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 Head office inBern | |
Native name | Schweizerische Bundesbahnen SBB (German)[1] Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses CFF (French)[1] Ferrovie federali svizzere FFS (Italian)[1] Viafiers federalas svizras VFF (Romansh)[2][3][4][a] |
|---|---|
| Company type | state-ownedAG/SA regulated by public law |
| Industry | Rail transport |
| Founded | 1 January 1902; 123 years ago (1902-01-01) |
| Headquarters | , Switzerland |
Key people | Vincent Ducrot,CEO Monika Ribar,chairperson of theboard of directors[5] |
| Revenue |  CHF 11.406billion (2024)[6] |
| CHF 275million (2024)[6] | |
| Total assets | CHF 56.412billion (2024)[6] |
| Total equity |  CHF 11.012billion (2024)[6] |
Number of employees | 35,569 (2024,FTE)[6] |
| Divisions | Passenger,SBB Cargo, Infrastructure, Real Estate |
| Website | sbb |
 SBB network (for the whole Swiss railway network see:Rail transport in Switzerland) | |
 InterCity train on the oldGotthard Line | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1 January 1902–present |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge |
| Electrification | 99% 15, 1% 25 kV, 16.7, 50 HzOverhead line |
| Length | 3,230 km (2,007.0 mi) |
Swiss Federal Railways (German:Schweizerische Bundesbahnen,SBB;[b] French:Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses,CFF;[c] Italian:Ferrovie federali svizzere,FFS[d])[1] is the national railway company ofSwitzerland.
The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered inBern.[7] It used to be agovernment institution, but since 1999 it has been a specialstock corporation whose shares are held by the Swiss Confederation and theSwiss cantons. It is the largest rail and transport company of Switzerland; it operates on moststandard gauge lines of theSwiss railway network. It also heavily collaborates with most other transport companies of the country, such as theBLS, one of its main competitors, orSüdostbahn (SOB), to provide fully integratedtimetables withcyclic schedules.
SBB was ranked first among nationalEuropean rail systems in the 2017 European Railway Performance Index for its intensity of use, quality of service, and safety rating.[8] While many rail operators in continental Europe have emphasised the building ofhigh-speed rail, SBB has invested in the reliability and quality of service of its conventional rail network, on both national and regional scales. In addition topassenger rail, SBB operatescargo and freight rail service through its subsidiarySBB Cargo, and has largereal estate holdings in Switzerland.
The company is commonly referred to by the initials of its three official names, in German, French and Italian – defined by federal law SR/RS 742.31 (SBBG/LCFF/LFFS) Art. 2 §1[1] – either asSBB CFF FFS, or used separately. The official English abbreviation is SBB.[e][3][2][4][9]
While the officialRomansh name,Viafiers federalas svizras (VFF), can be found in federal laws and associated documents,[3][4][2][10] as well as Romansh-language media,[11] it is not used by the company itself.
Swiss Federal Railways is divided into three divisions and eight groups.[12] The divisions manage the relevant operational businesses. These divisions are:
The former divisionCargo became an independent group company at the beginning of 2019.
SBB's eight groups manage the company and support the operational business of the divisions with service and support functions. These groups are:
The corporation is led in an entrepreneurial manner. A performance agreement between Swiss Federal Railways and the Swiss Confederation defines the requirements and is updated every four years. At the same time the compensation rates per train and track-kilometre are defined.
A Germansubsidiary,SBB GmbH, is responsible for passenger traffic in Germany. It operates theWiesentalbahn, theSeehas services and services ofSchaffhausen S-Bahn. Other subsidiaries areThurbo,RegionAlps,AlpTransit Gotthard AG,Cisalpino, andTiLo (the latter in conjunction with Italian authorities). Swiss Federal Railways hold significant shares of theZentralbahn (ZB) andLyria SAS.
TheStiftung Historisches Erbe der SBB (SBB Historic) was founded in 2002. This foundation takes care of historicrolling stock and runs a technical library in Bern, document and photographic archives, and the SBB poster collection.
