About France

     France (French: IPA: [fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, IPA: [ʁepyˈblik fʁɑ̃ˈsɛz]), is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various overseas islands and territories located in other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. French people often refer to Metropolitan France as L'Hexagone (The "Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory.

     France is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra, and Spain. Due to its overseas departments, France also shares land borders with Brazil and Suriname (bordering French Guiana), and the Netherlands Antilles (bordering Saint-Martin). France is also linked to the United Kingdom by the Channel Tunnel, which passes underneath the English Channel.

     The French Republic is a democracy that is organised as a unitary semi-presidential republic. Its main ideals are expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. In the 18th and 19th centuries, France built one of the largest colonial empires of the time, stretching across West Africa and Southeast Asia, prominently influencing the cultures and politics of the regions. France is a developed country with the sixth-largest economy in the world. France is the most visited country in the world, receiving over 79 million foreign tourists annually (including business visitors, but excluding people staying less than 24 hours in France). France is one of the founding members of the European Union, and has the largest land area of all members. France is also a founding member of the United Nations, and a member of the Francophonie, the G8, and the Latin Union. It is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council; it is also an acknowledged nuclear power.

     The name France originates from the Franks (Francs), a Germanic tribe that occupied northern Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. More precisely, the region around Paris, called Île-de-France, was the original French royal demesne. The first King of the Franks, Clovis, is regarded as the forefather of the French kings.

About Luzern

     The Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn (LSE) is a narrow gauge rack railway in Switzerland with a track gauge of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3⅜in). 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 Brünigbahn in 1956, a concession was passed. However, it could not be accomplished by the StEB due to its financial difficulties. In 1964, there followed a complete reorganization of the railway with the change of the overhead lines tor 15 kV 16 2/3 Hz, as well as the continuation after Hergiswil. In December the line went back into business as the Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn (LSE).

    On the section between Hergiswil and Lucerne, the LSE has speeds comparable with of that of the Brünigbahn.

    The LSE merged with the SBB Brünigbahn in 2005 to form the Zentralbahn.