In the 19th century, the still young federal state left the organisation of railways to the cantons, which in turn licensed the construction and operation of railways to private companies. While the cantons of Zurich and Aarau wanted a connection between Zurich and Basel either via the Bözberg Pass (the preference of Aargau) or via Waldshut and continuing on the German side of the Rhine (the preference of Zürich), Basel advocated a railway junction in Olten, from which lines would run to Basel, Zurich, Lucerne, Bern and Biel. This was also the recommendation of a report, which was produced in 1850 by the well-known English railway engineers Robert Stephenson and Henry Swinburne.