Swiss Southeast Railway (2001)

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Swiss Südostbahn AG

logo
legal form Corporation
founding 2001
Seat St. Gallen , Switzerland
management Benedikt Würth
( Chairman of the Board of Directors )
Thomas Küchler ( CEO since January 1, 2010)
Number of employees 605 FTE (end of 2019)
Branch Traffic Company
Website www.sob.ch

The Swiss Southeast Railway (SOB) is a standard-gauge railway company in central and eastern Switzerland with headquarters in St. Gallen . It was created in 2001 from a merger of the former Swiss Southeast Railway and the Bodensee-Toggenburg Railway . In 2006, the upper part of the former Toggenburgerbahn was added as part of a network adjustment with the SBB , in return the SOB gave up its shares in the joint stations. Today the SOB maintains a route network of 123 km in length. The slopes of up to 50 per thousand are characteristic of the SOB southern network.

history

Predecessor railways

The oldest SOB route over the Seedamm near Rapperswil with the RABe 526 044 (Stadler Flirt).
Baggage rail car De 4/4 22 of the "old" Südostbahn in Einsiedeln

The oldest SOB route is Lichtensteig – Ebnat-Kappel. This was opened on June 24, 1870 in the course of the Wil – Ebnat line of the Toggenburgerbahn .

In 1877 the first of the two forerunners of the "old" southeast railway started operations, the Wädenswil-Einsiedeln railway (WE). The Zürichsee – Gotthard Railway (ZGB) followed as early as 1878 and built the railway line across the Rapperswil dam , which was opened at the same time .

Twelve years later, on January 1, 1890, the Swiss Southeast Railway, with its headquarters in Wädenswil, was created through the merger of WE and ZGB, as well as the two initiative committees for the Biberbrücke – Goldau and Pfäffikon – Saturdayern routes. The existing routes Wädenswil - Einsiedeln and Rapperswil - Pfäffikon SZ were only connected with the lines Pfäffikon SZ - Saturdayern and Biberbrugg - Arth-Goldau , which opened in 1891, to form a coherent route network, which the SOB now calls the southern network.

In 1904 the Bodensee-Toggenburg Railway (BT) was founded. BT opened the Romanshorn - St. Gallen St. Fiden and St. Gallen HB– Lichtensteig - Wattwil line in 1910. The Lichtensteig – Wattwil section was built parallel to the existing SBB line, which in the same year saw the line from Wattwil, extended through the Rickentunnel to Uznach . Two years later, BT opened the Ebnat-Kappel - Nesslau-Neu St. Johann route and leased the existing SBB Wattwil-Ebnat-Kappel route for continuous operation.

Due to the different points of contact, both the BT and the SOB worked together with the SBB at an early stage. The continuous trains from Romanshorn via Rapperswil and Arth-Goldau to Lucerne, which are operated jointly by the three companies, were run under the name Voralpen-Express from 1992 and the alliance was formalized as a simple company in 1998 .

Merger and further development

Shuttle train from BT in 2005 at Arth-Goldau station. The railcar and the second intermediate car already have the new paintwork of the SOB, the control car still drives in the colors of the BT.
Pushing services were not uncommon until 2013: the BDe 4/4 disconnected in Biberbrugg separates from the Voralpen-Express after it has pushed it from Pfäffikon SZ.

With retroactive effect from January 1, 2001, the two railway companies BT and SOB merged to form the “new” Swiss Southeast Railway based in St. Gallen. This redistributed the ownership structure - today's SOB belongs to 35.83% to the federal government, 19.17% to the canton of St. Gallen , 17.58% to various municipalities and districts, and 12.27% to the cantons of Schwyz , Zurich , Thurgau and Appenzell Ausserrhoden , while the remaining 15.15% are held by private individuals in free float.

