Jura–Simplon Railway
| Jura–Simplon Railway | |
|---|---|
| Operation | |
| Opened | merger 1890 |
| Closed | to SBB 1903 |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge[1] |
The Jura–Simplon Railway (JS), (French: Chemin de fer du Jura–Simplon[2]) was a former Swiss rail company, formed in 1890 and absorbed into the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) in 1903.
History
The Jura–Simplon Railway was a railway company, which was formed from the 1890 merger of the Western Switzerland–Simplon Company (SOS) and the Pont–Vallorbe Railway (PV). Earlier in the same year the SOS had also purchased the Jura–Bern–Luzern Railway (JBL). Its network stretched from Basel–Biel railway to the border crossings to France at Delle, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Les Verrières, Vallorbe and Geneva, as well as to Brig, Lucerne and Brienz with a route length of 937 km.[3]
A year after its establishment, the JS presented a definite project for a Simplon Tunnel and in 1895 a treaty was signed with Italy for the construction of a tunnel from Brig to Iselle. Construction of this 19,803 meter long tunnel began in 1898. But during construction, the Jura–Simplon Railway was nationalised on 1 May 1903 and absorbed into the Swiss Federal Railways, which completed the Simplon Tunnel in 1906. The tunnel was the longest railway tunnel in the world until the opening of the Seikan Tunnel in 1988.[3]
