page_title: United Swiss Railways
section_title: Further development
hierarchical_section_title: United Swiss Railways / Further development
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Aktienkapital und feste Anleihen sowie Dividende Aktien sind Anteile am Grundkapital des als Aktiengesellschaft konstituierten Bahnunternehmens. Sie sind hier im Nennwert angegeben, der jedoch in keiner Weise dem Kurswert entsprechen muss. Viele Bahnen haben im Laufe der Zeit ihr Aktienkapital erhöht, was gewöhnlich auf eine Expansion der Bahn hindeutet. Eine Verminderung des Aktienkapitals wurde bei finanziellen Schwierigkeiten vorgenommen, indem durch Herabsetzung des Nennwerts der Aktien Kapital für das Unternehmen freigesetzt wurde (sogenannter Kapitalschnitt). Feste Anleihen waren neben Aktien die wichtigste Form der Geldbeschaffung für die Bahnen. Das vom Unternehmen aufgenommene Kapital wird über eine bestimmte Laufzeit zu einem bestimmten Zinssatz verzinst. Die Zinslast für Anleihen war ein gewichtiger Ausgabeposten insbesondere der grossen Bahnen. Wenn wegen zu geringen Erträgen die Zinsen nicht mehr bezahlt werden können, droht der Konkurs. Die Dividendenauszahlungen für die Aktionäre sind hier im Verhältnis zum Nennwert der Aktien angegeben.
context_page_description: The United Swiss Railways was a former railway company in Switzerland. It was the smallest of the five main railways that were nationalised from 1902 to form the Swiss Federal Railways.
context_section_description: Until the 1890s, the VSB supported a projected railway under the Splügen Pass, which, however, could not be built because of a lack of funds. Eventually the VSB succeeded in establishing the right to use an important connection to Zürich over the Wallisellen–Zürich line of the Swiss Northeastern Railway (NOB).
  Since the idea of building an eastern Alpine railway from Chur towards Italy ended with the start of construction of the Gotthard Railway, the Rhine Valley Railway from Rorschach to Chur remained a regional line. Over time, Rorschach was displaced as the leading port town on the Swiss shore of Lake Constance by Romanshorn. The NOB expanded its harbour in Romanshorn and put its own steamboats into operation. In 1869, the NOB opened the Lake Line from Rorschach to Romanshorn, where the line of the NOB ran next to the VSB's line between Rorschach Hafen (harbour) and Rorschach. The Lake Line of the NOB and the Bischofszellerbahn's Gossau–Sulgen line, which was commissioned in 1876, relieved the VSB of some traffic. When the NOB opened the shorter Lake Zürich left bank railway (Zürich–Thalwil–Ziegelbrücke) in 1875, the former Wallisellen–Rapperswil line lost importance. The VSB could only continue operations with extreme cost cutting. Under the leadership of Adolf Klose, mechanical engineering achievements and locomotive designs were created at the Rorschach workshop that received attention and recognition.
  As part of merger negotiations, the VSB was able to acquire the concession for the realisation of the Bözberg Railway on 16 July 1857. The VSB abandoned this concession in 1864 due to lack of financial resources.
  The VSB managed the operation of some other companies, such as the Toggenburgerbahn (TB, opened in 1870), the Wald-Rüti-Bahn (WR, opened in 1876 and now part of the Tösstal Railway) and temporarily the Zürichsee–Gotthardbahn (ZGB). The VSB was also financially involved in the Toggenburgerbahn and the Wald–Rüti-Bahn.
  Until the 1870s, the VSB suffered from lack of international connections. The Vorarlberg Railway (Vorarlbergbahn; VB) opened the Lindau–St. Margrethen link on 1 August 1872 and the Feldkirch–Buchs section on 20 October 1872, leading to an increase in traffic. The Arlberg Railway, which was opened on 6 September 1884, had a significant influence on the development of traffic. The VSB gave access to two metre-gauge lines of the Rhaetian Railway (Rhätische Bahn), the Landquart–Davos lines, opened in 1889, and the Chur–Thusis line, opened in 1896.
  The VSB suffered, like many other companies, during the economic crisis of the late 1870s. Its stock prices dropped massively. In contrast to the NOB or the Swiss Central Railway, the VSB were able to distribute modest dividends from 1871 onwards. Because the VSB was not able to expand its network after 1859, it had low debt and its financial situation was very solid.
  In the Vonwil train crash, a train coming from Winterthur derailed at Vonwil in St. Gallen on 31 December 1879. The train's two locomotives came to lie on the left and right of the railway track with the carriages pushed into each other. The accident claimed two fatalities and several injuries, some serious.
caption: Share capital and fixed bonds (left scale) as well as dividends (right scale) of the VSB ...
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