Frauenfeld–Wil railway

The Frauenfeld–Wil railway is a 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge railway line^[2] in Switzerland, which connects the town of Frauenfeld in the canton of Thurgau, to the town of Wil in the canton of St. Gallen, following the valley of the Murg river. The Frauenfeld-Wil-Bahn (FWB) opened the line in 1887 and operated it until 2021, when that company merged into Appenzell Railways.^[3] The line is included in Tarifverbund Ostwind, and operates as service S15 of the St. Gallen S-Bahn.

Frauenfeld–Wil railway (S15)
An old Frauenfeld–Wil train in Münchwilen
Overview
Owner	Appenzell Railways
Locale	Switzerland
Termini	Frauenfeld Wil
Service
Type	Light rail
Services	1
History
Opened	1887 electrification 1921
Technical
Line length	17.44 km (10.84 mi)
Character	841
Track gauge	1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge
Electrification	Overhead line, 1,200 V DC
Highest elevation	570.8 m (1,873 ft)
Maximum incline	46 ‰ or 4.6 %
Route diagram Legend km elev SBB line from St. Gallen SBB line from Wattwil 0.00 Wil SG ↓S15 571 m depot and workshop; Rollbock yard Thurbo line to Weinfelden SBB to line to Winterthur 2.35 Schweizerhof 531 m 3.89 Münchwilen TG 516 m 4.66 Münchwilen Pflegeheim 509 m 6.50 Rosental 487 m 7.95 Wängi GB 474 m 8.27 Wängi 470 m 9.01 Wiesengrund 465 m 9.81 Jakobstal 460 m 11.49 Matzingen 447 m 12.62 Weberei Matzingen 440 m 13.92 Murkart (until 2013) 431 m 15.13 Lüdem 423 m 16.85 Frauenfeld Marktplatz 417 m SBB line from Winterthur 17.45 Frauenfeld ↑S15 405 m SBB line to Weinfelden Source: Swiss railway atlas[1] This diagram: view talk edit

Plans to build an interurban tramway between Frauenfeld and Wil were first made in the early 1850s. The rail line opened in 1887, and was electrified in 1921. Around 1.25 million passengers use the line every year.

Locals call the train "Wilerbähnli" or "Wiler Bähnli".^[4]

Operation

S15
FW ABe 4-8 near Frauenfeld Marktplatz
Overview
Service type	St. Gallen S-Bahn service
Current operator(s)	Appenzell Railways (AB)
Former operator(s)	Frauenfeld-Wil Bahn (FWB)
Route
Termini	Frauenfeld Wil SG
Stops	10
Service frequency	Every 30 minutes
Technical
Rolling stock	Class ABe 4-8 EMUs

Trains run every 30 minutes as S15 service of St. Gallen S-Bahn, requiring 3 trains in operation at once, with trains crossing at the stations of Matzingen and Schweizerhof.

In 2011 the railway company ordered five new ABe4/8 low floor trains from Stadler Rail, to replace the old trains. However, there are plans for a 15 minutes interval in future and therefore some of the old trains will be retained. The first train was delivered in March 2013 and was tested for 3 months. It went into regular service on 26 June 2013.^[5][6][7] FWB closed the station at Murkart in 2018 in order to maintain connections with long-distance trains at Frauenfeld.^[8]

Route

S15 Frauenfeld – Wängi – Wil SG

• Frauenfeld
• Frauenfeld Marktplatz
• Lüdem (stops only on request)
• Weberei Matzingen (stops only on request)
• Matzingen
• Jakobstal (stops only on request)
• Wiesengrund (stops only on request)
• Wängi
• Rosental (stops only on request)
• Münchwilen Pflegeheim (stops only on request)
• Münchwilen TG
• Wil SG

S-Bahn St. Gallen network as of December 2021^[9]

Freight traffic

Freight trains ran on the line from 1907 until the early 2000s. This included transporter wagons from 1977 onwards.^[10]

References

1. Eisenbahnatlas Schweiz [Swiss railway atlas]. Schweers + Wall. 2012. pp. 4, 13. ISBN 978-3-89494-130-7.
2. Barrow, Keith. "Swiss metre-gauge emu on test". International Railway Journal. Simmons-Boardman Publishing Inc. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
3. "Frauenfeld-Wil-Bahn fusioniert mit den Appenzeller Bahnen". St. Galler Tagblatt (in German). 17 June 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
4. "Das Wiler Bähnli macht es vor". St. Galler Tagblatt. 2 May 2012.
5. "Frauenfeld-Wil-Bahn buys five new Stadler vehicles" (PDF). Stadler Rail. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-31. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
6. "Neue Fahrzeugflotte" [New vehicle fleet] (in German). Frauenfeld-Wil-Bahn. Archived from the original on 4 July 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
7. "Worldwide Review". Tramways & Urban Transit. Light Rail Transit Association. September 2013. p. 399.
8. Koch, Samuel (21 September 2017). "FRAUENFELD: Bald fährt das Wiler Bähnli vorbei". Tagblatt (in German). Retrieved 18 September 2021.
9. https://www.ostwind.ch/assets/resources/Dateien/Download/zonenplaene/2022-sbb-rv-sg.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
10. "Wilerbähnli". Felix's Homepage.

Further reading

• Waldburger, Hans (1987). Die Frauenfeld–Wil-Bahn. Geschichte einer Regionalbahn 1887–1987 (in German). Luzern: Minirex AG. ISBN 3-907014-00-6.

External links

• Switzerland portal

• Media related to Frauenfeld–Wil railway line at Wikimedia Commons
• fw-bahn.ch Archived 2014-01-18 at the Wayback Machine Official Website
• 125 Jahre Frauenfeld-Wil-Bahn - Geschichte und Zukunft der Regionalbahn Archived 2013-11-09 at the Wayback Machine
• Frauenfeld-Wil-Bahn buys five new Stadler vehicles Archived 2011-08-31 at the Wayback Machine Stadler Media Release, June 30, 2011
• bahnweb.ch bahnweb.ch