page_title: Chur–Rorschach railway
section_title: Route description
hierarchical_section_title: Chur–Rorschach railway / Route description
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: SBB Stadler KISS 511 022 in St. Margrethen auf dem Weg nach Wil
context_page_description: The Chur–Rorschach railway, also called the Rheintallinie, is a standard gauge railway line in Switzerland. It belongs to the Swiss Federal Railways and is located in the cantons of St. Gallen and the Grisons.
context_section_description: The Chur–Rorschach line is an important rail link in the canton of St. Gallen. It runs through the Chur and St. Gallen sections of the Rhine valleys from Chur to Rheineck and on to Rorschach.
  The Rhine valley line begins in Chur railway station, where the standard gauge line connects with the dual gauge Domat/Ems–Chur line of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB). The route initially runs parallel to the Chur–Landquart line of the RhB north to Haldenstein, from where the two lines run to Zizers between the Rhine and the A13 motorway. From Zizers, the SBB line runs directly to Landquart, where it again meets the RhB line to Davos, which has detoured via Igis. Between Maienfeld and Bad Ragaz, the Rhine valley line crosses the A13 and the Rhine, which at this point forms the canton border between the Grisons and St. Gallen. The section to Maienfeld is the only standard gauge line in the Grisons. From Bad Ragaz the trains run parallel to the A13 to Sargans station, where the line splits to Zürich and St. Gallen.
  Sargans, the starting point for the measurement of the line-kilometrage (chainage), follows a junction with the Sargans loop (Sargans Schleife), which allows trains coming from Ziegelbrücke to proceed to Trübbach next to the A13, avoiding the need to reverse in Sargans. A short double track section between Trübbach and Neugrüt allows train crossings, otherwise the line to St. Margrethen is single-track. It no longer runs along the A13 and the Rhine, but has its own route between the motorway and the valley slope. In Buchs, the Rhine valley line meets the line from Feldkirch of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB). Trains coming from Sargans and continuing over the Arlberg Railway have to reverse in Buchs, which in the case of freight trains, requires a locomotive change.
  From Buchs to Oberriet the Rhine valley line more or less follows the Werdenberger and Rheintaler canals and main road 13 as far as Altstätten. The Altstätten–Gais railway of the Appenzell Railways (AB) has ended in Altstätten Stadt since 1975. Since then the connection between the two Altstätt stations has been provided by a short bus line operated by the Rheintalische Verkehrsbetriebe (Rhine Valley Transport Company). The Rhine Valley line runs directly to Au and meets and runs along the inland canal and the St. Margrethen motorway, where it connects with the Bregenz line of the ÖBB. As the SBB and ÖBB have the same electrical system, there is often no change in traction for international trains in St. Margrethen. The EuroCity services running from Zürich via St. Gallen to Munich are hauled to Lindau by class Re 421 locomotives registered in Germany and Austria. DB Cargo operates its freight trains on the Kornwestheim–Rorschach–Wolfurt route with its own Swiss-made TRAXX (class 185) locomotives.
  From St. Margrethen to Rheineck, the now double-track line follows the A1 and the Alter Rhein (old Rhine). In Rheineck, the Rheineck–Walzenhausen mountain railway of the AB connects to the Vorderland mountain resort. The Rhine valley line runs to Staad and along the shore of Lake Constance to Rorschach, where SBB services continue on the line to St. Gallen or the line to Romanshorn and AB services run  on the line to Heiden.
caption: Stadler KISS (class RABe 511) running as the Rheintal-Express Chur–Wil at a stop in St. Margrethen.
exif: {"Image Make": "EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY", "Image Model": "KODAK DX6490 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "230", "Image YResolution": "230", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "506", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2708", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5257", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:04:14 15:17:01", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:04:14 15:17:01", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "9", "EXIF ApertureValue": "3", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2304", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1728", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2404", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "80", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}