Swiss Federal Railways (German: Schweizerische Bundesbahnen, SBB; French: Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses, CFF; Italian: Ferrovie federali svizzere, FFS) is the national railway company of Switzerland.
The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Bern. It used to be a government institution, but since 1999 it has been a special stock corporation whose shares are held by the Swiss Confederation and the Swiss cantons. It is the largest rail and transport company of Switzerland; it operates on most standard gauge lines of the Swiss railway network. It also heavily collaborates with most other transport companies of the country, such as the BLS, one of its main competitors, or Südostbahn (SOB), to provide fully integrated timetables with cyclic schedules.
SBB was ranked first among national European rail systems in the 2017 European Railway Performance Index for its intensity of use, quality of service, and safety rating. While many rail operators in continental Europe have emphasised the building of high-speed rail, SBB has invested in the reliability and quality of service of its conventional rail network, on both national and regional scales. In addition to passenger rail, SBB operates cargo and freight rail service through its subsidiary SBB Cargo, and has large real estate holdings in Switzerland.
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Name
The company is commonly referred to by the initials of its three official names, in German, French and Italian – defined by federal law SR/RS 742.31 (SBBG/LCFF/LFFS) Art. 2 §1 – either as SBB CFF FFS, or used separately. The official English abbreviation is SBB.
While the official Romansh name, Viafiers federalas svizras (VFS), can be found in federal laws and associated documents, as well as Romansh-language media, it is not used by the company itself.
Organisation
Swiss Federal Railways is divided into three divisions and eight groups. The divisions manage the relevant operational businesses. These divisions are:
Passenger traffic
Infrastructure
Real estate
The former division Cargo became an independent group company at the beginning of 2019.
SBB's eight groups manage the company and support the operational business of the divisions with service and support functions. These groups are:
Finance
HR
IT
Communications
Corporate Development
Safety & Quality
Legal and Compliance
Supply Chain Management
The corporation is led in an entrepreneurial manner. A performance agreement between Swiss Federal Railways and the Swiss Confederation defines the requirements and is updated every four years. At the same time the compensation rates per train and track-kilometre are defined.
A German subsidiary, SBB GmbH, is responsible for passenger traffic in Germany. It operates the Wiesentalbahn, the Seehas services and services of Schaffhausen S-Bahn. Other subsidiaries are Thurbo, RegionAlps, AlpTransit Gotthard AG, Cisalpino, and TiLo (the latter in conjunction with Italian authorities). Swiss Federal Railways hold significant shares of the Zentralbahn (ZB) and Lyria SAS.
The Stiftung Historisches Erbe der SBB (SBB Historic) was founded in 2002. This foundation takes care of historic rolling stock and runs a technical library in Bern, document and photographic archives, and the SBB poster collection.
Figures
All figures from 2024:
The Swiss Federal Railways rail network is totally electrified. Its last non-electrified railway line (Etzwilen–Singen) was closed to regular traffic in 2004 and it is now a heritage railway.
The metre gauge Brünigbahn was SBB's only non-standard gauge line, until it was out-sourced and merged with the Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn to form the Zentralbahn, in which SBB holds shares.
History
In the 19th century, all Swiss railways were owned by private ventures. The economic and political interests of these companies led to lines being built in parallel and some companies went bankrupt in the resulting competition. On 20 February 1898, the Swiss people agreed in a referendum to the creation of a state-owned railway company.
Later that year, the Federal Assembly approved the purchase of Schweizerische Centralbahn (SCB) to operate trains on behalf of the federal government. The first train running on the account of the Swiss Confederation ran during the night of New Year's Eve 1900/New Year's Day 1901 from Zurich via Bern to Geneva, and received a ceremonial welcome upon arriving in Bern. SBB's management board was first formed in mid-1901, and added the Schweizerische Nordostbahn (NOB) to the system on 1 January 1902. This date is now observed as the "official" birthday of SBB.
The following railway companies were nationalised:
Aargauische Südbahn (ASB)
Bötzbergbahn (BöB)
Schweizerische Nordostbahn (NOB)
Schweizerische Centralbahn (SCB)
Toggenburgerbahn (TB)
Vereinigte Schweizerbahnen (VSB)
Tösstalbahn including the Wald-Rüti Railway (WR)
Wohlen-Bremgarten Railway (WB)
Jura-Simplon-Bahn (JS) including the Brünigbahn (the latter in 1903)
Other companies were included later, and the rail network was extended. It is still growing today.
On 1 January 1999 the Swiss Federal Railway has been excluded from the Federal Administration and became a fully state-owned (the federal state owns 100% of all shares) limited company regulated by public law (German: Spezialgesetzliche Aktiengesellschaft).
