Vereinigte Schweizerbahnen

The United Swiss Railways were established on 1 May 1857 by the merger of three railway companies, all of which were in financial difficulties:

The Sankt Gallisch-Appenzellische Eisenbahn (St. Gallen-Appenzell Railway; SGAE) opened the Winterthur–Wil–St. Gallen–Rorschach railway between 15 October 1855 and 25 October 1856. The construction of the line required the building a number of important bridges. The final sections planned lacked funding.

The Schweizerische Südostbahn (Swiss Southeast Railways, SOB)—not to be confused with the current Südostbahn—sought to build a railway under the Lukmanier pass that had been proposed by the engineer Richard La Nicca as early as 1839. The company was founded on 1 September 1853 with a share capital of Swiss Francs (CHF) 25 million. The capital came from the cantons of St. Gallen and Grisons and above all from English banks. The beginning of the construction work carried out by English entrepreneurs was unsatisfactory. Senior engineer Pickering was dismissed without notice. Due to financial difficulties, the construction of the Rorschach–St. Margrethen–Sargans–Chur, Sargans–Weesen–Ziegelbrücke–Rapperswil and Weesen–Glarus faltered. The Walensee section required the construction of many tunnels. The lines of the Südostbahn would have become lucrative access routes had an eastern Alpine railway ever been built.

The Glatthalbahn (Gl-TB) opened the Wallisellen–Uster line on 1 August 1856. There were no funds, however, for the continuation of the line to Rapperswil.

One of the reasons for the VSB's initial financial problems was that the projected construction costs were far too low, leading to an additional capital requirement of around CHF 20 million. The additional capital was provided by a French financier. The Parisian banker, Isaac Péreire of Crédit Mobilier envisaged an eastern alpine crossing linking the French railway companies of the Chemins de fer du Midi, Chemins de fer de l'Ouest and Chemins de fer de l'Est with railway it had partly funded in the Balkans.

The rising price of wood forced the VSB to search for alternatives for firing their steam locomotives and it secured a large peat deposit in Möggingen near Radolfzell in 1857. Nevertheless, as the railway developed as a means of mass transport, the company gained access to foreign coal deposits. The conversion to coal firing was largely completed at the VSB in 1861.

The VSB implemented telegraphic signalling with electrical signal discs invented by Matthäus Hipp in 1865. Carriages and locomotives were converted to the buffer system in 1872.

The Federal Shooting Festival (Eidgenössisches Schützenfest) took place in St. Gallen from 18 to 27 July 1874. The VSB transported 140,000 people to St. Gallen over ten days. This required the assistance of staff and rolling stock from the NOB and the VB.

The first through train from Rorschach via St. Gallen was introduced to serve the Swiss National Exhibition (Schweizerische Landesausstellung) in Zürich in 1883. Previously passengers had to change in Winterthur from VSB to NOB trains.