Jura–Simplon Railways

The Jura–Simplon Railways (JS), (French: Compagnie des Chemins de Fer Jura–Simplon) was a railway company that was formed in 1890. It was nationalised in 1903 as the largest railway company in Switzerland and integrated into the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB).

Jura–Simplon Railways
History
Opened	merger 1890
Closed	to SBB 1903
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route map Delle (France) border Basel Central station Combe Maran (237 m) Delémont La Chaux-de-Fonds Moutier Crosettes (1618 m) Sonceboz Biel/Bienne Lyss Zollikofen Neuchâtel Bern Auvernier Gümligen   Törishaus Les Verrières Fluhmühle border Lucerne Pontarlier (France) line of the PLM  Meiringen Jougne (France)  Brienz Yverdon Payerne   Fribourg/Freiburg border Romont Vallorbe Viaduct of Le Day (152 m) Oron Daillens (near Éclépens) Palézieux Renens VD Lausanne Morges Bouveret Nyon St-Gingolph   Saint-Maurice Geneva border   Sion Brig Simplon Tunnel (under construction from 1898) Iselle Without intermediate stations and without connecting tracks.

History

Eb 2/4 No. 13 at a water crane. The wagon in the background still bears the inscription: S.O.S. (Suisse-Occidentale-Simplon)

Bond of the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer Jura-Simplon, issued 17 October 1894

The Jura–Simplon Railways was a railway company, which was formed from the 1890 merger of the two most important western Swiss railway companies, the Jura–Bern–Lucerne Railway (JBL), including the Gümligen–Lucerne line belonging to the canton of Bern, and the Western Swiss Railways (Chemins de fer de la Suisse Occidentale; SOS). The Federal Government also participated in the merger by means of a voluntary share purchase. The Pont–Vallorbe Railway (Chemin de fer Pont–Vallorbe), operated by the SOS, was purchased on 1 January 1891.

The share capital of the new company was formed of Swiss francs (CHF) 52 million of preferred stock and CHF 34 million of common stock. The preferred shares comprised 38 million existing JBL shares and 14 million SOS shares. The nominal value of an SOS ordinary share was reduced from CHF 500 to 200 and the amount of CHF 52.4 million exempted from the stock reconstruction was applied to depreciation. The Swiss government was given the right to repurchase the JS.

Construction of the Simplon Tunnel

North portal of the Simplon tunnel near Brig during construction

The Simplon Express hauled by locomotive B 3/4 at Geneva-Cornavin station, which was inaugurated after the opening of the tunnel

Although the Jura-Simplon Railway was a railway company for only 13 years, it helped break the impasse over the building of the Simplon Tunnel from Brig to Iselle in Italy after decades of effort by Bern and Romandy. Studies prepared to support the construction of the tunnel had already been submitted by the SOS to the federal and cantonal authorities. In 1891, JS, as a new entrepreneurial railway company, presented the Federal Council with a definitive project for the Simplon Tunnel.

On 25 November 1895, a treaty was signed with Italy for the construction of what would be the longest tunnel in the world. The construction costs for the single-track tunnel were estimated at CHF 58,820,000. The treaty obliged Switzerland to provide funding of CHF 15 million and Italy to provide funding of CHF 4 million. Italy was represented by four directors on the JS board. Construction began on the 19,803-metre-long tunnel in 1898. The tunnel was the longest railway tunnel in the world until the opening of the Seikan Tunnel in 1988.

Operations

The JS was able to pay a dividend every year.

The Jura–Simplon Railways operated several other railway lines:

• Jougne–Vallorbe–Pontarlier line and Verrières–Pontarlier line of the French Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM)
• Bière–Apples–Morges railway (BAM)
• Bödelibahn (BB; from 1895)
• Bulle–Romont railway (BR)
• Cossonay–Gare–Ville funicular (CG)
• Fribourg–Ins railway (Chemin de fer Friborg-Morat-Anet, FMA)
• Neuchâtel–Le Locle-Col-des-Roches railway (Jura neuchâtelois; JN)
• Pont–Brassus Railway (PBr)
• Pont–Vallorbe Railway (PV)
• Travers–Buttes railway (Régional du Val-de-Travers; RVT)
• Spiez-Erlenbach Railway (SEB)
• Lake Thun Railway (Thunerseebahn; TSB)
• Visp-Zermatt Railway (VZ)
• Yverdon–Ste-Croix railway (YSteC)

The Münchenstein disaster cost the lives of 73 passengers.

On 14 June 1891, the Jura–Simplon Railways suffered the Münchenstein rail disaster, the worst railway accident in Swiss history. The railway bridge over the Birs, which was built by Gustave Eiffel, collapsed below the village of Münchenstein under a train from Basel. Three carriages and the two locomotives crashed into the flooded Birs. 78 people were killed and 131 were injured. A soldier died of injuries sustained during the cleanup. The accident led to a stricter supervision of the railways. The railway bridges were systematically examined and the first building standards were created.

