Chemins de fer de la Suisse Occidentale
The Chemins de fer de la Suisse Occidentale (SO or SO), or Suisse-Occidentale for short , translated West Swiss Railways , were initially a joint venture between three Swiss railway companies that became the railway company of the same name on January 1, 1872 through the merger of the participating railways . Since June 28, 1881, the company called itself Chemins de fer de la Suisse Occidentale et du Simplon (SOS or SO-S) or Suisse-Occidentale-Simplon for short . On January 1, 1890, the SOS merged with Jura-Bern-Lucerne (JBL) to form the Jura-Simplon Railway (JS).
Operating group Suisse-Occidentale
The connection from the French-speaking Switzerland in the German Switzerland was in the early 1860s in the hands of the three railway companies Ouest Suisse (SO), Franco-Suisse (FS) and the Oronbahn Lausanne - Freiburg - Bern (LFB). One of the lines led from Lausanne along the southern foot of the Jura to Biel and on to Herzogenbuchsee , where it met the rival line via Friborg and Bern. The Ouest Suisse and the Franco-Suisse were thus opponents of the Oronbahn, which in turn owned the initial Geneva - Versoix line . In addition to this inhibiting competitive situation , there were financial difficulties caused by the cost estimates being exceeded during the construction work.
After long and difficult negotiations, the three railway companies formed an operating community on January 1, 1865, called the Association des chemins de fer de la Suisse Occidentale . Each railway company made its railway systems and rolling stock available. The income was distributed in a predetermined ratio. The operating community was managed by a three-person operating committee - each company sending a representative - and a supervisory board. Three members of the supervisory board were elected by Ouest Suisse and two each by Franco-Suisse and the canton of Friborg . The company was bought by Laurent-Bergeron et Comp. At a price of CHF 8,000 per kilometer per year. transfer. The financial situation of the three railways in western Switzerland stabilized and from 1868 onwards the operating group was able to pay a very modest dividend every year . Finance and construction matters remained a matter for the individual railway companies.
Ownership in the route network of the Association des chemins de fer de la Suisse Occidentale
The following map shows the ownership structure in the route network of the operating association of the Western Switzerland Railways at the end of 1871 before their merger to form Suisse-Occidentale:
Suisse-Occidentale railway company
In 1871 the three railways planned to intensify their cooperation. The operation should no longer be leased to a company, but rather run directly. Under pressure from the cantonal governments , especially of Vaud , led by 1 January 1872 for complete fusion of the three Western Swiss railways. The new railway company Suisse-Occidentale (SO) with a property length of 315 kilometers became the railway company with the largest rail network in Switzerland. The cantons used their influence to connect the Suisse-Occidentale with the construction of the Broyetalbahn Palezieux - Payerne - Fräschels (longitudinal) and Friborg – Payerne– Yverdon (transversal). These lines should originally have formed the end of the Swiss National Railroad (SNB) in western Switzerland .
The shares of the merged railway companies were exchanged for those of Suisse-Occidentale, with additional payments in the form of bonds totaling 14 million francs, depending on the share price . After the conclusion of this financial transaction at the end of 1876, the capital of Suisse-Occidentale consisted of 85 million francs in shares and 102 million francs in bonds. The Central and Nordostbahn tried unsuccessfully, together with a bank group, to raise the funds required for the expansion of the Suisse-Occidentale network and to form a joint venture between the three railways. The financing came from the “Societe Suisse pour l'industrie des chemins de fer”, which forced the SO to reorganize the administration. Its board of directors of four members was replaced by a single director in 1875.
In 1872 the Suisse-Occidentale acquired a significant stake in the Jougne-Eclépens-Bahn (JE), which had a direct connection to the network of the Paris – Lyon – Mediterranean Railway (PLM). The SO wanted to prevent the competition from taking over JE, who was constantly struggling with financial problems. In 1876 the Jougne-Eclépens-Bahn went bankrupt and was completely taken over by the Suisse-Occidentale.
On July 7, 1876, four dead and three injured were to be mourned after a collision in Palézieux.
