Furka mountain route association

Furka Mountain Route Association

The Furka Mountain Route Association (VFB) is a Swiss museum railway association that is committed to maintaining the Realp - Furka - Oberwald VS railway line, which was closed in 1982 .

history

After the railway ceased operations on the mountain route during the winter break in 1981 and the completed Furka base tunnel was put into operation in 1982 , the route was to be dismantled. Numerous railway enthusiasts protested against the dismantling and founded the Furka mountain route association in 1983 after an action in the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne.

In 1985 the supporting company Dampfbahn Furka-Bergstrecke AG was founded , which operates the line and the vehicles. In January 2007 it had a share capital of approximately 11 million Swiss francs.

The company gradually rehabilitated the route, starting in Realp . Steam trains have been running between Realp and Gletsch again since 2000 . Since August 2010, the entire original mountain route from Realp to Oberwald VS can be used again, at least in the summer months.

Today, the association sees its task in raising funds through donation campaigns in order to have a fixed operating subsidy available. Furthermore, he wants to organize voluntary workers, also called Fronis, telephone workers , who maintain, operate and expand the route and the vehicles.

Since 2002, the association has been organized as an umbrella organization with a total of 23 independent sections in Switzerland (12), Germany (9), the Netherlands (1) and Belgium (1) and is a member of the Swiss Association of Railway Amateurs (SVEA) . The sections with a total of over 7600 members present the Furka mountain route at trade fairs, exhibitions and other events. In addition, the sections are actively involved in the reconstruction of locomotives, wagons and work equipment in specialist groups and also provide a large number of volunteers for the construction work on the line.

The management is carried out by a central board, which serves as the contact person for all association matters.

Sections

Switzerland	Germany	other
Aargau Bern Edelweiss (supraregional section) Gotthard Grisons Central Switzerland Northwestern Switzerland Eastern Switzerland Romande Solothurn Valais Zurich	Berlin-Brandenburg Munich Northern Germany North Rhine-Westphalia Nuremberg Rhine-Main Rhine-Neckar Swabia Stuttgart	Netherlands Belgium

Web links

• Furka Mountain Route Association (VFB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Eisenbahn Amateur (magazine) February 2019, page 94, club announcements, Furka mountain route association.