
Lake Constance Belt Railway (German:Bodenseegürtelbahn) is the name used for several contiguous railway lines, either around the entireUpper Lake ofLake Constance (Bodensee) or only along its northern shore.[1][2][3] It was coined around 1900, when the trinational railway ring around the lake (Konstanz–Radolfzell–Friedrichshafen–Lindau–Bregenz–Rorschach–Romanshorn–Konstanz) was completed, but today the term is only used for the line from Radolfzell to Lindau in southern Germany.
In its original meaning, the belt railway consists of the following sections in southern Germany, northwestern Austria and northeastern Switzerland:
The lines mostly run parallel to the lake shore. Only the Konstanz–Ludwigshafen (Bodensee),Uhldingen-Mühlhofen–Friedrichshafen-Fischbach andBregenz–Staad sections run through thehinterland.
The lines are operated byS-Bahn services ofBodensee S-Bahn,[4] which includes lines ofVorarlberg S-Bahn (ÖBB) andSt. Gallen S-Bahn (SOB,Thurbo) and severalregional train (RB) services (e.g.DB Regio,SWEG) in southern Germany.