The switching device contains an encapsulating housing (1) filled with insulating gas. A grounding contact (14) and a disconnector contact (15) are held in stationary fashion in the interior of the housing (1). In addition, a moveable contact element (9), which can be displaced along an axis (8) and can be brought into or out of engagement with at least one of the two contacts (14, 15), is arranged in the housing interior. A drive (13), which is guided through the wall of the housing (1) and can have force applied to it from the outside, acts on the moveable contact element (9). This drive (13) has a retaining element (12), which can be displaced along the axis (8) and is guided radially in the conductor tube (11). The moveable contact element (9) comprises at least one of two contact tubes (9′, 9″), which can preferably be detachably connected to the retaining element (12). A first one (9′) of the two contact tubes forms the mating contact of a grounding device (E) containing the grounding contact (14), and a second one (9″) forms the mating contact of a disconnector (T) containing the disconnector contact (15). This switching device can easily be retrofitted by adding or removing the contact tubes (9′, 9″) such that it can perform the functions of disconnection and grounding, only disconnection or only grounding, depending on requirements.