Various structural adjustments were made after the merger. In 2006, the property boundaries between the SOB-Ostnetz and the SBB were cleared. Until then, one track on the two-lane Lichtensteig – Wattwil line (2.5 km) belonged to the SOB and the other to the SBB. In addition, the section Wattwil – Ebnat-Kappel (4.9 km) was leased by the SBB to the former BT and the current SOB. Both sections and the Lichtensteig and Wattwil stations have been fully owned by the SOB since the network was streamlined. In return, the SOB handed over all ownership rights to the St. Gallen train station . Since December 2013 the Südostbahn has been fully responsible for the Voralpen-Express . Before that, a joint venture was responsible in which SOB to ⅔ and SBB to ⅓ were involved.

The Voralpen-Express has been running as a double shuttle train with two locomotives since 2013, in order to be able to dispense with the pushing operation on the steep sections of the southern network, which is necessary when there is a heavy traffic. Until the same year, the SOB locomotive with the engine driver and (until December 2008) the buffet car for the commuter trains Einsiedeln – Wädenswil – Zurich Altstetten ("Gipfeli-Express") that ran on weekdays , for which the SBB had the license and the first and Second-class cars provided. In June 2014, the SBB discontinued the “Gipfeli-Express”.

In 2017 the Südostbahn announced that it wanted to operate the Wattwil – Nesslau Neu St. Johann section with an automatic S-Bahn train with an engine driver, but the engine driver will remain in the driver's cab as a monitor and intervene if necessary.
See the section on automated driving in the article Bodensee-Toggenburg-Bahn

From the timetable change 2020, the SOB is traveling in co-branding with the SBB the lines Zurich - train - Arth-Goldau - / Basel - Olten - Lucerne -Arth-Goldau- Gotthard mountain route - Bellinzona - Locarno / Lugano and Bern - Burgdorf - Langenthal - Olten -Zürich- Pfäffikon - Ziegelbrücke - Sargans - Chur . Are used Flirt 3 trains as in 2016 for the Pre-Alpine Express have been ordered. They are more suitable for tourist traffic along Lake Zurich and Lake Walen than RABe 511 double-decker trains operated by SBB.

Route network

The Voralpen-Express, here between Immensee and Arth-Goldau am Zugersee, runs the SBB route Arth-Goldau-Lucerne in the network access.
Voralpen-Express on the 99 m high Sitter Viaduct of the SOB

Since the merger in 2001 and the infrastructure exchange with the SBB in 2006, Südostbahn has the following routes:

The train stations Romanshorn and Pfäffikon SZ as well as the sections St. Gallen St. Fiden - St. Gallen , Wattwil (exclusive) - Rapperswil and Arth-Goldau-Lucerne belong to the SBB and are used by the SOB in the network access due to the legal regulations . The scheduled traffic between the two railways and with the SBB subsidiary Thurbo was largely regulated on a contractual basis until December 2009, i.e. all trains between Wattwil and Rapperswil were legally SBB trains, but were partly operated by the SOB and its staff and material guided. Conversely, z. B. the Thurbo GTW to Herisau formally as SOB trains. On the other hand, the SOB route over the Seedamm was used by SBB trains in the network access - the SOB station Hurden was even served exclusively by the SBB ( S5 ) during the day . Since December 2013, SOB, SBB and Thurbo have each been running their own lines in network access. On the Romanshorn – St. Gallen and Wattwil– Nesslau-Neu St. Johann no longer run SOB trains.

Approximately one eighth of the entire route is due to the difficult topography on 177 bridges or in the 19 tunnels and is therefore also a popular route for tourists. The highest railway bridge in Switzerland, the Sitter Viaduct between St. Gallen Haggen and Gübsensee near Herisau, is owned by the SOB.

Line network

Voralpen-Express
S-Bahn St. Gallen
  • S 4 Sargans - St. Margrethen - St. Gallen - Wattwil - Uznach - Sargans
  • S 81 Herisau - St. Gallen - Wittenbach
Zurich S-Bahn
March shuttle
Lucerne S-Bahn

outlook

  • As of December 13, 2020, in regional traffic: Takeover of the S 6 of the St. Gallen S-Bahn from SBB
  • As of December 13, 2020, in long-distance traffic: start of operation of the “Treno Gottardo” line (Basel– / Zurich– Arth-Goldau – Göschenen – Locarno ), in cooperation with SBB
  • As of December 12, 2021, in long-distance traffic: start of operation of the “Aare Linth” line (Bern – Zurich – Chur), in cooperation with SBB; Connection of today's IR17 Bern – Zurich with the RE Zürich – Chur

Rolling stock

model series Manufacturer Construction year origin number of pieces Discarded SOB
type 		Remarks
series Numbers total today
Electric locomotives
Re 446 015-018 SLM / BBC 1982 SOB (Ex) 0 4 4th ex SBB Re 4/4 IV 10101–10104 sold to a railway service provider (EDG) in Tayingen
Re 456 091-096 SLM / BBC 1987 BT 6th 6th KTU locomotives are for sale
Re 456 142-143 SLM / ABB 1993 VHB (2002) (Ex) 0 2 0 2011 KTU locomotive, rented from RM / BLS
Multiple units / trains
RBDe 566 071-076 FFA / SIG / BBC 1982 BT 6th 3 NPZ-BT " Private Railway NPZ "
RBDe 561 081-084 SWG / SIG / FIG 1995 SOB 4th 4th NPZ-SBB « SBB-NPZ » Series 4
174 1994 SBB (2015) (Ex) 0 1 1 ex MThB RBDe 566 634
RABe 526 041-051 STAG 2007-2008 11 11 Flirt SOB
052-063 2013 12 12
RABe 526 001-005 STAG 2018-2019 5 5 Flirt 3
006-010 ordered 5 *
RABe 526 101-106
201-206 		STAG 2018-2019 6th 6th Traverso
107-117
207-217 		ordered 11 *
118-125
218-225 		ordered 8th *
Control car
ABt 80-35 171-176 1982 BT 6th 3 NPZ-BT
ABt 80-35 181-184 SWG / SIG / FIG 1995 SOB 4th 4th NPZ-SBB
Passenger cars
B. 371-376 1982 BT 6th NPZ-BT
B 29-35 381-386
781-786 		SWA / SIG / FIG 1991 BT 6th 6th NPZ-BT
VAE2013 		Duplicate

Are for sale

A 18-35 711-712 (Um) / 1997 SOB (At) 8 00 8th UAE2013 Revvivo

Sold to MAV in Hungary

713 (Um) / 1997 BT
714 (Um) / 1999 BT
715 (Um) / 1999 SOB
716-718 (Around) / 2000 SBB (2013)
A 18-35 719 SWS 1960 BT (At) 1 00 1 UAE2013 Bodan

For sale

B 20-35 721-722 (Around) / 2000 BT (At)0 14 14th UAE2013 Revvivo

Sold to MAV in Hungary

723-726 (Um) / 1997 SOB
727-728 (Around) / 2000 SOB
729-734 (Around) / 2000 SBB (2013)
B 20-35 735-736 1960/1998 SOB (At) 2 00 2 UAE2013 Revvivo, ex Rigi