Clock
The Swiss Federal Railways clock designed by Hans Hilfiker has become popular among the stations of Switzerland. It stops for just over a second at the end of each minute, to wait for a signal from the master clock which sets it going again — thus keeping all station clocks synchronized.
The clock owes its technology to the particular requirements of operating a railway. First, railway timetables do not list seconds; trains in Switzerland always leave the station on the full minute. Secondly, all the clocks at a railway station have to run synchronously in order to show reliable time for both passengers and railway personnel anywhere on or around the station.
The station clocks in Switzerland are synchronized by receiving an electrical impulse from a central master clock at each full minute, advancing the minute hand by one minute. The second hand is driven by an electrical motor independent of the master clock. It requires only about 58.5 seconds to circle the face, then the hand pauses briefly at the top of the clock. It starts a new rotation as soon as it receives the next minute impulse from the master clock. This movement is emulated in some of the licensed timepieces made by Mondaine.
Rolling stock
Mainline locomotives
Steam engines of the early days of the Swiss Federal Railways were, among others, the Ed 2x2/2, E 3/3, A 3/5, B 3/4 and C 5/6.
The first electric trial runs using single-phase alternating current were made in 1903 on the line Seebach – Wettingen together with the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon (MFO), using the future Ce 4/4 locomotives ("Eva" and "Marianne"). The electrification of the network started 1919, motivated by the coal shortages during the First World War, and new electric locomotives were introduced: Ce 6/8 II/Ce 6/8 III "Crocodile" (1920–1926), Be 4/6 (1920), Be 4/7 (1921), Ae 3/6 I (1921), Ae 3/6 II (1924), Ae 3/6 III (1925), Ae 4/7 (1927) and Ae 4/6 (1941). A shift of paradigms happened in 1946, when the age of modern bogie-based locomotives without trailing axles started with the Re 4/4 I (1946), followed by the Ae 6/6 (1952), Re 4/4 II/Re 4/4 III (1964–1971), Re 6/6 (1972), Re 450 (1989) and Re 460/Re 465 "Lok 2000" (1992–1994).
The delivery of the last Re 465 marked the end of the Swiss locomotive industries with the closure of the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works. The Swiss Federal Railways were split into three divisions: passenger, freight and infrastructure, each with independent locomotive supply policies. Because the passenger division got all modern Re 460s and opted for multiple unit trains, mainline locomotives were bought only by the cargo division, namely Re 482 "Traxx F140 AC" (2002), Re 484 "Traxx F140 MS" (2004) and Re 474 "ES64 F4" (2004).
Multiple units
The first multiple units originated from the Seetalbahn, which was formed in 1922. Larger series were uncommon until after 1950: Be 4/6 (1923), De 4/4 (1927), BDe 4/4 (1952), RBe 4/4 (1959), RBDe 560 "NPZ" (1984) and RABe 520 "GTW" (2002).
The first multiple unit trainsets were bought for the introduction of the Taktfahrplan on the Zurich–Meilen–Rapperswil line in 1967: RABDe 12/12 "Mirage" (1965) and RABDe 8/16 "Chiquita" (1976). Multiple unit trainsets started to prevail in the 1990s, especially for commuter traffic: RABDe 500 "ICN" (1999), RABe 523 (et al.) "FLIRT" (2004), RABe 514 "DTZ" (2006), and RABe 503 (2008). While locomotive-hauled trains are rarely seen in commuter traffic nowadays, they are still the usual in long-distance traffic. In 2011, Stadler's RABe 511 were introduced in Zurich's S-Bahn and in 2012 was introduced as a RegioExpress (RE) between Geneva and Romont, between Geneva and Vevey, and between Bern and Biel/Bienne.
Some of the most popular historic multiple unit trainsets are the Roten Pfeile (lit. 'Red Arrows', RAe 2/4) and the "Churchill-Pfeil" (RAe 4/8). In international traffic, the Trans-Europ-Express (TEE) diesel trainsets appeared in 1957, but were replaced by four-systems electric trainsets RAe TEEII in 1961.
On 12 May 2010, the Swiss Federal Railways announced its largest order of rolling stock; buying 59 double-deck EMUs (Twindexx/RABe 502) from Bombardier Inc., plus an option for another 100 trainsets. The new trains were originally intended to be delivered starting in 2012, but due to several delays, deliveries began in 2017 and ended in 2020.
In addition, SBB has received and, as of 2016, is still in the process of delivering, New Pendolino (RABe 503) multiple units and has ordered 29 SMILEs (RABe 501), with an option for 92 more, expected to enter service in 2019.
