In 1853 the Swiss Central Railway (German: Schweizerische Centralbahn, SCB) began to build the Basel-Olten line through the Hauenstein pass, with branches from Olten to Aarau and Lucerne, Bern and Thun and from Herzogenbuchsee to Solothurn and Biel. At the same time the Swiss Northeastern Railway (German: Schweizerische Nordostbahn, NOB) concentrated on eastern Switzerland in the cantons of Zürich and Thurgau; its network covered the lines from Zürich to Lake Constance and to Schaffhausen and later to Lucerne. The United Swiss Railways (VSB) built lines from Winterthur to Rorschach and from Wallisellen to Rapperswil, Sargans and Chur. There were contracts for sharing the interlinked VSB line between Weesen and Glarus and the NOB line between Ziegelbrücke, Näfels, Glarus and Linthal.