page_title: Swiss Northeastern Railway
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Swiss Northeastern Railway / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Bahnhof Aarau mit einem bereit stehendem Zug der Schweizerischen Centralbahn (SCB) nach Olten, bespannt mit einer Engerth-Lokomotive der Serie A,
context_page_description: The Swiss Northeastern Railway was an early railway company in Switzerland. It also operated shipping on Lake Constance and Lake Zürich. Until the merger of the Western Swiss Railways into the Jura–Simplon Railway in 1890/91, it was the largest Swiss railway company.
context_section_description: The Swiss Northeast Railway was created on 1 July 1853 by the merger of the Swiss Northern Railway (Schweizerische Nordbahn—SNB— informally known as the Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn), and the Zürich-Lake Constance Railway (Zürich-Bodenseebahn). The originally planned continuation of the Northern Railway from Baden to Basel initially failed due to the different interests of the cantons of Zürich, Aargau and Basel.
  The main initiator of the merger was the Zürich-based businessman Alfred Escher, who previously headed the Zürich-Lake Constance Railway. He advocated the funding of the railways by private investors instead of public funds. He suggested the founding of Schweizerische Kreditanstalt to meet the large capital requirements of the railways.
  The NOB endeavored to establish connections with foreign countries to generate freight traffic. It first opened a direct connection from Zürich to Lake Constance. Thus it became a direct competitor of the United Swiss Railways (Vereinigte Schweizerbahnen; VSB) based in St. Gallen. the NOB opened the line from Romanshorn to Winterthur on 16 May 1855. The Zürich–Winterthur extension was opened in two stages from Winterthur to Oerlikon on 27 December 1855 and to Zürich on 26 June 1856; this gave a connection to the former Northern Railway between Zürich and Baden. The arrival of the railway caused the peaceful village of Romanshorn to grow into one of the most important transport hubs in eastern Switzerland. The NOB started a shipping service on Lake Constance in 1855. The train ferry service between Romanshorn and Friedrichshafen (Germany) was established in 1869. This led the NOB to expand the railway facilities and to construct the largest of the ports on Lake Constance (measured by area), which required the shore to be raised.
  The NOB started work on the Winterthur–Schaffhausen railway in 1856 and it was opened on 16 April 1857. The line of the former Northern Railway between Zürich and Baden was extended to the west. The section of the Baden–Aarau railway from Baden to Brugg with the bridge over the Reuss was opened on 29 September 1856. The rest of the line to Aarau was opened on 15 May 1858 where the network of NOB connected with the network of the Swiss Central Railway (Schweizerische Centralbahn; SCB) at Wöschnau on the Aargau-Solothurn canton border, meaning that Zürich was now connected with Basel.
  On 18 August 1859, the NOB was able to complete a direct connection with a foreign country with the opening of the Turgi–Waldshut line. This completed the main network of Northeastern Railway. The most important northern gateway to Switzerland was Basel, but it was controlled by the SCB. Freight transport was NOB's most important business segment, which initially enjoyed good returns.
  The NOB was involved with other railway companies. After the Schweizerische Ostwestbahn (Swiss East West Railway, OWB), which had been founded in 1861, had become bankrupt in an attempt to build a line from La Neuveville via Bern and Lucerne to Zürich, the NOB together with the cantons of Zürich, Zug and Lucerne, took over part of its line and completed it as the Zürich–Zug–Lucerne Railway (ZZL), which was finished on 1 June 1864.
  The NOB—like other railway companies at the time—aimed at short-term profit maximisation for private bankers. The bankers took offices in management and the board of directors to secure their profits. The rights of the other shareholders was undermined by the use of common stock. They gained exemption from tax and subsidies through political influence. Alfred Escher was not only Chairman of the NOB and Chairman of Kreditanstalt, but also a member of the Executive Council of Zürich and, for 34 years, the National Council. Maintenance was neglected and the assets of the railway company were run down. This had already created a crisis in 1857, which was intensified in 1867.
caption: Aarau station with a waiting train of the SCB to Olten
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