Alfred Escher, Zurich and the Gotthard

Read the PDF edition (2 pages)

The railway age also changed the balance between the Swiss financial centres. In Zurich, the politician and entrepreneur Alfred Escher founded the Swiss Northeastern Railway in 1853 and, to finance it, the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt in 1856, a joint-stock bank on the model of the French Crédit Mobilier.¹ The Kreditanstalt, later Credit Suisse, became the largest bank of Switzerland and the principal financier of the railways and industry of eastern Switzerland. Escher also led the Gotthard Railway Company, which built the railway through the Alps with financial participation from Germany, Italy and Switzerland. The Gotthard tunnel, opened in 1882, was the greatest engineering achievement of its time.

The Gotthard line made Basel the northern gateway of the most important transalpine railway route between northern Europe and Italy. Goods and travellers from Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and northern France passed through Basel on their way to Milan and Genoa. The city's role as a hub of transit, which Part A traced back to the Roman roads over the Jura, was renewed and multiplied by the railway.

Zurich's founding of a large joint-stock bank linked to railway finance gave it a lead in Swiss commercial banking that it never lost. Basel responded with the transformation of its consortium into a joint-stock bank in 1872, as Chapter III shows, but the centre of gravity of Swiss banking moved to Zurich in the second half of the nineteenth century. The companion volume on Zurich examines this development from the Zurich side.

Notes

On Alfred Escher (1819–1882), the Swiss Northeastern Railway (Schweizerische Nordostbahn, 1853), the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (1856) and the Gotthard Railway Company (1871), see HLS, article "Escher, Alfred". To be verified. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of August 2025.

English

Contact

Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Rechtsanwalt/Attorney-at-Law

I am a Swiss attorney-at-law and also admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong and in England & Wales, with almost 25 years of experience.

Together with my multilingual team, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Ukrainian and French native speakers, I advise companies and their owners from around the world on the full range of banking, corporate, commercial and tax law matters in Switzerland, including international tax planning, fiduciary services, and legal family office services including immigration & relocation or real estate investments. My practice has a particular focus on clients from growth and frontier markets in Greater China, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the rest of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, and I equally advise clients from Europe and North America. Through an affiliated Swiss trust company, we also take care of the incorporation and ongoing administration of their companies and other structures, including accounting, tax returns and corporate secretarial services, and I serve as a professional director where required. With the support of a network of first-class cooperation partners, I also implement solutions worldwide.

My approach is to act as a trusted advisor who works directly with decision-makers, on an equal footing: I start from what you want to achieve and shape every structure, contract and tax decision around your commercial goals and how it improves your after-tax return. As “lawyers who make it happen”, my team and I stay involved until your company is set up, your structure is in place and your transaction has closed, and we remain available for any follow-on work that may be required. You benefit from bespoke solutions and personal attention, and sound, friendly and practical advice. We are not the lowest-cost provider in the market, nor do we intend to be; our aim is to deliver well-founded, proper solutions and excellent value for money.

Get in touch →

Alfred Escher, Zurich and the Gotthard

Notes

Setting up or expanding in Switzerland?