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All figures from 2024:
| Length of railway network | 3,266 kilometres (2,029 mi) instandard gauge[13] |
| Percentageelectrified routes | 100%[13] |
| Employees | 35,569[13] |
| Passengers carried per day | 1.39 million[13] |
| Passenger-kilometre per inhabitant and year | 1,899 kilometres (1,180 mi)[14] |
| Stations open to passengers | 801 |
| Customer punctuality | 93.2% of all passengers reached their destination – measured from departure station including any necessary changes – with less than three minutes of delay (either two or one minute delay, or on time)[13] |
| Customer-weighted connection punctuality | 98.9%[15] |
| Freight per year | 43,1 million tons[13] |
| Stations with freight traffic | 193 |
| Railway tunnels | 311[13] |
| Railway tunnels total length | 431.0 kilometres (267.8 mi)[13] |
| Longest tunnel | 57.1 kilometres (35.5 mi) (Gotthard Base Tunnel)world record |
| Railway bridges | 4,925[13] |
| Railway bridges total length | 108.7 kilometres (67.5 mi)[13] |
| Electric multiple units (fixed compositions of power cars and coaches) | 656[16] |
| Power cars | 108[16] |
| Mainlinelocomotives | 543 (passenger services: 322 / freight services: 221)[16] |
| Shunting locomotives | 224 (38/75/ infrastructure: 111)[16] |
| Shunting tractors | 245 (18/24/203)[16] |
| Passenger coaches | 1,982[16] |
| Freight wagons | 4,671[16] |
| Hydroelectric plants | 8[13] |
| Electricity produced and procured | 3063 GWh[13] |
| Electricity used for railway operations | 2,275 GWh[13] |
| Proportion of traction current fromrenewable sources | 100%[13] |
The Swiss Federal Railways rail network is totallyelectrified. Its last non-electrified railway line (Etzwilen–Singen) was closed to regular traffic in 2004 and it is now a heritage railway.
The metre gaugeBrünigbahn was SBB's only non-standard gauge line, until it was out-sourced and merged with theLuzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn to form theZentralbahn, in which SBB holds shares.
In the 19th century, all Swiss railways were owned by private ventures. The economic and political interests of these companies led to lines being built in parallel and some companies went bankrupt in the resulting competition. On 20 February 1898, the Swiss people agreed in areferendum to the creation of astate-owned railway company.
Later that year, theFederal Assembly approved the purchase ofSchweizerische Centralbahn (SCB) to operate trains on behalf of the federal government. The first train running on the account of the Swiss Confederation ran during the night of New Year's Eve 1900/New Year's Day 1901 fromZurich viaBern toGeneva, and received a ceremonial welcome upon arriving in Bern. SBB's management board was first formed in mid-1901, and added theSchweizerische Nordostbahn (NOB) to the system on 1 January 1902. This date is now observed as the "official" birthday of SBB.[17]
The following railway companies were nationalised:[how?]
Other companies were included later, and the rail network was extended.[citation needed] It is still growing today.
On 1 January 1999 the Swiss Federal Railway has been excluded from the Federal Administration and became a fully state-owned (the federal state owns 100% of allshares) limited company regulated by public law (German:Spezialgesetzliche Aktiengesellschaft).[citation needed]
First class compartments were discontinued on 3 June 1956, and second and third class accommodation was reclassified asfirst and second class, respectively.[citation needed]
In 1982, SBB introduced theTaktfahrplan (clock-face schedule), with trains for certain destinations leaving every 60 minutes, greatly simplifying the timetable.[citation needed]
On 12 December 2004 the first phase ofBahn2000, an ambitious programme to improve the company's services, was put into effect.[18] The core element was theZurich HB–Bern–Basel SBB triangle, where travel times between the cities was reduced to under one hour, resulting in good connections from these stations for most trains. Some connections between cities got two trains in each direction per hour or more, and theS-Bahn services were intensified to four or more trains per hour. Because of these changes, 90% of the timetable was changed, 12% more trains were scheduled and travel times generally improved. It was the greatest timetable change since the introduction of theTaktfahrplan.
For this change to be possible, large parts of the infrastructure had to be modified and many stations were rebuilt, for instance theline from Ziegelbrücke to Sargans orBern main station, which got the "wave of Bern", a bridge over the tracks to provide better access to the platforms and the city centre.
On 22 June 2005, ashort circuit on a long-distance power transmission line in central Switzerland led to a chain reaction. The entire Swiss railway network was out of service during rush hour and an estimated 200,000 people and 1,500 trains were stuck at stations or somewhere on the track. It turned out that the SBB power transmission network was overloaded and did not provide enough redundancy to tolerate the shutdown of the four cableAmsteg-Steinen power line due to construction work. So, the power grid was split in two parts, the northern half being overloaded and the southern half having a load reduction for the SBB power plants are situated in the southern part (theAlps), while most of the power is needed in the northern part (theSwiss plateau). The situation led to high-voltage fluctuations and finally breakdown and emergency shutdown of the entire power supply.
In the same year, the Swiss Federal Railways received theWakker Prize, an award given out by the SwissHeimatschutz (an institution aiming to preserve significant buildings), which is usually only granted to communes, for their extraordinary efforts. The Swiss Federal Railways have many listed buildings from well-known architects such asHerzog & de Meuron,Santiago Calatrava, andMax Vogt.
In May 2010, SBB's first integrated network control centre opened inLausanne, to supervise all of SBB's network in theFrench-speaking part of Switzerland. Another integrated control centre will be opened in Zurich.[19]
All trains and most buildings have been madenon-smoking since the timetable change of 11 December 2005.
