memorial by
Richard Kissling in front of
Zürich Hauptbahnhof The Swiss Northeast Railway was created on 1 July 1853 by the merger of the
Swiss Northern Railway (
Schweizerische Nordbahn—SNB— informally known as the
Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn), and the
Zürich-Lake Constance Railway (
Zürich-Bodenseebahn). The originally planned continuation of the Northern Railway from
Baden to
Basel initially failed due to the different interests of the cantons of
Zürich,
Aargau and
Basel. The main initiator of the merger were the Zürich-based businessman
Alfred Escher, who previously headed the Zürich-Lake Constance Railway, and economist
Bruno Hildebrand. They advocated the funding of the railways by private investors instead of public funds and suggested the founding of
Schweizerische Kreditanstalt to meet the large capital requirements of the railways. The NOB endeavored to establish connections with foreign countries to generate freight traffic. It first opened a direct connection from Zürich to
Lake Constance. Thus it became a direct competitor of the
United Swiss Railways (
Vereinigte Schweizerbahnen; VSB) based in
St. Gallen. the NOB opened the
line from Romanshorn to Winterthur on 16 May 1855. The
Zürich–Winterthur extension was opened in two stages from Winterthur to
Oerlikon on 27 December 1855 and to Zürich on 26 June 1856; this gave a connection to the former Northern Railway between Zürich and Baden. The arrival of the railway caused the village of Romanshorn to grow into one of the most important transport hubs in eastern Switzerland. The NOB started a shipping service on Lake Constance in 1855. The
train ferry service between Romanshorn and
Friedrichshafen (Germany) was established in 1869. This led the NOB to expand the railway facilities and to construct the largest of the ports on Lake Constance (measured by area), which required the shore to be raised. and
Laufen Castle in a painting by
Hubert Sattler The NOB started work on the
Winterthur–Schaffhausen railway in 1856 and it was opened on 16 April 1857. The line of the former Northern Railway between Zürich and Baden was extended to the west. The section of the
Baden–Aarau railway from Baden to
Brugg with the bridge over the
Reuss was opened on 29 September 1856. The rest of the line to
Aarau was opened on 15 May 1858 where the network of NOB connected with the network of the
Swiss Central Railway (
Schweizerische Centralbahn; SCB) at
Wöschnau on the
Aargau-
Solothurn canton border, meaning that Zürich was now connected with Basel. On 18 August 1859, the NOB was able to complete a direct connection with a foreign country with the opening of the
Turgi–Waldshut line. This completed the main network of Northeastern Railway. The most important northern gateway to Switzerland was Basel, but it was controlled by the SCB. Freight transport was NOB's most important business segment, which initially enjoyed good returns. The NOB was involved with other railway companies. After the
Schweizerische Ostwestbahn (Swiss East West Railway, OWB), which had been founded in 1861, had become bankrupt in an attempt to build a line from
La Neuveville via
Bern and
Lucerne to Zürich, the NOB together with the cantons of Zürich,
Zug and
Lucerne, took over part of its line and completed it as the
Zürich–Zug–Lucerne Railway (ZZL), which was finished on 1 June 1864. The NOB—like other railway companies at the time—aimed at short-term
profit maximisation for private bankers. The bankers took offices in management and the board of directors to secure their profits. The rights of the other shareholders was undermined by the use of common stock. They gained exemption from tax and subsidies through political influence. Alfred Escher was not only Chairman of the NOB and Chairman of
Kreditanstalt, but also a member of the
Executive Council of Zürich and, for 34 years, the
National Council. Maintenance was neglected and the assets of the railway company were run down. This had already created a crisis in 1857, which was intensified in 1867.
