Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn
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The Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn (LSE, pro. ehl-ehs-eh) is a narrow gauge cog railway in Switzerland with a track width of 1,000 mm (1 m). 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 Bruenigbahn in 1956, a concession was passed, which could not be accomplished by the StEB however due to its financial difficulties. In 1964, following a complete reorganization of the railway with a change of the overhead line after 15 kV 16 2/3 Hz per second alternating current, as it is also with the SBB, 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 Bruenigbahn.
The LSE merged with the SBB Bruenigbahn in 2005 to form the Zentralbahn