Suisse-Occidentale-Simplon
The Suisse-Occidentale-Simplon (SOS) came into being on June 26, 1881 from the purchase of the Ligne du Simplon (S) for around 13.2 million francs by the Suisse-Occidentale. Since the Simplon Railway was too weak financially to support the construction of a Simplon tunnel , the canton of Vaud in particular pushed for the two railways to merge. With an investment capital of CHF 248 million and a network length of 581 kilometers, the SOS was the largest railway company in Switzerland at the time. The connections Geneva – Lausanne – Brig and from Lausanne the continuations via Romont to Bern and via Yverdon – Neuchâtel to La Neuveville formed the main route network. Their most important strategic goal was the construction of a connection from Brig to Domodossola with a breakthrough of the Simplon , which was initially unsuccessful. In 1886 alone, the SOS invested around 670,000 Swiss francs in the relevant preparatory work.
On June 1, 1886, the SOS opened the Swiss section Bouveret - St-Gingolph of the Tonkin Line . The section from Saint-Gingolph to Évian-les-Bains in Savoy belonged to the Paris – Lyon – Mediterranean Railway (PLM).
On January 21, 1888, larger masses of rock loosened near Cheyres and covered the track two to three meters high. A Payerne – Yverdon passenger train with about 40 passengers drove into the rubble cone, with the two locomotives derailing. The stoker of the leader locomotive was killed, the other stoker and the driver of the leader locomotive were seriously injured.
The Suisse-Occidentale and the SOS took care of the operation of further railway lines:
- Jougne – Vallorbe – Pontarlier and Verrières – Pontarlier lines of the French Paris-Lyon-Mediterranean Railway (PLM)
- Bulle-Romont Railway (BR)
- Pont – Vallorbe Railway (PV)
- Régional du Val-de-Travers (RVT)
- Compagnie du Simplon (S)
The operating results of Suisse-Occidentale-Simplon were always positive. Freight and passenger traffic contributed roughly equally to this. The SOS was able to distribute a modest dividend every year.
Route network of the Suisse-Occidentale-Simplon (SOS)
The following map shows the Suisse-Occidentale-Simplon route network before the merger with the Jura-Bern-Luzern-Bahn (JBL):
Merger to form the Jura-Simplon Railway
The SOS merged with the Jura-Bern-Lucerne Railway (JBL) on January 1, 1890, including the Gümligen – Lucerne line belonging to the canton of Bern in the newly founded Jura-Simplon Railway (JS). The Swiss Confederation also participated in the new railway company by buying shares over the counter . Exactly one year later, the Jura-Simplon Railway took over the Pont-Vallorbe Railway operated by the SOS. The JS finally advanced the construction of the Simplon Tunnel, which had been planned for decades.
Graphic summary
Overview of the history of Suisse-Occidentale-Simplon (E: opening; T: takeover):
Ouest Suisse (OS) E: 5.5.1855 O: 1.1.1872 |
Genève – Versoix (GV) E: June 25, 1858 O: July 1, 1858 |
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Lausanne-Friborg- Berne-Bahn (LFB) O: 1.1.1872 |
Franco-Suisse (FS) E: November 7, 1859 O: January 1, 1872 |
Ligne d'Italie (LI) E: July 14, 1859 O: 1.6.1874 |
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Jougne – Eclépens (JE) E: 1.1.1870 O: 20.12.1876 |
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Suisse-Occidentale |
Compagnie du Simplon (S) O: June 28, 1881 |
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from June 28, 1881: Suisse-Occidentale – Simplon O: January 1, 1890 |
Jura – Bern – Lucerne (JBL) O: 1.1.1890 |
Gümligen – Lucerne line (leased from JBL) O: 1.1.1890 |
Pont – Vallorbe (PV) E: October 31, 1886 O: January 1, 1891 |
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Jura-Simplon Railway (JS) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Route network
No. | Railway line | Route section | opened on | from | Double track | comment | length |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Lausanne – Biel | Lausanne - Renens | May 5, 1856 | OS | 1872 | In Renens junction of the line to Geneva | 87.72 km |
