The Bodensee–Toggenburg railway is a mainly single-track standard-gauge line connecting on Lake Constance (Bodensee in German) and the Toggenburg region in Eastern Switzerland. It was built by the Bodensee-Toggenburg-Bahn (BT), a former railway company, which existed from 1910 until its merger with the "old" Südostbahn (SOB) to form the "new" Südostbahn (SOB) on 1 January 2001. Today, the line together with the Wattwil–Ebnat-Kappel section forms the eastern network of the Südostbahn.
The BT consisted of the standard gauge adhesion railway from Romanshorn to St. Gallen St. Fiden (19.13 km) opened on 3 October 1910 and the standard gauge adhesion line from to Wattwil (31.74 km), as well as the line from Ebnat-Kappel to Nesslau-Neu St. Johann (7.85 km) opened on 1 October 1912.
The connecting sections of line from St. Gallen St. Fiden to St. Gallen HB and from Wattwil to Ebnat-Kappel were controlled by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), as it leased the Wattwil–Ebnat-Kappel section from the BT.
History
The first railway lines in Eastern Switzerland followed the river valleys and thus resulted in some large detours to the east for travel to the canton capital of St. Gallen. After the construction of the St. Gallen Winkeln–Herisau railway by the Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Localbahnen, (later called the Appenzeller Bahn—Appenzell Railway; AB—and now part of the Appenzell Railways) had shown that it was possible to build railways at relatively low costs in the hilly terrain of the Alpine foothills, a large number of projects emerged in the Alpine foothills between Lake Constance and Lake Zürich. Some of the projects provided for lines connecting with the Appenzell Railway, other projects were developed independently of the AB. A narrow-gauge line through the Ricken and Wasserfluh passes would have meant a winding, slow connection. A standard gauge railway was therefore required for the important intra-cantonal connection between Rapperswil and St. Gallen. In particular, the ennet dem Ricken ("beyond the Ricken" in Swiss German) group built political pressure in favour of the project.
As a result, the St. Gallen Grand Council agreed on 17 May 1887 to a request for a government loan of Swiss francs (CHF) 7000 for preparatory work for a rail link from the Linth area via the Toggenburg to St. Gallen. The first expert opinion recommended a gap between Ebnat and Uznach, but this would still have required a detour via Wil to reach St. Gallen. An initiative committee (Initiativkomitee) for a St. Gallen–Herisau–Degersheim–Neckertal–Wattwil–Rapperwil railway link was formed in Degersheim in 1889. The leader was the Degersheim embroidery manufacturer Isidor Grauer-Frey, who also campaigned for an extension of the line beyond Rapperswil to Zug in order to make a connection to the Gotthard Railway. The maximum grade of 5.0% planned for the Zürichsee–Gotthardbahn—the later Schweizerische Südostbahn (SOB)—seemed to him unsuitable for main-line traffic. In 1889, the Grand Council granted the initiative committee a contribution of CHF 5,000 to submit an application for a concession for a St. Gallen–Zug railway. This concession was granted by the Federal Assembly on 27 June 1890.
There were still 15 years of disputes over the route ahead, with Grauer-Frey always vehemently opposed to local requests to use the line to promote local development. He was not able to determine all aspects of the route, but it was still possible to plan a relatively direct St. Gallen–Rapperswil route that met the standards of a main line. In addition, it proved possible to meet the goal of not exceeding a maximum grade of 1.8% as it was decided that climbing the Ricken pass would be avoided by building a base tunnel under the Ricken instead.
The project approved difficult to finance. After lengthy negotiations, the federation agreed—after it had been decided to buy and nationalise the large private railways in 1898—that the federal railway company would build the Ricken Railway if the canton of St. Gallen acquired the Wil–Ebnat-Kappel railway (Toggenburgerbahn) and handed it over to the new company. Contracts were concluded in 1901 with the soon to be nationalised United Swiss Railways (Vereinigte Schweizerbahnen; VSB). The Federal Assembly approved this deal on 19 December 1901 and transferred the Wattwil–Rapperswil line to the VSB on 20 December 1901.
Grauer-Frey's vision of a continuation of the line from Rapperswil to Zug remained unfulfilled and the concession expired after the Federal Assembly rejected a further extension of time on 22 December 1906. Nearly 90 years later, this dream re-emerged for a short time with a proposal for a "Hirzel Tunnel" under the New Railway Link through the Alps project. In contrast, the St. Gallen–Romanshorn and the Ebnat–Nesslau Neu St. Johann projects, which were promoted by other initiators, were combined with the St. Gallen–Wattwil line into a single concession (Federal Decrees of 19 December 1902 and 11 April 1907).
St. Gallen–Romanshorn and the extension to Obertoggenburg A project was proposed for a metre-gauge interurban tramway on the St. Gallen–Wittenbach–Kügeliswinden–Neukirch–Amriswil route in 1889. Arbon also sought the construction of a narrow-gauge railway to St. Gallen via Roggwil. The St. Gallen municipal council however, wanted a standard gauge railway to the port of Romanshorn, which served the Lake Constance train ferries. At that time, Romanshorn was an important hub for freight traffic between Switzerland and Germany because the Basel Rhine ports did not start operating until 1922. Coal, iron and other goods were carried from Romanshorn to St. Gallen via Rorschach.
