The GossauâÂÂWasserauen railway line is a metre-gauge adhesion railway of the Appenzell Railways (Appenzeller Bahnen; AB). It runs from Gossau via Appenzell to Wasserauen in Switzerland and is given the abbreviation of GAW by the operator. The connection was built and electrified in several stages by different companies and has been operating continuously since 1949.
The line was developed in the following stages:
In order to be able to carry standard-gauge wagons on the metre-gauge network, a Rollbock system was opened in Gossau on 1 July 1978, allowing operations on the GossauâÂÂWasserauen route. Rollbock operations were extended on the AppenzellâÂÂGaisâÂÂTeufen route from 1989. Goods traffic ended by the end of 2003 and the Rollbock system was taken out of service on 1 August 2010.
Appenzell Railways operates half-hourly service between and . This is designated as line S23 of the St. Gallen S-Bahn. The S23 is also part of the Bodensee S-Bahn.
In addition to regular station stops, the S23 stops on request at Gonten Alpsteinblick, between and , to serve the Alpsteinblick ski lift.
â â âÂÂ