The Chur–Rorschach line is an important rail link in the canton of St. Gallen. It runs through the
Chur and St. Gallen sections of the
Rhine valleys from Chur to Rheineck and on to Rorschach. The Rhine valley line begins in
Chur railway station, where the standard gauge line connects with the
dual gauge Domat/Ems–Chur line of the
Rhaetian Railway (RhB). The route initially runs parallel to the
Chur–Landquart line of the RhB north to
Haldenstein, from where the two lines run to
Zizers between the
Rhine and the
A13 motorway. From Zizers, the SBB line runs directly to
Landquart, where it again meets the RhB line
to Davos, which has detoured via
Igis. Between
Maienfeld and
Bad Ragaz, the Rhine valley line crosses the A13 and the Rhine, which at this point forms the canton border between the
Grisons and
St. Gallen. The section to Maienfeld is the only standard gauge line in the Grisons. From Bad Ragaz the trains run parallel to the A13 to
Sargans station, where the line splits to Zürich and St. Gallen. (class RABe 511) running as the Rheintal-Express Chur–Wil at a stop in St. Margrethen. Sargans, the starting point for the measurement of the line-kilometrage (chainage), follows a junction with the Sargans loop (
Sargans Schleife), which allows trains coming
from Ziegelbrücke to proceed to
Trübbach next to the A13, avoiding the need to reverse in Sargans. A short double track section between Trübbach and Neugrüt allows train crossings, otherwise the line to St. Margrethen is single-track. It no longer runs along the A13 and the Rhine, but has its own route between the motorway and the valley slope. In
Buchs, the Rhine valley line meets the
line from Feldkirch of the
Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB). Trains coming from Sargans and continuing over the
Arlberg Railway have to reverse in Buchs, which in the case of freight trains, requires a locomotive change. From Buchs to
Oberriet the Rhine valley line more or less follows the Werdenberger and Rheintaler canals and main road 13 as far as
Altstätten. The
Altstätten–Gais railway of the
Appenzell Railways (AB) has ended in Altstätten Stadt since 1975. Since then the connection between the two Altstätt stations has been provided by a short bus line operated by the
Rheintalische Verkehrsbetriebe (Rhine Valley Transport Company). The Rhine Valley line runs directly to
Au and meets and runs along the inland canal and the St. Margrethen motorway, where it connects with the
Bregenz line of the ÖBB. As the SBB and ÖBB have the same electrical system, there is often no change in traction for international trains in St. Margrethen. The
EuroCity services running from Zürich via St. Gallen to Munich are hauled to
Lindau by
class Re 421 locomotives registered in Germany and Austria.
DB Cargo operates its freight trains on the
Kornwestheim–Rorschach–
Wolfurt route with its own Swiss-made
TRAXX (class 185) locomotives. From St. Margrethen to
Rheineck, the now double-track line follows the
A1 and the
Alter Rhein (old Rhine). In Rheineck, the
Rheineck–Walzenhausen mountain railway of the AB connects to the Vorderland mountain resort. The Rhine valley line runs to Staad and along the
shore of Lake Constance to
Rorschach, where SBB services continue on the
line to St. Gallen or the
line to Romanshorn and AB services run on the
line to Heiden. == Operations==