Swiss Federal Railways (German: Schweizerische Bundesbahnen, French: Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses, Italian: Ferrovie federali svizzere) is the national railway company of Switzerland. It is usually referred to by the initials of its German, French and Italian names, either concatenated as SBB CFF FFS, or used separately. The Romansh version of its name, Viafiers federalas svizras, is not officially used.
The company is headquartered in Bern. Formerly a government institution, since 1999 it has been a special stock corporation with all shares held by the Swiss Confederation or the Swiss cantons.
A train is a connected series of rail vehicles propelled along a track (or "permanent way") to transport cargo or passengers.
Motive power is provided by a separate locomotive or individual motors in self-propelled multiple units. Although historically steam propulsion dominated, the most common modern forms are diesel and electric locomotives, the latter supplied by overhead wires or additional rails. Other energy sources include horses, rope or wire, gravity, pneumatics, batteries, and gas turbines.
Train tracks usually consists of two, three or four rails, with a limited number of monorails and maglev guideways in the mix.
The word 'train' comes from the Old French trahiner, from the Latin trahere 'pull, draw'.
There are various types of trains that are designed for particular purposes. A train can consist of a combination of one or more locomotives and attached railroad cars, or a self-propelled multiple unit (or occasionally a single or articulated powered coach, called a railcar). Trains can also be hauled by horses, pulled by a cable, or run downhill by gravity.