Talk:Rail transport in Switzerland

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It seems that the CIA world factbook data can't be trusted too much. The railroad lengths for Switzerland anyway were utterly wrong (and they were already wrong at the time of the factbook's last update). Now using official Swiss data. Gestumblindi 01:29, 21 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Even the official data is suspect in claiming that all the narrow gauge is electrified. The Brienz-Rothorn-Bahn (800 mm gauge and 7596 m long) and the Dampfbahn Furka-Bergstrecke "18100 m (actually 7400 m)" (I think that means total route 18 km of which 7.4 currently open) are both steam hauled. -- RHaworth 07:35, 2005 Apr 5 (UTC)

Indeed; however, these two are the only wholly non-electrified narrow gauge lines in Switzerland I know of. Together approx. 15 km (which are currently open, otherwise 25,6 km); there may be an additional handful of kilometres of non-electrified sidings for various lines, surely not a lot, so I think that it is realistic to assume approx. 30 km of non-electrified narrow gauge railway. Thus it seems ok to me what the article currently states, 1'383 km (1'353 km electrified). Gestumblindi 23:09, 10 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

There is one significant non-electrified standard gauge passenger line. The DB owned Rhine valley line from Basel Badischer Bahnhof to Schaffhausen is not electrified. This line follows the north bank of the Rhine, and is mostly in Germany. But, the two ends are in Switzerland, approx 2 Km at the Basel end and approx 15 Km at the Schaffhausen end. This article quotes 3,652 Km standard Gauge, 3,641 Km electrified. 3652 - 3641 = 11. I think this line has been omitted from the figures, possibly because it is not Swiss-owned. TiffaF 16:18, 17 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The Rhine Valley line from Schaffhausen to Erzingen(Baden) is being electrified reducing the amount of non-electrified passenger lines in Switzerland. This leaves only the west end of this line from Basel Bädische Bahnhof east to the border. There is also one freight only SBB standard-gauge line in Switzerland, not electrified, the line from Solothurn to Büren an der Aare. Beyond Büren an der Aare the line is electrified for Bern S-Bahn service. The line is approx. 15km long. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.4.114.53 (talk) 05:47, 30 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

There are several misunderstandings by the previous posters: First of all, it is not called Rhine Valley line, but Hochrheinbahn (Upper Rhine Railway). Besides, this part of the Rhine is hardly considered as a valley. And secondly, this line is obviously not in Switzerland, and not owned by a Swiss company. So it is obviously a German line and therefore irrelevant for this article. -- ZH8000 (talk) 08:57, 1 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I have tweaked a couple of lines: The article used to read 'The Oberalp is the highest railway pass in the Alps at 2033 metres'. I have changed this to 'The Oberalppass is the highest point on this line at 2033 metres'. I have added a sentence to the Rhaetian Bahn paragraph 'The Bernina Pass is the highest point on this line, at 2253m' as indicated by the article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernina_Express. However the Bernina Pass article gives the pass height as 2328 - I think this is the summit height for the road, but the railway takes a lower route through the pass. Trimike (talk) 10:02, 24 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

What does this mean? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pauldanon (talk • contribs) 23:45, 23 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The Bernina railway is the highest railway in the Alps connecting the two sides of the Alps. There are higher railways but they climb only from one side of the mountain, and don't go down on the other side.

Switzerland
The Bernina Express near Bernina Pass
Operation
National railway	Swiss Federal Railways
Major operators	Swiss Federal Railways Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon railway Deutsche Bahn Rhaetian Railway Furka–Oberalp-Bahn BVZ Zermatt-Bahn
System length
Total	5,063 km (3,146 mi) (all gauges) 3,652 km (2,269 mi) (standard gauge)
Electrified	3,641 km (2,262 mi) (standard gauge)
Track gauge
Main	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge	1,383 km (859 mi) (total) 1,353 km (841 mi) (electrified)
800 mm (2 ft 7+1⁄2 in)	55.2 kilometres (34.3 mi)
750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in)	13 km (8 mi)
Electrification
Main	15 kV 16.7 Hz
1,353 km (841 mi)
Features
Highest elevation	3,545 metres (11,631 ft)
at	Jungfraujoch railway station
Lowest elevation	242 metres (794 ft)
at	Giubiasco
Map

Over at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Trains/By country series task force there has been some discussion about which of two infobox templates to use in these Rail transport in Country type articles. This article on Swiss rail transport currently uses an odd infobox and we would like to switch this article to instead use the infobox as displayed on the right here. Would anyone care to comment or edit this infobox proposal before it is put into the article to replace the infobox it is currently using? Thank you. 69.126.127.193 (talk) 01:02, 14 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Sum of 80 cm gauge line lengths:

I have posted the new infobox into the article. 69.126.127.193 (talk) 17:11, 14 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

new Ry system map added. --Pechristener (talk) 11:54, 14 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

In the subsidies section, there are percentages referred to - what are these percentages of? Is this the percentage of the total government transport funding or percentage of the costs that are met by the government? Absolutelypuremilk (talk) 14:43, 22 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

See updated paragraph Costs.-- ZH8000 (talk) 17:34, 22 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, what do you mean by common weal? I'm not sure that is has been translated correctly. Absolutelypuremilk (talk) 18:19, 22 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

It should be the translation of Gemeinwohl, something like: "contributions provided by all and/or to everybody's advantage". E.g. contributions paid by (mandatory) insurances everybody has to contribute by their premiums. If there are contributions by the state, but are not explicit subsidies to the transport business, such as state-financed pension funds for early retired people because of e.g. rail accidents, then it is probably also considered part of the Gemeinwohl. More understable now? -- ZH8000 (talk) 14:11, 23 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your reply, I understand what you mean but I am not sure we have an equivalent English phrase to describe it - I will have a think and get back to you. Absolutelypuremilk (talk) 16:59, 23 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The lowest point on a Swiss Railway is Tennero Halt on the SBB's line to Locarno, Ticino at 203 meters Above Sea Level. Locarno Station is only slightly higher at 204 meters asl. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.4.114.53 (talk) 05:10, 30 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I think it might be worth nothing, that compared to many other European countries, Switzerland uses left side of double rails of standard-gauge lines for train traffic. Not right, like most other countries. Edit: Found https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-track_railway , apparently, France and Italy also use left side. And as expected UK.