Private Railway Aid Act

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The Federal Law on Assistance to Private Railway and Shipping Companies (in short: Private Railway Aid Act ) granted financial means in Switzerland from 1939 onwards for the rehabilitation of the mostly highly indebted private railways and their technical renovations and improvements. This prevented bankruptcies.

Starting position

As a result of the economic crisis, the high level of debt and the emergence of the competitor automobile , many private railways in Switzerland had to fight for their existence and save in operation, rolling stock and in the renewal of the infrastructure and could not bring them up to date.

The SBB , founded in 1902, was still burdened with contaminated sites, and in 1936 the Federal Council discussed a new Federal Railroad Act to financially solve this "Federal Railroad Problem".

This also revealed a "private railroad problem" because the cantons , which had made great sacrifices for their "private" railways, felt it was unfair to have to contribute to the rehabilitation of the Federal Railroad. Therefore, with the renovation of the federal railway, they also asked for help to the private railways in need.

On April 23, 1937, the Federal Council passed a message to the Federal Assembly on the draft federal law on the participation of the federal government in the financial rebuilding of ailing private railway companies .

law

On April 6, 1939, the Federal Law on Assistance to Private Railroad and Shipping Companies was enacted and entered into force on November 1, 1939. It consisted of two sections:

  • The law granted all enterprises which, because of their economic or military importance, served the interests of the Confederation or a larger part of it, a financial recovery of 125 million francs. Companies that are created through merger and achieve this importance should also receive help. Only purely local businesses or businesses that essentially only serve tourist traffic turned out to be empty . In addition, the cantons had to contribute to the financial burden to the same extent as the federal government.
  • Smaller transport companies were given the opportunity to take out shares and loans without a credit line for technical upgrades and improvements from the federal government. In addition, the federal government made a loan of 15 million francs available, and the companies were able to apply for contributions à fonds perdu .

On December 21, 1949, a revised version of the federal law came into force, thanks to which more financial resources could be made available.

implementation

A commission of experts determined the transport companies which are entitled to renovation, support or financial means for renovations.

section

As important transport companies for Switzerland according to Section 1, the following have been determined without reservation:

In addition, the commission proposed the merger of numerous smaller railways so that they could also benefit from financial recovery under Section 1. Therefore, from 1942 onwards, numerous mergers took place to form larger companies, the so-called licensed transport companies ( KTU ):

Section 2

On September 19, 1941, the Federal Council decided that those transport companies that had carried out the technical renovations before the Private Railway Aid Act came into force should also receive contributions towards the repayment of the resulting liabilities, taking into account previous services provided by the cantons.

In order to receive contributions, a merger was requested from various companies:

With the payments from the federal government and the same amount from the cantons, many transport companies have now been able to renew their systems and increase their profitability.

Between 1942 and 1958, a total of 64 companies claimed this redevelopment and relief campaign and were redeveloped and / or supported with CHF 357 million.

Repeal of the law

With the Railways Act (EBG) SR 742.101 of December 20, 1957 , the federal act on assistance to private rail and shipping companies was repealed.

swell

  • Federal Post and Railway Department: A Century of Swiss Railways 1847-1947, Volume 1. Huber, Frauenfeld 1947, pp. 168–172 and 417–428.
  • 3 × 50 years - Swiss railways in the past, present and future. Pharos, Basel 1997, pp. 306-307.