Renens - Bussigny | July 1, 1855 | - | |||||
Bussigny - Daillens - Yverdon | May 7, 1855 | ||||||
Yverdon– Vaumarcus (canton border VD - NE ) | Nov 7, 1859 | ||||||
Vaumarcus - Auvernier - Neuchâtel - La Neuveville (canton border NE- BE ) | FS | In Auvernier junction of the line to Pontarlier | |||||
La Neuveville - Biel | 3 Dec 1860 | OWB | Bernese route section owned by JBL and its predecessors | (16.78 km) | |||
2. | Lausanne – Geneva | Lausanne – Renens | May 5, 1856 | OS | 1872 | In Renens branch of the line to Biel | 60.26 km |
Renens - Denges - Echandens - Morges | |||||||
Morges - Allaman | April 14, 1858 | 1868 | |||||
Allaman - Gland | 1872 | ||||||
Gland - Coppet | 1868 | Geneva line section Céligny –Céligny-canton border owned by the GA | |||||
Coppet– Versoix (canton border VD- GE ) | April 21, 1858 | ||||||
Versoix– Geneva | June 25, 1858 | GV | Already taken over by LFB on July 1, 1858 | ||||
Denges-Echandes-Bussigny | May 5, 1856 | OS | - | Connection loop, passenger traffic ceased in 1866, abolished in 1879 (reactivated in 1971) | (6.54 km) | ||
3. | Lausanne – Bern | Lausanne - Palézieux - Freiburg - Balliswil (near Düdingen ) | 4th Sept. 1862 | LFB | - | Provisional Balliswil station at the north warehouse of the Grandfey Viaduct | 86.88 km |
Balliswil– Thörishaus Station (canton border FR -BE) | July 2, 1860 | ||||||
Thörishaus Station - Bern | SCB | Route section owned by SCB | (8.98 km) | ||||
4th | Lausanne-Brig | Lausanne– Villeneuve | April 2, 1861 | OS | - | 145.55 km | |
Villeneuve - Bex | June 10, 1857 | ||||||
Bex – Les Paluds (canton border VD- VS ) | Nov 1, 1860 | ||||||
Les Paluds - Saint-Maurice - Martigny | July 14, 1859 | LI | Takeover by SO on June 28, 1881 | ||||
Martigny - manners | May 10, 1860 | ||||||
Sitten - Sierre | Oct 15, 1868 | ||||||
Sierre / Siders - Leuk | June 1, 1877 | S. | |||||
Leuk - Brig | June 1, 1878 | ||||||
5. | (Saint-Maurice–) Les Paluds – Saint-Gingolph | Les Paluds - Bouveret | July 14, 1859 | LI | - | Takeover by SO on June 28, 1881 | 25.52 km |
Bouveret– Saint-Gingolph –Land border CH - F | June 1, 1886 | SOS | Connection to the line to Évian-les-Bains of the PLM (closed in 1988) |
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6th | Neuchâtel – Pontarlier | Neuchâtel-Auvernier | Nov 7, 1859 | FS | - | In Auvernier branch of the line to Lausanne | 41.07 km |
Auvernier – state border CH-F | July 25, 1860 | ||||||
State border – Pontarlier | PLM | French route section owned by PLM | (11.28 km) | ||||
7th | (Lausanne–) Daillens – Vallorbe | Daillens - Vallorbe | July 1, 1870 | JE | - | 29.34 km | |
Vallorbe – national border CH-F | July 1, 1875 | Connection to the PLM line to Pontarlier (closed in 1939) |
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8th. |
Palézieux – Kerzers (Broye longitudinale) |
Palézieux - Payerne - Murten | 25 Aug 1876 | SO | - | 67.09 km | |
Murten– Kerzers - Fräschels (canton border FR-BE) | June 12, 1876 | ||||||
Fräschels - Lyss | JBL | Bernese route section owned by JBL | (12.97 km) | ||||
9. |
Yverdon – Freiburg (Broye transversale) |
Yverdon – Payerne | Feb. 1, 1877 | SO | - | 49.92 km | |
Payerne – Freiburg | 25 Aug 1876 | ||||||
Total (1889) | 60.20 km (10%) |
580.67 km |
Rolling stock
Since 1881 the SO designated their locomotives with Roman numerals: Series I and II were two couplers locomotives, Series III Dreikuppler- passenger locomotives and Series IV Dreikuppler- freight train locomotives. In the rolling stock statistics, some of the series names have been used since 1873. The locomotives taken over from the Jougne-Eclépens-Bahn were named in the statistics as Series V, the machines of the Compagnie du Simplon as Series IV. From 1887 onwards, the locomotives were named according to the system that was standardized throughout Switzerland .
List of locomotives that were used by the SO and SOS. The series designation valid from 1902 is shown in brackets.
