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List of narrow-gauge railways in Switzerland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Switzerland has an extensive collection of narrow-gauge railways, almost all of which are metre gauge and electrified with different voltages. Most lines have at least one interchange station with the standard gauge Swiss Federal Railways or Bern–Lötschberg–Simplon railway.

List of companies and lines

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The cantons listed below are the principal areas of operation, but some lines may extend into parts of neighbouring cantons and countries:

Canton of Aargau

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Canton of Basel-Stadt

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  • Trams in Geneva
  • Geneva (Chantepoulet) – Ferney (France) - Gex (France) tramway - closed in 1938 and replaced by a bus service

Canton of Grisons

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Cantons of Grisons, Uri and Valais

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Cantons of Lucerne, Nidwalden, Obwalden and Bern

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Cantons of Thurgau and St. Gallen

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Trams

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There are trams operating on nine systems in seven Swiss cities. Street-running tramways are nearly all 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+38 in). The Chemin de fer Bex–Villars–Bretaye (BVB) in Bex is more of a mixed interuban light rail line connected to a rack railway but it does have some street running portions, particularly in Bex where the BVB operates along the right of way of a tramway system originally built in the 1890s.

City System Start of
electric
operations
Gauge notes
Basel Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVB)[1] 6 May 1892[1] 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+38 in) metre gauge 8 lines
Baselland Transport (BLT)[1] 6 October 1902 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+38 in) metre gauge 4 lines, 65.2 km (40.5 mi), 100 trams, serves suburbs
Bern[1] Städtische Verkehrsbetriebe Bern 1 July 1902 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+38 in) metre gauge  
Bex Bex–Villars–Bretaye railway (BVB) 1898 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+38 in) metre gauge connects to rack railway in Villars-sur-Ollon
Geneva[1] Transports Publics Genevois 22 September 1894 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+38 in) metre gauge  
Lausanne Tramway du sud-ouest lausannois 2 June 1991 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) standard gauge  
Neuchâtel[1] Trams in Neuchâtel 16 May 1897 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+38 in) metre gauge  
Zürich[1] Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich (VBZ) 8 March 1894 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+38 in) metre gauge  
Stadtbahn Glattal 10 December 2006    

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Buckley, Richard (2000). Tramways and Light Railways of Switzerland and Austria. Light Rail Transit Association. ISBN 0-948106-27-1.
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