Sold to MAV in Hungary

B 20-35 753-754 SWS 1967 BT 3 3 UAE2013 EW I

For sale

767 FFA 1968
BR 85-35 741-742 FFA 1964/1997 BT (At) 7 00 7th UAE2013 Revvivo, ex BT AB 251-254

Sold to MAV in Hungary

743-744 1964/1997 SBB (2013)
745-746 1959/1997 BT Revvivo

Sold to MAV in Hungary

747 (Um) / 1997 SOB
Shunting locomotives and tractors
Eea 936 031 Henschel / AEG 1966 (1995) / BT (Ex)0 2 0 2015 ex RAG 281, BT 31
032 2012 ex RAG 283, BT 32; Canceled in 2014
On 846 033 Krupp / AEG 1963 (1990) / SOB (Ex)0 1 0 2010 ex ME 1500 (201 001); Sold to JÜST in 2012
Te 212 080 SLM / MFO 1966 BT 1 1 ex BT 35
Tm 236 001 RACO 1962 BT 2 0 ex BT 1
002 ex BT 2
Tm 236 004 1977 2 2 2016 ex BT 4; to MFAG sold
005 1992 2016 ex BT 5; to MFAG sold
Tm 236 006 SLM 1972 (1977) / BT (Ex)0 2 1 2014 ex Gerlafingen 26, BT 6; at EDG sold
007 1973 (1977) / BT ex Gerlafingen 28, BT 7
Tm 236 008 Young 1960 (1984) / SOB (Ex)0 1 1 ex DB Köf 6742, SOB 34
Tm 236 009 Stadler 1983 SOB 1 0 2017 ex SOB 33; at EDG sold
Tm 236 010 RACO / Saurer 1985 SBB (2008) (Ex)0 2 0 2013 ex SBB Tm III 9517; at WRS sold
011 ex SBB Tm III 9596
Tm 234 501-503 Robel 2015 3 3
Ub = takeover from outside stock (used vehicle); Um = conversion from own inventory
NPZ-SBB, meanwhile used in the Voralpenexpress (UAE)

In exchange for four locomotives from the Re 4/4 III (41-44) series, the old SOB received four locomotives from the Re 4/4 IV series , which it classified as Re 446 445-448 in its inventory; these were redrawn under the merged SOB in Re 446 015-018.

In addition to the six so-called KTU locomotives of BT, two more (142–143) were leased from the former VHB from 2002 , which in turn merged first to form RM and finally to form BLS AG . After almost 10 years, the lease was not extended any further and the two machines were returned to BLS on June 15, 2011.

  • Re 456 with Voralpen-Express on the Seedamm

  • Regional shuttle train NPZ type SBB of the SOB

The merged SOB came into the possession of six so-called « Privatbahn-NPZ », which were procured by BT as a fake three-part multiple unit RABDe 4/12 (multiple units, intermediate coaches, control coaches), as well as four « new commuter trains » (NPZ) of the SBB type, which the old SOB procured in two parts (railcar, control car). With the start of the Flirt, the compositions for the Voralpenexpress (UAE) were adapted, the «NPZ-SBB» have been used as traction vehicles for the UAE ever since. For this purpose, the SBB took over a fifth railcar as a reserve, which originally went to the Mittelthurgau Railway (MThB). The «NPZ-BT» are only maintained minimally due to their higher age, lack of buyers and lack of a field of application; Railcars 071, 073 and 074 have now been retired as spare parts donors.

Service vehicles / multi-purpose vehicles

SOB diesel small locomotive Tm 236 002 with snow blades
  • 5 x Te 216 035-039
    Two-axle electric shunting locomotives, built in 1941 ... 66
  • 1 × MPV 99 85 9131 005
    (006 sold to Kummler and Matter in 2014)

outlook

SOB RABe 526 105 (Stadler) "Traverso", Voralpenexpress

In 2016, a total of eleven Flirt 3 multiple units were ordered from Stadler Rail ; The six eight-part Flirt (8/20) called “Traverso” consist of two close-coupled, four-part Flirt (4/10) in long-distance transport and will replace the sets of the Voralpen-Express . The five additional, four-part Flirt (4/10) can both serve to reinforce the “Traverso” and also be used in regional transport.

In December 2017, another eleven “Traverso” were ordered for the Gotthardberg “Treno Gottardo” trains, followed in December 2018 by an order for seven more “Traverso” for the “Aare Linth” range, as well as five other four-part Flirt trains.