Series from 1873 |
Series from 1887 |
SO no. | SO / SOS no. from 1871 |
Surname | JS no. from 1890 |
SBB no. from 1903 |
Manufacturer | Construction year | discarded | image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
I. | A2T ( B 2/3 ) | 6-20 | 6-20 | taken over by Ouest Suisse in 1872 (see there) | Karlsruhe | 1856-58 | 1888-1902 | |||
I from 1881: II |
A2T ( B 2/3 ) | 21-25 | 1-5 | Cail | 1858 | 1890-1892 | ||||
II | B2 ( Ec 2/4 ) | 1-12 | 51-62 | taken over in 1872 by the Lausanne-Friborg-Bern railway (see there) | Esslingen | 1862 | 1895-1895 | |||
II | A2T ( B 2/3 ) | 1'-3 ', 26-28 |
21-26 | → Main article: SO B 2/3 |
74-79 | 1074-1079 | Koechlin | 1868/70 | 1904-1907 | |
- | B2 (Ec 2/3) | - | 63 | Chambésy | 263 | 6195 | SACM | 1888 | 1923 | |
- | 64 | Genthod | 264 | 6196 | 1922 | |||||
- | 65 | Celigny | 265 | 6197 | 1909 | |||||
- | 66 | Crans | 266 | 6198 | 1909 | |||||
- | 67 | Myes | 267 | 6199 | 1909 | |||||
III | B3T (C 3/3) | - | 70 from 1874: 80 |
Valais | 410 | 2410 | Koechlin | 1871 | 1906 | |
- | 71 | Lucerne | 401 | - | 1901 | |||||
- | 72 | Bâle | 402 | - | 1900 | |||||
- | 73 | Soleure | 403 | - | 1900 | |||||
- | 74 | Argovie | 404 | 2407 | 1909 | |||||
- | 75 | Zurich | 405 | 2401 | 1904 | |||||
- | 76 | St-Gall | 406 | 2402 | 1872 | 1903 | ||||
- | 77 | Thurgovie | 407 | 2408 | 1906 | |||||
- | 78 | Schwytz | 408 | 2406 | 1904 | |||||
- | 79 | Ticino | 409 | 2409 | 1904 | |||||
- | 81 | Grisons | 411 | 2414 | 1875 | 1904 | ||||
- | 82 | Appenzell | 412 | - | 1900 | |||||
- | 83 | Uri | 413 | 2411 | 1904 | |||||
- | 84 | Unterwald | 414 | 2403 | 1910 | |||||
- | 85 | Glaris | 415 | - | 1901 | |||||
- | 86 | Schaffhouse | 416 | 2412 | 1911 | |||||
- | A3T (B 3/4) | - | 91-94 | - | 201-204 | 1421-1424 | SLM | 1887 | 1917 | |
IV | C3T (D 3/3) | 51-55 | 101-105 | taken over by Ouest Suisse in 1872 (see there) | Cail | 1858 | from 1901 | |||
56 | 106 | La Cote-aux-Fées | 506 | 3364 | PLM | 1864 by SO |
1913 | |||
57 | 107 | Buttes | 507 | 3370 | 1907 | |||||
58 | 108 | Chaumont | 508 | 3371 | 1910 | |||||
59 | 109 | La Reuse | 509 | 3372 | Creusot | 1865 by FS |
1911 | |||
60 | 110 | La Thielle | 510 | 3373 | 1914 | |||||
61 | 111 | La Concorde | 511 | 3374 | 1909 | |||||
62 | 112 | Broye | 512 | 3375 | Koechlin | 1865 | 1914 | |||
63 | 113 | Venoge | 513 | 3352 | 1924 | |||||
64 | 114 | Rhône | 514 | - | 1870 | 1897 | ||||
65 | 115 | Léman | 515 | 3376 | 1925 | |||||
66 | 116 | Versoix | 516 | 3377 | 1871 | 1906 | ||||
67 | 117 | Aar | 517 | 3378 | 1912 | |||||
68 | 118 | Avancon | 518 | 3353 | 1912 | |||||
69 | 119 | Gérine | 519 | 3390 | 1904 | |||||
- | 120 | Mont Cenis | 520 | 3379 | 1871 | 1911 | ||||
- | 121 | Culoz | 521 | 3365 | 1912 | |||||
- | 122 | Turin | 522 | 3380 | 1907 | |||||
- | 123 | Gênes | 523 | 3381 | 1910 | |||||
- | 124 | Florence | 524 | 3389 | 1909 | |||||
- | 125 | Milan | 525 | 3354 | 1910 | |||||
- | 126 | Suze | 526 | 3382 | 1872 | 1921 | ||||
- | 127 | Italy | 527 | 3355 | 1909 | |||||
- | 128 | Mulhouse | 528 | 3366 | 1915 | |||||
