Zurich-Zug-Luzern-Bahn

Zurich-Zug-Luzern-Bahn
Zurich-Lucerne railway lines: the Zurich-Zug-Lucerne railway is blue and green
Timetable field :	660, 711
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	15 kV 16.7 Hz  ~
Maximum slope :	19  ‰
Altstetten – Zug – Lucerne
Legend 0.07 Zurich HB (eq. 3-18) 408  m above sea level M. Zurich – Brugg railway line 4.17 Zurich Altstetten 399  m above sea level M. SBB route to Brugg 8.57 Urdorf 443  m above sea level M. 9.84 Urdorf Weihermatt 461  m above sea level M. 10.36 Moren 467  m above sea level M. 12.72 Birmensdorf ZH 488  m above sea level M. Landikon 482 m 16.39 Filderen 527  m above sea level M. 06/18 Bonstetten - Wettswil 528  m above sea level M. Chrüzacher 21 m 11/22 Hedingen 497  m above sea level M. 24.84 Affoltern am Albis 494  m above sea level M. 28.91 Mettmenstetten 460  m above sea level M. A4 Bibersee 82 m 31.73 Knonau 436  m above sea level M. 34.73 Steinhausen 424  m above sea level M. VL «swamp switch» (until 1970) 36.37 41.43 Pan grinder 419  m above sea level M. 41.26 Zug Chollermüli 419  m above sea level M. Loop Zug (1897–1990), from Knonau 39.53 Train guardian angel 423  m above sea level M. Aabachstrasse (l / r) 99/100 m SBB route from Arth-Goldau 38.83 Train wedge station 425  m above sea level M. Loop Zug (1897–1990), to Cham / Arth SBB route to Thalwil 42.43 Cham Alpenblick 416  m above sea level M. 43.57 Cham 418  m above sea level M. 44.36 Hünenberg Zythus 420  m above sea level M. 44.86 Hünenberg Chämleten 422  m above sea level M. SBB- ASB from Immensee 49.00 Red cross 429  m above sea level M. SBB- ASB to Aarau / Brugg 52.82 Gisikon - Root 421  m above sea level M. 55.26 Längenbold Root D4 417  m above sea level M. 57.07 Buchrain 419  m above sea level M. 58.57 Ebikon 421  m above sea level M. 60.64 Rotsee 424  m above sea level M. Friedental 120 m Reuss Lucerne 142 m 64.01 SBB route from Olten 64.01 SBB route from Bern to Langnau 64.01 91.82 Fluhmühle 436  m above sea level M. SBB- GB from Immensee 92.85 Gütsch 440  m above sea level M. Gütsch 326 m 93.36 Heimbach 438  m above sea level M. Schönheim 199 m KLB from Kriens 95.09 Lucerne 436  m above sea level M. Connection to ZB

The Zürich-Zug-Luzern-Bahn is a former Swiss railway company. Their standard-gauge railway lines are in the Swiss cantons of Zurich , Zug and Lucerne and are now owned by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB).

history

Ostwestbahn project

Federal Councilor Jakob Stämpfli got the Swiss Ostwestbahn (OWB) rolling in 1857 , which was to build a second railway line in the Swiss Plateau in direct competition with the Swiss Central Railway (SCB). Basler SCB had acquired route concessions to Aarau, Lucerne, Bern and Biel and controlled rail traffic in the Central Plateau. As a Bernese railway company, OWB was supposed to compete directly with SCB.

OWB planned a railway line from La Neuveville via Biel, Bern, Langnau im Emmental, Lucerne and Zug to Zurich and began construction without the financing of the line being secured. The OWB was only able to open the Frienisberg – Biel line on December 3, 1860, before going bankrupt; the canton of Bern founded the Bernische Staatsbahn (BSB) in April 1861 , took over the bankrupt OWB on June 1, 1861 and completed the route projects in the canton of Bern that had begun by 1864.

Execution of the Nordostbahn

The project planning and the concession of the Zurich – Zug – Lucerne route, however, was taken over by the Swiss Northeast Railway (NOB) from the bankruptcy estate of OWB. The Zurich NOB founded the Zurich-Zug-Lucerne (ZZL) subsidiary and began building the line after minor revisions to the project.

Basically planned as a single line, the topography only allowed the inexpensive connection to Zug by means of a branch line, which was connected at the Kollermühle by means of a large triangular track. The three branches Altstetten – Zug, Kollermühle – Gütsch and the connecting curve Knonau – Cham were jointly put into operation on June 1, 1864 by the ZZL. The Gleisdreieck allowed the equivalent connection of the routes Zurich – Zug, Zug – Lucerne and Lucerne – Zurich.