Languages
SBB uses three official languages: German, French, and Italian. The Romansh-speaking regions in the Swiss canton of Grisons (Graubünden) is served mostly by the Rhaetian Railway (RhB). Locomotives and railcars are branded "SBB CFF FFS".
Stations are named and signposted exclusively in the language of the locality. Stations of bilingual cities are named and signposted in both local languages (e.g. Biel/Bienne and Fribourg/Freiburg). The timetable only uses such official names regardless of the languages of the timetable.
Announcements in stations are usually made in local languages. However, in stations frequently used by foreigners (airports or tourism regions), in-station announcements are also made in English. On-board welcome announcements are made in all official languages of the regions served by that train, with the additional English ones onboard IC trains. Then the stops are announced in the pre-recorded local language of the town. For stations of bilingual cities, the language of announcement changes at the time of stop: when trains travelling from the French-speaking region to the German-speaking region via the bilingual city of Biel/Bienne, announcements are made in French until arriving at Bienne, and then switch to German after departing from Biel. Upon arriving at big hubs, the train conductor takes the microphone to announce in all official languages of the regions served by that train (plus English onboard IC trains) that the train is arriving, if the train is on time or not, and next connections at the station.
For instance, the main station in the German-speaking Zurich is signposted as Zürich HB (short for Zürich Hauptbahnhof) exclusively in German, while its French name Zurich gare centrale, Italian name Zurigo stazione centrale, and English name (Zurich Main Station) are used in websites and announcements in respective languages.
Since 2002, SBB has used music in train announcements. The notes in the music correspond to the acronyms SBB CFF FFS, transposed by means of the German notes "Es - B - B" (E♭, B♭, B♭), "C - F - F" (C, F, F) and "F - F - Es" (F, F, E♭). For the German acronym, as there is no "S" note, the "Es" was used. And for the last letter, it is the B♭/G♭ chord that is played. The melody is played on a vibraphone. The melody played depends on which canton (or country onboard international services) the station or train is located in, and manual announcements play the three-language melody in the file above.
Services
Train services
SBB has the following services:
R#: Regio (Regionalzug), typically numbered, stops at all stations
S#: S-Bahn (commuter train), typically numbered, organized as a rapid transit system in major agglomerations, with several lines and generally high frequent service (see S-Bahn networks in Switzerland).
S-Bahn services in the French speaking part of Switzerland are often designated with R# for Réseau Express Régional (e.g. RER Vaud) or L# (Léman Express).
RE#: RegioExpress, since the 2023 timetable change numbered, stops only at selected stations within a region.
IR#: InterRegio, since the 2017 timetable change numbered, are the workhorses of Swiss transit.
IC#: InterCity, since the 2017 timetable change numbered, stops only at major cities.
ICN: InterCity Tilting Train (InterCity-Neigezug), similar to the IC, but using tilting trains instead of standard/double-decked trains. The ICN designation was discontinued as of 10 December 2017, with former ICN services now being branded as IC, but still run by tilting trains.
PE: Panorama Express, introduced in 2019, are tourist oriented long-distance services (e.g. the Gotthard Panorama Express).
EXT: Charter train or special train added when an exceptionally heavy traffic is expected.
Several services are currently operated by other railway companies, including subsidiaries of Swiss Federal Railways (e.g. Thurbo). Some services are also jointly operated with other companies (e.g. Treno Gottardo).
Lines
Since 2018, the SBB uses numbers and distinct colors for all its InterCity (IC) and InterRegio (IR) lines (like a subway network) to ease connections. The IC, IR and RE (RegioExpress) lines (including alternative routes) are as follows:
InterCity (IC) are mainline trains in Switzerland connecting the country's major agglomerations, the range of services (in Switzerland) of which is located between InterRegio (IR, inter-regional) and EuroCity (EC).
InterRegio (IR) is a European train category, with Switzerland possessing the most dense network. IR trains are semi-fast long-distance trains with more stops and usually lower prices than more upscale long-distance trains such as the InterCity.
Lines IR26 (since 2020), IR35 (since 2021), and IR46 (since 2020) are jointly operated with Südostbahn (SOB). Lines IR17 and IR65 are operated by BLS since December 2020 and December 2019, respectively.
Customer services
SBB offers additional services for customers. SBB Digital promotes new digital services for customers. For example, SBB started a collaboration with the recruiting matchmaking service, Jacando, and their own co-working space in Zurich. SBB has won CRM awards in Switzerland for their SBB Digital activities.
Airline codeshare
SBB codeshares with American Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, and United Airlines out of Zurich Airport.