Railway crisis The behavior of the Zürich railway barons led the
Swiss National Railway (
Schweizerische Nationalbahn; SNB) to attempt to build a second rail link between
Lake Geneva and Lake Constance to compete with the existing railway companies from 1872. As a defense measure, the NOB and SCB extended their existing networks between 1873 and 1882. The two companies founded the
Aargau Southern Railway (
Aargauische Südbahn) and the
Bötzberg Railway () with equal shareholdings. The former was built and opened between 1873 and 1882 the
Rupperswil–Immensee railway line with a branch line from Hendschiken to Brugg, connecting the network of the NOB and the SCB with the
Gotthard Railway in 1882. The Bötzberg Railway, operated by the NOB, opened the
Brugg–Pratteln railway in 1875, which together with the existing lines of the NOB and the SCB created a direct connection from Zurich to Basel. In addition, the NOB under the new CEO
Friedrich Peyer im Hof, tried to eliminate the competition in advance by an accelerated expansion of its own network. It secured concessions for various railway lines and entered into commitments with cantons and founding committees for the construction of these unprofitable lines. This forced the NOB to borrow money, which led to massive indebtedness. The financial difficulties brought the NOB to the brink of collapse. The construction of the
Lake Zürich right-bank line, which it had begun in 1873, had to be discontinued because of the financial crisis. The important
Lake Zürich left-bank railway to Ziegelbrücke, however, was opened in 1875. The NOB could not pay
dividends for years from 1877. The price of its shares collapsed from
Swiss Francs (CHF) 670 in 1871 to CHF 53 in 1879. An investigation commissioned by the General Assembly found grave mistakes in corporate governance. On 2 March 1877, the NOB requested that the Federal Council release it from its obligations to build railways. On 14 February 1878, the
Federal Assembly confirmed an agreement that the construction obligations would be maintained, but would be deferred until the completion of the NOB's financial restructuring. The construction period for the so-called "moratorium lines" (
Thalwil–Zug,
Etzwilen–Schaffhausen,
Bülach–Schaffhausen,
Koblenz–Stein,
Dielsdorf–Niederweningen and the Lake Zurich right bank line) was extended. An agreement with the
canton of Glarus set the date for the completion of the
Glarus–Linthal line at 1 May 1879. The payment of dividends was suspended from 1880 to 1883. On 25 October 1887, the Federal Council instructed the NOB to begin construction of the Lake Zurich right bank line. The deadlines for the remaining moratorium lines were set on 27 June 1888. The ruinous competitive project of the National Railway ended in
insolvency. The participating towns and municipalities had to suffer decades of debt. The NOB took over the network of its rival for a fraction of its construction cost on 1 October 1880. The Zofingen–Suhr section was resold to the SCB.
Recovery and nationalisation in 1894 The situation of the NOB slowly improved again after 1880. Increasing traffic led to the extension of stations and the procurement of additional rolling stock. After Alfred Escher's death in 1882,
Adolf Guyer-Zeller became head of the NOB. The railway crisis had caused many domestic shareholders to sell their securities to major foreign shareholders. Railway shares played a major role in
speculation on the
stock exchange. A financial group led by Adolf Guyer was able to secure a majority of votes at a general meeting of the company, allowing it to select the board of directors and replace it with people who would cooperate with its interests. The vast majority of the shares were in foreign hands, the majority of the
bonds belonged to Swiss owners. At the time, the interest rate was 4% for secure Swiss rail bonds. In order to increase the return of the shares, bonds were converted into shares with an interest rate of 3½%. This reduced the company's interest burden and increased profits. On 8 January 1885, a
Winterthur–
Zürich train ran into a train coming from after passing a stop signal. The train from Wettingen was pushed back from over the junction on the open track towards Zurich. The accident caused seven casualties and major property damage. An NOB passenger train hit a group of
Central Railway workers, which had been busy with track work, at the southern exit from Gütsch tunnel near Lucerne on 30 May 1898. Seven railway workers were killed immediately and four seriously injured. On 4 June 1899, the Zurich– night express of the NOB ran past a designated stopping point in Aarau and ran into two stationary Central Railway locomotives. The accident caused two deaths and three serious injuries. Labour regulations and the wage demands of railway workers, which the other private railways acceded to in 1896, met with resistance from the profit-oriented NOB. This led to a labour dispute with NOB staff in 1897. In Zurich, masses of passengers wrote in the complaints book. At times, milk was scarce. The 5000 employees were able to enforce their claims after 41 hours of strikes. The industrial action at the NOB contributed to the holding of
a referendum in 1898, which approved the nationalisation of the largest private railways. The NOB with a route network of 853 km and the Swiss Lake Constance fleet passed into the possession of the
Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) on 1 January 1902. == Shipping companies ==