The line was opposed vigorously. The original project envisaged a 980 metre-long tunnel through the Rosenberg ridge from . The line would then run along the Sitter river to the village of Wittenbach. It was then decided to share the SBB line from St. Gallen to St. Finden and the SBB built the double-track Rosenberg Tunnel in place of the single-track surface line through the city that had been built in 1856. Large civil engineering structures were not required, with the exception of the Bruggwald Tunnel. The Federal Assembly granted the concession for the line on 15 April 1898.
When the project of the Bodensee–Toggenburg Railway became known publicly, every village in the St. Gallen-Thurgau border area sought the best possible access from the railway line. A station serving the Muolen-Steinebrunn community was not approved by the population and had to be dropped. The original proposal envisaged an Egnach station before the junction with the Lake Line (Seelinie). Egnach wanted its own connection to the BT even though it already had a station on the Lake Line. Finally Neukirch and Egnach agreed to have a common station with a corresponding double name.
The branch line from Wil to Ebnat of the Toggenburg Railway had been opened in 1870. In 1890, the St. Gallen Executive Council added an extension from Ebnat to Nesslau to the project. The Federal Assembly granted the concession on 17 June 1898. With a change in the statutes, the Ebnat-Kappel–Nesslau Neu St. Johann line became part of the Bodensee–Toggenburg railway on 6 February 1909. Shortly before the start of construction, alternative projects for narrow-gauge tramways appeared. A plan for a railway from Ebnat to Unterwasser was presented in 1907 and another plan for a railway from Wattwil to Buchs was presented in 1908. Because the BT already had the concession to Nesslau, the Federal Assembly granted a concession for a narrow-gauge railway from Nesslau only as far as Buchs on 24 June 1910.
Construction
The new Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) began the construction of the Ricken Tunnel between Wattwil and Kaltbrunn on 17 November 1903. The breakthrough took place, after delays caused by firedamp, on 30 March 1908.
The first preparatory work for the construction of the Wasserfluh Tunnel was started in Lichtensteig on 27 December 1905, beginning with the construction of the BT. The first works on the 99 metre-high Sitter Viaduct did not start until the summer of 1908. The construction workers coming from Italy and Croatia were often ignorant of the German language and tensions arose between the population and the workers.
The BT had to contend with countless difficulties in its construction, so that the opening, which had been planned for the spring of 1910, had to be postponed for half a year. The BT had serious disputes with the Appenzeller Bahn (AB), as its line to St. Gallen competed with part of the BT line. Its station near the village of Herisau had to be relocated at the expense of BT. The SBB refused the BT the use of platform 1 in , which made the construction of a bridge over the SBB line from Bruggen necessary.
Part of the Bruggwald Tunnel collapsed during construction on 22 June 1909, resulting in seven casualties and a strike. The company commissioned to construct the Wasserfluh Tunnel was affected by two work stoppages and financial difficulties. The BT cancelled the contract and finished the tunnel under its own direction; seven people were killed during this work. Heavy and prolonged rainfall resulted in dozens of landslides, the repair of which caused much effort and expense. One side of the Hohenbühl embankment at Roggwil-Berg slipped only a few weeks before the line was opened.
Opening The Romanshorn–St. Gallen St. Fiden and the St. Gallen–Wattwil lines were opened together with the Ricken Railway between Wattwil and Uznach on 1 October 1910. The first train consisted of rolling stock from BT and SBB. Scheduled traffic started on 3 October 1910.
The extension of the Toggenburg line from Ebnat-Kappel to Nesslau was finally opened on 30 September 1912. Operations commenced on the 7.6 km-long line on 1 October 1912. It overcomes a height difference of 119 metres. It required three tunnels and several bridges.
Station buildings
The BT did not build the station buildings as standardised types, but like the Rhaetian Railway, it built station that were intended to reflect building types found in the area. The BT station buildings and the joint station in Lichtensteig were built according to drafts by the St. Gallen architect Salomon Schlatter.
The station buildings in Wittenbach, Häggenschwil, Muolen and Steinebrunn are based on Thurgau half-timbered houses. The buildings in Wittenbach and Steinebrunn are characterised by Mansard roofs and coupled windows, while in Häggenschwil and Muolen there are evenly distributed windows with shutters. Mogelsberg and Brunnadern received stations modelled on a Toggenburg farm house (a variety of Swiss chalet) with a timber-frame extension. Schachen in the Appenzell region had a station with a wood shingle screen that is typical of that region.
The stations buildings of Roggwil-Berg and Neukirch-Egnach show similarities with the country houses that the wealthy of St. Galler and Konstanz built in the 18th century. The larger stations of Haggen, Herisau and Degersheim resemble the factory buildings of the area.
Operations of the SBB
The BT had procured its own rolling stock, but entered a contract with the SBB for its operation, because it hoped for financial savings as a result. However, a review in 1915 showed that handling its own operations would have lower costs. Negotiations with the SBB soon led to an agreement with the SBB proposing to maintain the continuous operations between Romanshorn and Rapperswil and between Wil and Nesslau and to use the rolling stock and personnel of the two railways in natural proportions. The BT took over its own operation on 1 May 1917. The necessary facilities for vehicle maintenance were built in Herisau for this purpose.
Extension to the Rhine Valley The opening of the postal bus route from Nesslau to Wildhaus on 1 May 1918 led to a significant increase in traffic on the railway line to Nesslau.