The Swiss Central Railway (German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

: Schweizerische Centralbahn, SCB) was a Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 railway company from 1853 to 1902.

In 2005 the name Centralbahn (spelt as Zentralbahn

Zentralbahn

The Zentralbahn is a Swiss railway company that was created on January 1, 2005, with the merger of the Luzern–Stans–Engelberg-Bahn and the Brünigbahn...

) was revived for new railway company created by the merger of the Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn

Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn

The Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn is a narrow gauge rack railway in Switzerland with a track gauge of . It connects Lucerne via Stans with the resort of Engelberg....

 and the Brünigbahn

Brünigbahn

The Brünigbahn was, until 31 December 2004, the only narrow gauge railway of the Swiss Federal Railways . On 30 June 2004, the Swiss Federal Council empowered the SBB to sell the Brünigbahn to Luzern–Stans–Engelberg-Bahn , and this company was renamed to Zentralbahn.The Brünigbahn encompasses the...

. The name Centralbahn AG is also used by a Basel-based private rail company, which operates some passenger charter and freight operations.

History

The Schweizerische Centralbahn was established on 4 February 1853 by Johann Jakob Speiser, Achilles Bischoff and Karl Geigy in Basel

Basel

Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...

. The railway connected Basel via the Hauenstein line via Liestal to Olten

Olten railway station

Olten station is a major hub railway station in the canton of Solothurn, Switzerland, at the junction of lines to Zürich, Bern, Basel, Lucerne and Biel...

. In order to overcome the barrier of the Hauenstein

Hauenstein

Hauenstein is a municipality in the Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Palatinate forest, approximately 20 km east of Pirmasens, and 20 km west of Landau....

 range the SCB had to build the Hauenstein Tunnel between Läufelfingen

Läufelfingen

Läufelfingen is a municipality in the district of Sissach in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland.-History:Läufelfingen is first mentioned in 1226 as Leinvolvingen. In 1481 it was mentioned as Leiffeldingen.-Geography:...

 and Trimbach. It constructed its major junction at Olten, which is the location of "milestone 0", the point from which all Swiss rail distances are measured. From Olten the midland line connected to Bern and Thun

Thun

Thun is a municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland with about 42,136 inhabitants , as of 1 January 2006....

, the Olten–Brugg line connected with the Swiss Northeastern Railway

Swiss Northeastern Railway

The Swiss Northeastern Railway or NOB was an early railway company in Switzerland.In 1853 the Swiss Northern Railway merged with the Lake Constance and Rheinfall Railways under the name Swiss Northeastern Railway.The main instigator was Alfred Escher...

's (German: Schweizerische Nordostbahn, NOB) line to Zürich

Zürich

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

, the Jura foot line

Jura foot railway line

The Jura foot line or Jura south foot line , also called the Swiss railway line, runs from Olten along the foot of the southern Jura range through Solothurn, Grenchen, Biel/Bienne, Neuchâtel Yverdon-les-Bains and Morges to Geneva. It is one of two routes used by intercity trains between Geneva...

 connected to Biel and the Olten–Lucerne railway line connected to Lucerne

Lucerne railway station

Lucerne railway station is a major hub of the Swiss rail network. It is a terminal station serving domestic and international traffic on several rail lines...

.

The company linked the Swiss and French rail networks in 1860 and connected with the German network in 1873. Between 1871 to 1875, the SCB and the NOB jointly built the Bötzberg Railway from Pratteln

Pratteln

Pratteln is a municipality in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland, located in the district of Liestal.-Geography:Pratteln has an area, , of . Of this area, or 27.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 28.1% is forested...

 to Brugg

Brugg

Brugg or Brügg may refer to the following places:* In Switzerland:** Brugg, Aargau, in the Canton of Aargau*** FC Brugg, a Swiss football club, from the town of Brugg in Canton Aargau...

 and from 1873 to 1882 they extended their joint line to the Gotthard Railway as the Aargauische Südbahn from Rupperswil

Rupperswil

Rupperswil is a municipality in the district of Lenzburg in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.-History:A partially preserved Roman era tile kiln from the 2nd Century was discovered in 1911. There is also evidence of the emergence of a late-Alamanni village in the 8th Century. The modern village...

 and Brugg to Immensee. In 1902 the SCB's 333 kilometer network was integrated into the Swiss Federal Railways

SBB-CFF-FFS

Swiss Federal Railways and SFR are not in official use) is the national railway company of Switzerland headquartered in Bern. Formerly a government institution, it is since 1999 a special stock corporation with all shares held by the Swiss Confederation or the Swiss cantons...

.