Former rolling stock

Series (classic) Series (UIC) Manufacturer Construction year origin number of pieces Discarded Remarks
series Numbers series Numbers total today
Electric locomotives
Be 4/4 11 Be 416 011 SLM / SAAS 1931-1932 BT 3 0 2015 to SLM GmbH sold
12 012 2002 sold to private individuals; Canceled in 2014
16 016 –2015 Whereabouts unknown
14th 014 private (?) (Ex) 1 00 0 2006 Repurchase after dissolution of the collection;
to CH-TR sold
Ae 476 012 LEW
(at) STAG 		1965 SOB 1 0 2008 ex DB 142 042, SOB Ae 476 468; to WAB sold
Multiple units / trains
Be 3/4 43 SIG / SAAS / BT 1938/1982 BT (At)0 1 0 2001 «Tino»; ex BCFe 2/4, BCFe 3/4; at EV sold
BDe 4/4 80 BDe 576 048 SIG / BBC 1959 SOB 2 0 2009 delivered to VPM ; 2010 to DSF
81 049 2008 at MAKI sold
50 050 1960 BT 4th 0 2012 at DSF issued
51-53 051-053 1966-1967 BT 2007 Canceled in 2008
82 054 1966 SOB 1 0 2007 at VPM submitted
83-85 055-057 1978-1979 SOB 5 0 2008 at MAKI sold
86 058 hist.0 1
87 059 0 2017 at MAKI sold
VHB 251 060 1966 RM (2004) (Ex) 1 00 0 2005 ex VHB BDe 4/4 251; at CSG sold
BDe 4/4 90-91 BDe 576 490-491
041-042 		SIG / SWS
SAAS / BBC / MFO 		1966 SOB 2 0 2004 ex WM BDe 4/4 1-2
042 on DSF issued
Control car
BDt BDt 199 SWP / BBC 1966/1999 SOB 1 0 2014 ex WM Bt 11 ( EW I )
Tractors
Tm Tm 236 432 Young 1958 SOB 1 0 2004 ex Zurich open warehouse; SOB 32; at Military Museum Full sold

The last of a series of six locomotives of the Be 4/4 (11-16) series procured by BT was the number 11 under the UIC-compliant designation Be 416 011-5 in the merged SOB; In 2015 it was sold to Schorno Locomotive Management (SLM).

Of a total of 15 so-called high - performance railcars (BDe 4/4) built between 1959 and 1979, eight railcars originally went to old SOB (71, 81-87) and four to BT (50-53) in three lots. The prototype ABe 4/4 71 was the last to be converted into the BDe 4/4 80 in 1979. In conformity with UIC, the SOB vehicles were renumbered in BDe 576 480–487, those of the BT in BDe 576 050–053; Under the merged SOB, the vehicles of the old SOB (ID 64, third and fourth positions) were given new vehicle numbers in the BT scheme (ID 60, third and fourth positions). 480 and 481 were given the numbers 048 and 049, the ex-BT vehicles remained 050-053, the others (482-487) were added to the BT numbers (054-059). With the delivery of the first series of Flirt multiple units, the first high-performance multiple units were parked; In 2008 the first vehicles were canceled, the majority of the rest were sold. BDe 576 058 (ex SOB 86) was the last to remain as a technical reserve in the Saturdayern depot.

See also

Web links

Commons : Schweizerische Südostbahn (2001)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ SOB will operate two lines for SBB from 2020. (PDF) Strategic cooperation between SOB and SBB. In: SOB media release. July 7, 2017. Retrieved July 8, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Tobias Gafafer: Ribar intervenes in a dispute over railway lines . In: St. Galler Tagblatt. July 13, 2017, p. 5 ( online , accessed July 18, 2017).
  3. ↑ Media release: SOB and SBB are expanding their offer in the Obersee / Glarnerland area , 10 July 2018
  4. ↑ Type sketch of the SOB-MPV ( Memento from November 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Electric low-floor multiple unit FLIRT-Voralpenexpress (Stadler)
  6. ↑ Photo at the demolition company. October 6, 2014, accessed March 16, 2019 .