Gossau–Wasserauen railway line
The Gossau–Wasserauen railway line is a metre-gauge adhesion railway of the Appenzell Railways (Appenzeller Bahnen; AB). It runs from Gossau via Appenzell to Wasserauen in Switzerland and is given the abbreviation of GAW by the operator. The connection was built and electrified in several stages by different companies and has been operating continuously since 1949. History The line was developed in the following stages: Gossau SG–Herisau, opened on 1 October 1913 by the Appenzell Railway (Appenzeller Bahn, which has been called the Appenzeller Bahnen since 1988), replacing the St. Gallen Winkeln–Herisau section, opened on 12 April 1875 Herisau–Urnäsch, opened on 21 September 1875 by the Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Localbahnen (Swiss company for local railways; called the Appenzell Railway from 1885) Urnäsch–Appenzell, opened on 16 August (to Gontenbad) and 29 October 1886 by the Appenzell Railway Gossau–Appenzell has been operated electrically with 1500 volts DC since 23 April 1933 Appenzell–Wasserauen, opened on 13 July 1912 by the (Säntis Railway) and initially electrified at 1000 volts DC; converted to 1500 volts DC by the Appenzell Railway to allow through operations on 22 April 1949 In order to be able to carry standard-gauge wagons on the metre-gauge network, a Rollbock system was opened