. The wagon in the background still bears the inscription: S.O.S. (
Suisse-Occidentale-Simplon) 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 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 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) 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. Jura-Simplon B3-4 Léman 1900.jpg|Train hauled by a B 3/4 on the shores of Lake Geneva with the Savoy Alps in the background. Kaiserstuhl Stationsbüro.JPG|Two officers of the JS in the office of
Kaiserstuhl station. Gare de Bussigny 1900.JPG|"Water train" in
Bussigny station Brünigbahn oberhalb Lungern.jpg|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. Plakat Jura-Simplon-Bahn 1890.jpg Jura-Simplon - Plakat Genfersee.jpg Plakat JSB Schweiz Rhone-Thal.jpg Plakat Jura-Simplon-Bahn 1895.jpg Plakat JSB Oberland.jpg
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): == Infrastructure and vehicles ==