Guest Editor: Dr. Paul Salveson, Director, Transnet Research and Secretary,
Community Railways, Huddersfield, United Kingdom

A breath of fresh air is coming to many of Europe's rural railways, after decades of decline and neglect. It's all to do with local control: involving local government and community groups in the promotion and management of rural railways.

Swiss private train connects into Swiss federal railways (SBB) services at Moutier.

In some countries this is nothing new. Switzerland has nearly sixty independent railways which feed into the main Swiss railway network. They range from short country branch lines to major lines owned by companies like the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon Railway operating through international services, as well as local feeder services. Most of the independent lines are owned by a combination of canton (country or region), and the federal government. Sometimes there is a small degree of individual shareholding. The railways co-operate closely with each other and with the state operator, Swiss Federal Railways. Trains connect with amazing precision, and there is through ticketing from the local lines to the rest of Switzerland and the whole of Europe. Many trains are modern, highly accessible, and fuel-efficient vehicles which are a pleasure to ride on.

Furka-Oberalp Railway train Andermatt, Switzerland

   Germany is a relative newcomer to the concept of "local railways for local people," or what in Britain we call "the community railway." Recent legislation handed over responsibility for Germany's extensive local and regional passenger services to the regional (länder) governments. In turn, the regions are cooperating with local authorities (the kreise) to allow them to take over the operation of some local railways which German Railways (DB) wanted to close down.
   The most exciting example of the success of this approach is the Dürener Kreisbahn (Düren Country Railway) which is located between Aachen and Köln. Under local ownership and management the line has seen a massive

October 1995