In the Zollikofen train crash on 17 August 1891 in Zollikofen, a Bern–Paris express ran into an "extra" (not listed in the timetable) train waiting at a red home signal. The impact killed 14 passengers and injured 122 on the extra train. The accident was caused by mistakes at various operating points. The express has been released to run through an occupied section. A deactivated air brake also reduced the braking effect.

Despite investing in the construction of the Simplon tunnel, JS was able to pay a dividend every year.

• 
  Train hauled by a B 3/4 on the shores of Lake Geneva with the Savoy Alps in the background.
• 
  Two officers of the JS in the office of Kaiserstuhl station.
• 
  "Water train" in Bussigny station
• 
  Train of Brünig Railway on the rack section above Lungern.

Posters

Thee Jura-Simplon Railway advertised with a series of posters. Some of them were designed by Hugo d’Alési.

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Nationalisation

During the construction of the Simplon tunnel, the national referendum of 20 February 1898 agreed to the nationalisation the Jura-Simplon railway and the other four main railways. The Jura-Simplon Railway was taken over by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) on 1 May 1903 and it completed the Simplon Tunnel in 1906.

Graphic summary

Overview of the history of the Jura–Simplon Railways (T: takeover):

→ Predecessor railways of the SOS

→ Predecessor railways of the JB

Western Switzerland- Simplon (SOS) T: 1.1.1890

Jura-Bern-Lucerne (JBL) inc. Gümligen–Lucerne T: 1.1.1890

Pont–Vallorbe (PV) T: 1.1.1891

Swiss Central Railway (SCB) T: 1.1.1902

Swiss Northeastern Railway (NOB) T: 1.1.1902

United Swiss Railways (VSB) T: 1.7.1902

Jura–Simplon Railways (JS) T: 1.5.1903

Gotthard Railway (GB) T: 1.5.1909

Swiss Federal Railways (SBB)

Infrastructure and vehicles

Stations

• 
  Brünig station around 1900
• 
  Bussigny station around 1905, with B 3/4 of the former JS
• 
  Delémont station around 1897
• 
  Lausanne station around 1898
• 
  Neuchâtel station around 1897
• 
  Sarnen station of the Brünig Railway around 1910
• 
  Vevey station before its extension shortly after 1900

The stations of Basel, Bern and Lucerne of the Central Railway (SCB) and Geneva of the Paris-Lyon-Mediterranean (PLM) were shared by the Jura-Simplon Railway.

Network

Network of the Jura-Simplon Railway

The route network of 937 km ran from Basel, Geneva and the Jura border crossings of Delle, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Les Verrières and Vallorbe to Brig and Lucerne. In addition, the narrow-gauge Brünig Railway from Lucerne to Brienz was part of the 937 km-long route network. It consisted of the combined lines of its predecessor railways:

• the lines of the Jura-Bern-Lucerne
• the lines of the Western Swiss Railways
• the Pont–Vallorbe Railway

Duplication

An express train hauled by a two-cylinder compound locomotive of class A 2/4 on the double track at Auvernier.

A 2/4 No. 110 in front of the Lausanne depot.

The Jura-Simplon Railway continued the track duplication of its predecessors. When SBB took over JS in 1903, 131.20 km (14%) of the network was duplicated.

Railway line	Section	Double track opened on
Lausanne–Biel	Lausanne–Renens VD	5 May 1856 by Western Swiss
	Renens VD–Bussigny	1897
	Bussigny–Cossonay	21 August 1895
	Cossonay–Daillens	1 June 1896
	Auvernier–Neuchâtel	1 June 1898
Lausanne–Geneva		1868–1879 by Western Swiss, Western Swiss-Simplon and LFB
Lausanne–Bern	Lausanne–La Conversion	1 May 1902
	Chexbres–Palézieux
Lausanne–Brig	Lausanne–Lutry	1 June 1900
	Lutry–Cully	1 June 1899
	Cully–Rivaz	1 October 1892
	Rivaz–Montreux	1 June 1892
	Montreux–Villeneuve	10 October 1891
	Granges-Lens–Sierre	24 June 1901
Bern–Biel	Lyss–Busswil	1877 by Bern-Lucerne-Bahn

Rolling stock

The Jura-Simplon Railway named their rolling stock according to the then nationwide classification system.

The JS operated the following locomotives. The class name that was valid from 1902 is listed in brackets.