By the end of 2006, the corporation was handed over from the long-term CEOBenedikt Weibel to his successorAndreas Meyer.
On 13 January 2019, Bloomberg reported that SBB was in talks with German aviation companyLilium GmbH to create air taxis to carry customers from train stations to their final destination.[20]
The Swiss Federal Railways clock designed byHans Hilfiker has become a national icon.[21] It is special in that it stops for just over a second at the end of each minute, to wait for a signal from the master clock which sets it going again — thus keeping all station clocks synchronised.[22][23]
The clock owes its technology to the particular requirements of operating a railway. First,railway timetables do not list seconds; trains in Switzerland always leave the station on the full minute. Secondly, all the clocks at a railway station have to run synchronously in order to show reliable time for both passengers and railway personnel anywhere on or around the station.[22]
The station clocks in Switzerland are synchronized by receiving an electrical impulse from a centralmaster clock at each full minute, advancing the minute hand by one minute. The second hand is driven by an electrical motor independent of the master clock. It requires only about 58.5 seconds to circle the face, then the hand pauses briefly at the top of the clock. It starts a new rotation as soon as it receives the next minute impulse from the master clock.[22] This movement is emulated in some of the licensed timepieces made byMondaine.
Steam engines of the early days of the Swiss Federal Railways were, among others, theEd 2x2/2,E 3/3,A 3/5,B 3/4 andC 5/6.
The first electric trial runs using single-phasealternating current were made in 1903 on the lineSeebach –Wettingen together with theMaschinenfabrik Oerlikon (MFO), using the futureCe 4/4 locomotives ("Eva" and "Marianne"). Theelectrification of the network started 1919, motivated by the coal shortages during theFirst World War, and new electric locomotives were introduced:Ce 6/8II/Ce 6/8III "Crocodile" (1920–1926),Be 4/6 (1920),Be 4/7 (1921),Ae 3/6I (1921),Ae 3/6II (1924),Ae 3/6III (1925),Ae 4/7 (1927) andAe 4/6 (1941). A shift of paradigms happened in 1946, when the age of modern bogie-based locomotives without trailing axles started with theRe 4/4I (1946), followed by theAe 6/6 (1952),Re 4/4II/Re 4/4III (1964–1971),Re 6/6 (1972),Re 450 (1989) andRe 460/Re 465 "Lok 2000" (1992–1994).
The delivery of the last Re 465 marked the end of the Swiss locomotive industries with the closure of theSwiss Locomotive and Machine Works. The Swiss Federal Railways were split into three divisions: passenger, freight and infrastructure, each with independent locomotive supply policies. Because the passenger division got all modern Re 460s and opted for multiple unit trains, mainline locomotives were bought only by the cargo division, namelyRe 482 "Traxx F140 AC" (2002),Re 484 "Traxx F140 MS" (2004) andRe 474 "ES64 F4" (2004).
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The firstmultiple units originated from theSeetalbahn, which was formed in 1922. Larger series were uncommon until after 1950:Be 4/6 (1923),De 4/4 (1927),BDe 4/4 (1952),RBe 4/4 (1959),RBDe 560 "NPZ" (1984) andRABe 520 "GTW" (2002).
The first multiple unit trainsets were bought for the introduction of theTaktfahrplan on theZurich–Meilen–Rapperswil line in 1967:RABDe 12/12 "Mirage" (1965) andRABDe 8/16 "Chiquita" (1976). Multiple unit trainsets started to prevail in the 1990s, especially for commuter traffic:RABDe 500 "ICN" (1999),RABe 523 (et al.) "FLIRT" (2004),RABe 514 "DTZ" (2006), andRABe 503 (2008). While locomotive-hauled trains are rarely seen in commuter traffic nowadays, they are still the usual in long-distance traffic. In 2011, Stadler'sRABe 511 were introduced inZurich's S-Bahn and in 2012 was introduced as aRegioExpress (RE) betweenGeneva andRomont, between Geneva andVevey, and betweenBern andBiel/Bienne.
Some of the most popular historic multiple unit trainsets are theRoten Pfeile (lit. 'Red Arrows',RAe 2/4) and the "Churchill-Pfeil" (RAe 4/8). In international traffic, theTrans-Europ-Express (TEE)diesel trainsets appeared in 1957, but were replaced by four-systems electric trainsetsRAe TEEII in 1961.