- | 129 | Strasbourg | 529 | 3383 | 1916 | |||||
- | 130 | Mannheim | 530 | - | 1901 | |||||
- | 131 | Cologne | 531 | 3391 | 1906 | |||||
- | 132 | Anvers | 532 | 3356 | 1908 | |||||
- | 133 | Rhin | 533 | 3357 | 1924 | |||||
- | 134 | Francfort | 534 | 3367 | 1903 | |||||
- | 135 | Verrières | 535 | 3384 | 1912 | |||||
- | 136 | Moudon | 536 | 3385 | SACM | 1874 | 1925 | |||
- | 137 | Payerne | 537 | 3386 | 1913 | |||||
- | 138 | Avenches | 538 | 3358 | 1910 | |||||
- | 139 | Estavayer | 539 | 3359 | 1912 | |||||
SO V | B3T (C 3/3) | - | 87-89 | taken over in 1876 by the Jougne – Eclépens railway (see there) | Koechlin | 1869 | 1898-1909 | |||
SO VI from 1881: I. |
A2T (B 2/3) | - | 41-46 | taken over in 1881 by the Compagnie du Simplon (see there) | Fives | 1858 | 1892-1896 | |||
SO VI from 1881: II |
A2T (B 2/3) | - | 27-29 | SACM | 1875 | 1903 | ||||
- | E3 (E 3/3) | - | 201-202 | procured from the Pont – Vallorbe railway for operation on their route (see there) | SACM | 1886 | 1948, 1924 |
The SO reacted to the serious shortage of rolling stock - especially during the Franco-German War - by renting mostly French locomotives.
literature
- Suisse-Occidentale , Suisse-Occidentale – Simplon and Jougne – Eclépens . In: bahndaten.ch. Data on the Swiss railways 1847–1920 . Thomas Frey and Hans-Ulrich Schiedt, ViaStoria, accessed on February 1, 2014.
- Alfred Moser: The steam operation of the Swiss railways 1847-1966 . Birkhäuser Verlag Basel and Stuttgart 1967
- Placid Weissenbach : The railway system in Switzerland. (PDF 14.8 MB) First part. History of the Railway System. 1913, p. 66 , accessed February 1, 2014 .
- Hans G. Wägli: Swiss rail network and Swiss rail profile CH + . AS Verlag, Zurich 2010, ISBN 978-3-909111-74-9 .
References and comments
- ↑ Western Switzerland and Simplon Railway
- ↑ Western Railway
- ^ Association of Western Switzerland Railways
- ^ The Fräschels – Lyss section of the longitudinal Broyelinie in the canton of Bern was created by the Jura-Bern-Luzern (JBL).
- ↑ Swiss Society for the Railway Industry
- ↑ Marcel Manhart: List of the most serious rail accidents in Switzerland up to May 2006 from SBB Historic. Retrieved August 2, 2014 .
- ↑ Derailment at Cheyres (Yverdon-Payerne line) as a result of rock detachments above the railway. (PDF 1.7 MB) Schweizerische Bauzeitung, Volume 11 (1888), Issue 11, pp. 69–70 , accessed on January 25, 2014 .
- ↑ until the takeover on June 26, 1881
- ↑ determined on the basis of the route kilometers
- ↑ a b Length of property according to official railway statistics in bahndaten.ch
- ^ The SBB numbered the locomotives they took over after the boiler overhauls were due.
- ↑ The machine came to the Tösstalbahn (TTB) as No. 7 in 1910 and, after its nationalization in 1918, returned to the SBB, where it was re-assigned with No. 6195.
- ↑ The machine came in 1909 as No. 1 to the Martigny-Orsières-Bahn (MO), in 1910 as No. 8 to the Tösstalbahn TTB and after its nationalization in 1918 back to the SBB, where it again carried the No. 6196.