Swiss East–West Railway

The Swiss East–West Railway (German: Schweizerische Ostwestbahn, OWB) was a former Swiss rail company, which planned to build a line to compete with the network of the Swiss Central Railway (German: Schweizerische Centralbahn, SCB) in central Switzerland on which construction commenced in 1857.

Jakob Stämpfli, a federal politician, established the company to build a line between La Neuveville (on Lake Biel in western Switzerland) and Zürich via Bern, Langnau im Emmental, Luzern and Zug.

It began construction without raising sufficient finance to guarantee its completion.

The completed section from La Neuveville and Langnau line was taken over by the canton of Bern and incorporated as the Bernese State Railway (German: Bernische Staatsbahn, BSB) in June 1861, which continued building the line to Lucerne.

The concession for the section from Lucerne to Zürich via Affoltern am Albis was bought out of the bankrupt estate by the Swiss Northeast Railway (German: Schweizerische Nordostbahn) and established as a subsidiary, the Zürich–Zug–Lucerne Railway (German: Zürich–Zug–Luzern-Bahn, ZZL).