The SCB based in Basel was founded on 4 February 1853 by Johann Jakob Speiser, Achilles Bischoff and Karl Geigy.

The cantons of Luzern and Bern and Bernese municipalities rescued the company by buying shares and subsidies totaling CHF 6 million.

The main goal of the SCB was the construction of a railway network in the shape of a cross with its centre at Olten.

Its intention was to forestall Zürich interests who wanted to build a line via Turgi to Waldshut on the Baden bank of the Rhine to Basel.

The issue of concessions for railway lines in Aargau was also controversial because there was a fight between the interests of Basel and Zürich in this canton.

The canton of Basel-Landschaft refused to issue a concession for a Bötzberg Railway, which caused considerable disagreement in Aargau.

In Olten there is a stone relief documenting the zero point of the distance measurement of the railway lines prescribed by the Federal Government.

SCB's annual reports provide information on the rapidly growing volume of rail traffic on the network.

The capacity of the Hauenstein line, at that time the only railway connection from the Rhine Valley to the Swiss Plateau, proved inadequate after just a few years.

Originally, the National Railway planned a line from Aarau via Olten through the Gäu to Solothurn and on to Lyss.

The SCB also committed to build a local railway (Lokalbahn) from Liestal to Waldenburg and to participate in the Sissach–Gelterkinden tramway (Sissach-Gelterkinden-Bahn), including funding a third of its construction costs.

The SCB increased its share capital from CHF 37.5 to 50 million in 1873 to finance the construction of new lines and the duplication of parts of the old network.

When Alsace-Lorraine was ceded to Germany as a result of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, attempts were made to build a rail link from Delle to Lucerne via Delémont and Langenthal (Jura–Gotthard Railway).

However, the raising of additional funds was difficult due to the economic crisis and led to significant restrictions on the construction program.

The Basel Connecting Line was built by the SCB together with the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways and put into operation on 3 November 1873.

Also, the initially loss-making Southern Railway produced abundant profits from 1882, half of which were paid to the SCB.