On 12 May 2010, the Swiss Federal Railways announced its largest order of rolling stock; buying 59 double-deck EMUs (Twindexx/RABe 502) fromBombardier Inc., plus an option for another 100 trainsets. The new trains were originally intended to be delivered starting in 2012, but due to several delays, deliveries began in 2017 and end by 2020.[24][25]
In addition, SBB has received and, as of 2016, is still in the process of delivering,New Pendolino (RABe 503) multiple units[26][27] and has ordered 29SMILEs (RABe 501), with an option for 92 more, expected to enter service in 2019.[28]
SBB uses three official languages:German,French, andItalian. TheRomansh-speaking regions in theSwiss canton ofGrisons (Graubünden) is served mostly by theRhaetian Railway (RhB). Locomotices and railcars are branded "SBB CFF FFS".
Stations are named and signposted exclusively in the language of the locality. Stations of bilingual cities are named and signposted in both local languages (e.g.Biel/Bienne andFribourg/Freiburg). The timetable only uses such official names regardless of the languages of the timetable.
Announcements in stations are usually made in local languages. However, in stations frequently used by foreigners (airports or tourism regions), in-station announcements are also made in English. On-board welcome announcements are made in all official languages of the regions served by that train, with the additional English ones onboardIC trains. Then the stops are announced in the pre-recorded local language of the town. For stations of bilingual cities, the language of announcement changes at the time of stop: when trains travelling from the French-speaking region to the German-speaking region via the bilingual city ofBiel/Bienne, announcements are made in French until arriving at Bienne, and then switch to German after departing from Biel. Upon arriving at big hubs, thetrain conductor takes the microphone to announce in all official languages of the regions served by that train (plus English onboard IC trains) that the train is arriving, if the train is on time or not, and next connections at the station.
For instance, the main station in the German-speakingZurich is signposted asZürich HB (short forZürich Hauptbahnhof) exclusively in German, while its French nameZurich gare centrale, Italian nameZurigo stazione centrale, and English name (Zurich Main Station) are used in websites and announcements in respective languages.
Since 2002, SBB has used music in train announcements. The notes in the music correspond to theacronyms SBB CFF FFS, transposed by means of the German notes "Es - B - B" (E♭, B♭, B♭), "C - F - F" (C, F, F) and "F - F - Es" (F, F, E♭). For the German acronym, as there is no "S" note, the "Es" was used. And for the last letter, it is the B♭/G♭ chord that is played. The melody is played on avibraphone.[29] The melody played depends on which canton (or country onboard international services) the station or train is located in, and manual announcements play the three-language melody in the file above.
SBB has the following services:[30]
Several services are currently operated byother railway companies, including subsidiaries of Swiss Federal Railways (e.g.Thurbo). Some services are also jointly operated with other companies (e.g.Treno Gottardo).
SBB CFF FFS also operates internationalEuroCity (EC) andEuroNight (EN) trains while within Switzerland, whileDeutsche Bahn operatesIntercity Express (ICE) services to, from, and (a few services) within the country serving Swiss cities such asInterlaken,Bern,Basel,Zurich, andChur. Under the nameTGV Lyria the French railway companySNCF operatesTGV connections to Switzerland. Lyria SAS, a company established under French law, is a subsidiary of the French National Railway Company, SNCF, which owns 74%, and the Swiss Federal Railways, which owns 26%. TGV Lyria serves several Swiss cities includingGeneva,Lausanne, Basel, Zurich, Bern, and Interlaken. It also provides services to certain locations includingBrig (Valais), especially during the winter season, to provide a connection for tourists mainly visiting the south-eastern Swiss Alps. These connections are marketed under the name ofTGV Lyria des Neiges.[31]
Since 2018, the SBB uses numbers and distinct colors for all itsInterCity (IC) andInterRegio (IR) lines (like a subway network) to ease connections. The IC, IR and RE (RegioExpress) lines (including alternative routes) are as follows:
InterCity (IC) are mainline trains inSwitzerland connecting the country's major agglomerations, the range of services (in Switzerland) of which is located betweenInterRegio (IR, inter-regional) andEuroCity (EC).
InterRegio (IR) is aEuropean train category, with Switzerland possessing the most dense network. IR trains are semi-fast long-distance trains with more stops and usually lower prices than more upscale long-distance trains such as theInterCity.
Lines IR26 (since 2020), IR35 (since 2021), and IR46 (since 2020) are jointly operated withSüdostbahn (SOB). Lines IR17 and IR65 are operated byBLS since December 2020 and December 2019, respectively.[32]
SBB offers additional services for customers.[33] SBB Digital promotes new digital services for customers. For example, SBB started a collaboration with the recruiting matchmaking service, Jacando,[34] and their own co-working space inZurich.[35] SBB has won CRM awards in Switzerland for their SBB Digital activities.[36]
Unter der Firma «Schweizerische Bundesbahnen SBB, Chemins de fer fédéraux CFF, Ferrovie federali svizzere FFS» besteht eine spezialgesetzliche Aktiengesellschaft mit Sitz in Bern.
Swiss Federal Railways SBB Passenger Services Markets Trüsselstrasse 2 3000 Berne 65 Switzerland
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