of Aargau and is the seat of the Bru ...
, and then the south bank of the Aar to Olten. It was absorbed into the Swiss Northeastern Railway (German: ''Schweizerische Nordostbahn'', NOB) in 1853 and extended from Baden to Brugg in 1858. The line was absorbed into the
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 ...
on its establishment in 1902. It is electrified at 15 kV 16.7 Hz and its eastern 16 km section from Zürich to Killwangen-
Spreitenbach Spreitenbach (High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Spräitebach'') is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Baden (district, Aargau), Baden in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau in Switzerland, located in ...
is now part of the Zürich–Olten trunkline and has four tracks.


History

The section between Zürich and Baden was opened on 7 August 1847 by the Swiss Northeastern Railway. It was the first line built in Switzerland, except for the line built from
Mulhouse Mulhouse (; ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Mìlhüsa'' ; , meaning "Mill (grinding), mill house") is a France, French city of the European Collectivity of Alsace (Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region of France). It is near the Fran ...
to
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 ...
by the French company ''Chemin de fer de Strasbourg à Bâle'', opened to a temporary station outside Basel's walls on 15 June 1844 and to the permanent station on 11 December 1845. The construction of railways in Switzerland was delayed compared to most of its neighbours, partly as a result of its mountainous geography. In addition the cantons were in a position to influence the routes chosen, particularly because of the need for compulsory purchase to build railways. In 1836 Friedrich Hünerwadel of Lenzburg pointed out to the government of the canton of
Aargau Aargau ( ; ), more formally the Canton of Aargau (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capital is Aarau. Aargau is one of the most nort ...
—through which the line had to pass—the importance of the route of a railway from Zurich to Basel for Aargau's commerce and industry. In 1837, the Zürich Chamber of Commerce commissioned the engineer
Alois Negrelli Nikolaus Alois Maria Vinzenz Negrelli, Ritter von Moldelbe (born Luigi Negrelli; 23 January 1799 – 1 October 1858) was a Tyrolean civil engineer and railroad pioneer mostly active in parts of the Austrian Empire, Switzerland, Germany and I ...
to investigate the route of such a line. In October of the same year the Zurich-Basel railway company was founded. The chosen route would lead from Zürich to Würenlos via
Dietikon Dietikon is the fifth biggest city of the canton of Zürich in Switzerland, after Zürich, Winterthur, Uster and Dübendorf. It is the capital of the same-named district of Dietikon and part of the Zürich metropolitan area. Geography The ...
along the south bank of the Limmat, then crossing the river to follow the north bank of the Limmat via Wettingen, Ennetbaden and Obersiggenthal. In Untersiggenthal the line would turn to the north and have crossed 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 ...
at Döttingen. It would have then followed the south bank of the
Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
to Basel. In April 1838 surveying of the route began, but angry residents obstructed their work. The Züriputsch of 1839 and a civil war-like constitutional dispute in the canton of Aargau further delayed the start of construction. In addition the route of the line was controversial. Some called for a line through the
Bözberg Pass Bözberg is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Brugg (district), Brugg in Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau in Switzerland. It ceased to exist in 1873, when it was split into the two new municipalities Oberböz ...
, which was the route of the Bözberg line opened in 1875. Although the Aargau parliament passed a law permitting compulsory purchase in November 1840, several shareholders lost their financial guarantees, and the company had to be dissolved in December 1841. In May 1843 representatives of the cantons of Aargau, Zurich and Basle met in the Baden City Hall, but they failed to come to any agreement.


Construction

In May 1845 a new committee was formed under the leadership of the Zurich industrialist Martin Escher. The planned line would now keep to the south bank of the Limmat, which it would only cross at Turgi. Finally, it was planned to cross the Rhine between
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 Waldshut (then in the state of
Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...
) to connect with the planned Baden Mainline 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
Konstanz Konstanz ( , , , ), traditionally known as Constance in English, is a college town, university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the Baden-Württemberg state of south Germany. The city ho ...
. With an assurance that Alois Negrelli would direct the engineering and that a branch line would be later built from Baden to Lenzburg and Aarau, the Aargau parliament approved the project in July 1845. The first stage of construction would be the section from Zurich to Baden. The was chosen,Welti, Oskar (1946). ''Zürich–Baden, die Wiege der schweizerischen Eisenbahnen''. Zürich: Orell Füssli. Negrelli relocated the station in Baden to the north side of the town, requiring the construction of the 80-meter-long Schlossberg tunnel. Gustav Albert Wegmann designed the Zürich railway station, while Ferdinand Stadler designed the Baden station. At the end of 1845 the Nordbahn company was founded with a share capital of 20 million francs, in the spring of 1846 construction work started. The route for the most part was easy, although there were small landslides between Neuenhof and Baden. The greatest challenge was the construction of the Schlossberg tunnel, where prisoners were initially used for this work; later unskilled workers were also used there. There were three fatalities in a blasting accident and an additional six workers died of
typhoid Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often ther ...
. The tunnel was broken through on 14 April 1847.


Opening

The line opened on 7 August 1847 and was the first line located entirely on Swiss territory. Shortly after 11:30 am, the arrival of the first official train in Zurich was announced with gun salute. The train brought the invited guests and members of the Aargau authorities from Baden to Zurich. The locomotive No. 1 «Limmat» required only 23 minutes, which would correspond to an average speed of 42 km / h. After celebrations and sightseeing of the train station infrastructure the train left Zurich for Baden at 13:00 with 140 invited guests; scheduled operations started two days later. Every day there were four trips in each direction. The 20 km journey took 45 minutes with the trains stopping at Altstetten, Schlieren and Dietikon. Soon after the opening, the line began to be called the "Spanisch-Brötli bahn" ("Spanish bun railway") because the Zürich gentry sent their servants by train to Baden to buy these buns in order to impress their clients at Sunday morning teas. Previously their servants had to set out from Baden at midnight on foot with the buns. The buns were apparently derived from buns made in
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
during the 17th century when it was under Spanish control. Under the laws of the canton they could only be made in Baden. The railway had little commercial success. Its passenger numbers were reduced by the Sonderbund war and the
Revolutions of 1848 The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...
in neighboring countries. The Nordbahn dropped one of the daily services and indefinitely delayed the construction of further stages. Construction of the branch line from Baden to Lenzburg and Aarau was abandoned. Eventually, the company succeeded in coming to an agreement with the postal administration so that the coach service to Bern no longer ran on the Zurich–Baden section, but the coach service between Zurich and Basel continued to run beside the railway.


Extension to Brugg and Olten

Only after the enactment of the Federal Railways Act of 1852—made possible by the new constitution of 1848—and the merger of the company with Alfred Escher's ''Bodensee und Rheinfallbahnen'' ("
Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...
and Rhine Falls Railway") to form the Schweizerische Nordostbahn ("Swiss Northeast Railway") in 1853 were construction plans resumed. The line to Brugg was opened in 1858, where it met the line from Olten built by the Schweizerische Centralbahn.


References

{{reflist Defunct railway companies of Switzerland