Class	JS no.	SBB No. from 1903	Manufacturer	Build year	Scrapped	image
A2 (Ec 2/4)	1–12	–	Taken over in 1890 from the Bern-Lucerne Railway (BLB; see there)		1888–1896
A2 (Eb 2/4)	13–16	5441–5442	Taken over in 1890 from the Bernese Jura Railway (JBL; see there)		1900–1917
	17–32	5451–5476			1900–1947
	33–42		Esslingen, SLM Winterthur	1880–1892
A2T (B 2/3)	51–63	–	Taken over in 1890 from the Western Switzerland–Simplon Company (SOS; see there)		1890–1902
A2T (B 2/3)	63–67	–			1892–1896
A2T (B 2/3)	69–73	–			1890–1892
A2T (B 2/3)	74–79	1074–1079			1904–1907
A2T (B 2/3)	80–82	1080–1082			1903
A2T (A 2/4)	101–130	101–130	SLM Winterthur	1892–1896	1917–1926
A3T (B 3/4)	201–204	1421–1424	Taken over in 1890 from the SOS (see there)		1917
	205–212	1561–1568	Taken over in 1890 from the JBL (see there)		1924–1932
	213–222	1569–1578	SLM Winterthur	1891	1912–1932
A 3/5	231–232	701–702	SLM Winterthur	1902	1926–1964
	(Nachbau SBB)	703–811		1904–1909
B2 (Ec 2/4)	251–262	6195–6199	Taken over in 1890 from the Lausanne–Fribourg–Bern Railway (see there)		1895–1905
B2 (Ec 2/3)	263–267	6398, 6399	Taken over in 1890 from the SOS (see there)		1909–1923
A3T (B 3/4)	301–375	1601–1675	SLM Winterthur	1896–1902	1923–1945
	(Nachbau SBB)	1676–1747		1903–1907
B3T (C 3/3)	401–416	2401–2403, 2406–2412, 2413	Taken over in 1890 from the SOS (see there)		1900–1911
	417–419	2404, 2413			1898–1909
	421–424	–	Taken over in 1890 from the BLB (see there)		1898–1902
	425–431	2405, 2415–2416	Taken over in 1890 from the JBL (see there)		1900–1911
C3 (Ed 3/3)	451–457	7291–7297	Taken over in 1890 from the BLB (see there)		1906–1916
C3T (D 3/3)	501–505	3351, 3368–3369, 3699	Taken over in 1890 from the SOS (see there)		1901–1913
	506–508	3364, 3370–3371			1907–1913
	509–511	3372–3374			1909–1914
	512–519	3352–3353, 3375–3378, 3390			1897–1925
	520–539	3354–3359, 3363–3367, 3379–3386, 3389, 3391			1901–1925
	540	3387	JS (Yverdon workshop)	1892	1924
	541–546	3360–3361, 3392–3393, 3399	Taken over in 1890 from the JBL (see there)		1904–1913
	547–555	3362–3363, 3388, 3394–3398			1902–1917
	561–565	3421–3425	SLM Winterthur	1890	1916
B3 (Ec 3/4)	601–612	6501–6512	SLM Winterthur	1901	1934–1955
	(Nachbau SBB)	6513–6529		1904–1910	1933–1961
E3 (E 3/3)	751–752	–	Taken over in 1891 from the Pont–Vallorbe Railway (see there)		1924–1948
F2 (E 2/3)	801	–	Taken over in 1890 from the SOS (see there)		1891
F3 (E 3/3)	851–852	8571–8572	Taken over in 1890 from the JBL (see there)		1911–1913
	853–856	8574–8576	SLM Winterthur	1890	1911–1916
	857–866	8431–8440		1901	1947
Locomotives of the narrow gauge Brünig Railway:
G2 (G 3/3)	901–906	101–110	Taken over in 1890 from the JBL (see there)		1911–1916
	907–910		SLM Winterthur	1887–1901	1915–1942
HG2 (HG 2/2)	951–958	1001–1008	Taken over in 1890 from the JBL (see there)		1908–1911
	959–963	1009–1013	SLM Winterthur	1894–1901	1911–1912

References

Sources

• Bärtschi, Hans-Peter (30 November 2011). Jura-Simplon-Bahn (JS) (in German). Retrieved 22 July 2019.
• Frey, Thomas; Schiedt, Hans-Ulrich. "Jura–Simplon". bahndaten.ch. Daten zu den Schweizer Eisenbahnen 1847–1920 (in German). ViaStoria. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
• Moser, Alfred (1967). Der Dampfbetrieb der Schweizerischen Eisenbahnen 1847–1966 (in German). Basel and Stuttgart: Birkhäuser Verlag.
• Wägli, Hans G. (2010). Schienennetz Schweiz und Bahnprofil Schweiz CH+ (in German). Zürich: AS Verlag. ISBN 978-3-909111-74-9.
• Weissenbach, Plazid (1913). Das Eisenbahnwesen der Schweiz (PDF 14.8 MB) (in German). p. 66. Retrieved 22 July 2019.