The Zentralbahn is a Swiss railway company that was created on January 1, 2005, with the merger of the Luzern–Stans–Engelberg-Bahn (LSE) 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 company is located in Stansstad

Stansstad

Stansstad is a village in the canton of Nidwalden in Switzerland.-Geography:Stansstad has an area, , of . Of this area, 33.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 49.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 14.9% is settled and the remainder is non-productive .-Demographics:Stansstad has a...

.

On 30 June 2004, the Swiss Federal Council

Swiss Federal Council

The Federal Council is the seven-member executive council which constitutes the federal government of Switzerland and serves as the Swiss collective head of state....

 empowered the SBB-CFF-FFS

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...

 to sell 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...

 to the LSE as per 1st of January 2005, and subsequently the LSE was renamed Zentralbahn.

At the end of 2009 ZB took over the (standard gauge

Standard gauge

The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...

) infrastructure from Kriens-Luzern-Bahn, making ZB a dual gauge

Dual gauge

A dual-gauge or mixed-gauge railway has railway track that allows trains of different gauges to use the same track. Generally, a dual-gauge railway consists of three rails, rather than the standard two rails. The two outer rails give the wider gauge, while one of the outer rails and the inner rail...

 operation between Luzern and Horw.

A 4043 m (13,264 ft) tunnel

Grafenort – Engelberg Tunnel

The Grafenort – Engelberg Tunnel is a railway tunnel built on the Luzern–Stans–Engelberg-Bahn, part of the Zentralbahn in Switzerland.Historically, the Luzern–Stans–Engelberg-Bahn had a very steep 25% incline between Grafenort and Engelberg; replacing this with a more direct tunnel has shortened...

was constructed on Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn; it opened in December 2010.