Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn

From TrainSpottingWorld, for Rail fans everywhere

The Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn (LSE, pro. ehl-ehs-eh) is a narrow gauge rack railway in Switzerland with a track gauge of 1 m (3 ft 338 in). It connects Lucerne by Stans with a resort near Engelberg.

In the year 1890 the concession to build a line was given from Stansstad to Engelberg. The opening of the track of the Stansstad-Engelberg-Bahn (StEB) followed in 1898. It was electrified from its beginning, which made it at that time the longest electrically operated railway line of Switzerland. Because of the maximum upward gradient of 25% on the track section between Grafenort and Engelberg, it was decided to use three-phase alternating current. In order to avoid a "steilstrecke" with Gruenenwald (a road crossing the track) a balance bridge was established over the rails for motor traffic.

The railway ended at that time in Stansstad at the Lake of Lucerne. For a continuation after Hergiswil with connection to the SBB Brünigbahn in 1956, a concession was passed, which could not be accomplished by the StEB however due to its financial difficulties. In 1964, there followed a complete reorganization of the railway with the change of the overhead lines tor 15 kV 16 2/3 Hz, as well as the continuation after Hergiswil. In December the line went back into business as the Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn (LSE).

On the Abschitt between Hergiswil and Lucerne, the LSE has speeds comparable with of that of the Brünigbahn.

The LSE merged with the SBB Brünigbahn in 2005 to form the Zentralbahn.

de:Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn