page_title: Bodensee–Toggenburg railway
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Bodensee–Toggenburg railway / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Aktie über 500 Franken der Bodensee-Toggenburgbahn-Gesellschaft vom 2. April 1907
context_page_description: The Bodensee–Toggenburg railway is a mainly single-track standard-gauge line connecting Romanshorn on Lake Constance and the Toggenburg region in Eastern Switzerland. It was built by the Bodensee-Toggenburg-Bahn, a former railway company, which existed from 1910 until its merger with the "old" Südostbahn to form the "new" Südostbahn on 1 January 2001. Today, the line together with the Wattwil–Ebnat-Kappel section forms the eastern network of the Südostbahn.
  The BT consisted of the standard gauge adhesion railway from Romanshorn to St. Gallen St. Fiden opened on 3 October 1910 and the standard gauge adhesion line from St. Gallen to Wattwil, as well as the line from Ebnat-Kappel to Nesslau-Neu St. Johann opened on 1 October 1912.
  The connecting sections of line from St. Gallen St. Fiden to St. Gallen HB and from Wattwil to Ebnat-Kappel were controlled by the Swiss Federal Railways, as it leased the Wattwil–Ebnat-Kappel section from the BT.
context_section_description: The first railway lines in Eastern Switzerland followed the river valleys and thus resulted in some large detours to the east for travel to the canton capital of St. Gallen. After the construction of the St. Gallen Winkeln–Herisau railway by the Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Localbahnen, (later called the Appenzeller Bahn—Appenzell Railway; AB—and now part of the Appenzell Railways) had shown that it was possible to build railways at relatively low costs in the hilly terrain of the Alpine foothills, a large number of projects emerged in the Alpine foothills between Lake Constance and Lake Zürich. Some of the projects provided for lines connecting with the Appenzell Railway, other projects were developed independently of the AB. A narrow-gauge line through the Ricken and Wasserfluh passes would have meant a winding, slow connection. A standard gauge railway was therefore required for the important intra-cantonal connection between Rapperswil and St. Gallen. In particular, the ennet dem Ricken ("beyond the Ricken" in Swiss German) group built political pressure in favour of the project.
  As a result, the St. Gallen Grand Council agreed on 17 May 1887 to a request for a government loan of Swiss francs (CHF) 7000  for preparatory work for a rail link from the Linth area via the Toggenburg to St. Gallen. The first expert opinion recommended a gap between Ebnat and Uznach, but this would still have required a detour via Wil to reach St. Gallen. An initiative committee (Initiativkomitee) for a St. Gallen–Herisau–Degersheim–Neckertal–Wattwil–Rapperwil railway link was formed in Degersheim in 1889. The leader was the Degersheim embroidery manufacturer Isidor Grauer-Frey, who also campaigned for an extension of the line beyond Rapperswil to Zug in order to make a connection to the Gotthard Railway. The maximum grade of 5.0% planned for the Zürichsee–Gotthardbahn—the later Schweizerische Südostbahn (SOB)—seemed to him unsuitable for main-line traffic. In 1889, the Grand Council granted the initiative committee a contribution of CHF 5,000 to submit an application for a concession for a St. Gallen–Zug railway. This concession was granted by the Federal Assembly on 27 June 1890.
  There were still 15 years of disputes over the route ahead, with Grauer-Frey always vehemently opposed to local requests to use the line to promote local development. He was not able to determine all aspects of the route, but it was still possible to plan a relatively direct St. Gallen–Rapperswil route that met the standards of a main line. In addition, it proved possible to meet the goal of not exceeding a maximum grade of 1.8% as it was decided that climbing the Ricken pass would be avoided by building a base tunnel under the Ricken instead.
  The project approved difficult to finance. After lengthy negotiations, the federation agreed—after it had been decided to buy and nationalise the large private railways in 1898—that the federal railway company would build the Ricken Railway if the canton of St. Gallen acquired the Wil–Ebnat-Kappel railway (Toggenburgerbahn) and handed it over to the new company. Contracts were concluded in 1901 with the soon to be nationalised United Swiss Railways (Vereinigte Schweizerbahnen; VSB). The Federal Assembly approved this deal on 19 December 1901 and transferred the Wattwil–Rapperswil line to the VSB on 20 December 1901.
  Grauer-Frey's vision of a continuation of the line from Rapperswil to Zug remained unfulfilled and the concession expired after the Federal Assembly rejected a further extension of time on 22 December 1906. Nearly 90 years later, this dream re-emerged for a short time with a proposal for a "Hirzel Tunnel" under the New Railway Link through the Alps project. In contrast, the St. Gallen–Romanshorn and the Ebnat–Nesslau Neu St. Johann projects, which were promoted by other initiators, were combined with the St. Gallen–Wattwil line into a single concession (Federal Decrees of 19 December 1902 and 11 April 1907).
caption: Share of the Bodensee-Toggenburgbahn Company valued at 500 franks issued on 2 April 1907
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