The Altstetten station was redesigned for the introduction of ZZL in the NOB-Zurich-Glattbrugg to Keilbahnhof and a new station building, designed by Jakob Friedrich Wanner created. He was also responsible for the design of the Zug train station , which was located at what is now Bundesplatz and had a triangular track for turning trains.

The ZZL line ended at the underground service station in Lucerne, where it merged into the SCB line Lucerne – Emmenbrücke (–Olten), which was opened in 1859 and which had to be used to reach the Lucerne railway station , which also belongs to the SCB . The Lucerne entrance changed again in August 1875 when the route of the Bern-Lucerne Railway (BLB) from Langnau i. E. was introduced at the new Fluhmühle service station and the access to the station was laid through the 317 meter long Gibraltar tunnel.

Connection to the Gotthard Railway

In addition to the already weak financial situation of the Swiss private railways, there was an economic crisis in the 1870s that effectively brought rail construction to a standstill; However, the "Alpenbahn" was built after the contract for the construction of the Gotthard Railway (GB) was signed in 1869 . On the access routes, the forces were bundled, SCB and NOB founded the Aargauische Südbahn (ASB), which reached the Rotkreuz station at the ZZL on December 1, 1881 from Muri AG . On June 1, 1882, ASB also opened the Brugg – Hendschiken (–Muri) and Rotkreuz – Immensee lines, and GB opened the Immensee – Arth-Goldau – Göschenen line and thus the continuous traffic over the Gotthard.

The ASB allowed the SCB direct journeys via Olten and Aarau to Immensee to the provisional starting point of the Gotthard Railway, the same applied to the NOB for direct journeys via Brugg; Via the ZZL, however, a change of direction had to be made in Rotkreuz from Zurich and Zug, while direct journeys in the direction of Gotthard were possible from Lucerne. The construction of the direct Gotthard railway access from Zurich and Lucerne was postponed, namely the routes (Zurich–) Thalwil – Zug (NOB), Zug – Arth-Goldau (GB) and Lucerne – Immensee (GB). The ZZL should also lose its legal independence by the time it is opened.

Gotthard Railway feeder

On January 1, 1892, ZZL was completely taken over by its parent company NOB. At the federal level, negotiations continued on the nationalization of the private railways; the proposal to buy up the SCB was not heard in 1891, but the number of supporters of a state railway company in the councils increased steadily.

On November 1, 1896, the SCB changed the Lucerne entrance again, in connection with the construction of the second Lucerne train station; the track field of the station was turned around 90 degrees to the south and the access through the two new tunnels Schönheim and Gütsch was laid, which meant that all level crossings in the city could be removed. The Gibraltar tunnel became superfluous again after only 21 years of use and was abandoned as the third Swiss railway tunnel; until 1981 it was also the longest abandoned railway tunnel in Switzerland.

The Gotthard Railway access was finally completed on June 1, 1897, exactly 15 years after the Gotthard Railway opened. The Lucerne – Immensee line of the GB was introduced as a parallel line to the SCB on its own track in the Lucerne train station.

In view of the opening of the Thalwil – Arth-Goldau railway by NOB and GB, the Zug train station was relocated and also replaced by a new building - the old station building was moved to Zurich Wollishofen . The second train station in Zug was laid out as a wedge station, the track triangle was replaced by the so-called Zuger Loop. The Zug loop itself was shut down in 1990 in connection with the introduction of the Zurich S-Bahn.

Trains on the ZZL line from Zurich drove via the loop from the north into Zug station; there was the possibility of driving in the direction of Arth-Goldau, or on the ZZL route to Lucerne. For the latter option, a parallel track between Kollermühle and Zug was put into operation on December 18, 1897, which dictated the journey on the ZZL route from Cham via the southern track - station - loop - northern track to Knonau (and vice versa), provided the Zuger Station should also be served.

In the course of 1897 the councils also passed the so-called repurchase law, against which a referendum was called; The law that was to form the basis of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) was put to the vote in 1898, when it was adopted by a two-thirds majority. The nationalization of the NOB took place formally on January 1, 1902, with the result that the line of the former ZZL also became the property of SBB.

Zurich – Zug railway line

See also route article: Zurich – Zug railway line

The route leads through the historic Knonaueramt (today the Affoltern district), which is what earned it the colloquial name of the Knonauer route. It lost its importance as a feeder to the Gotthard with the opening of the Thalwil – Arth-Goldau railway in 1897. The direct trains Zurich – Lucerne now also use the route via Thalwil, so that this branch became a real branch line with no transit traffic. With the introduction of the Zurich S-Bahn , the route was awakened a little from its slumber. As a result of the increasing passenger flow, some extensions have been made since then.

Railway line Zug – Lucerne

See also route article: Railway line Zug – Lucerne

The line between Zug and Lucerne has not yet been fully expanded to double-track. In particular, the single-track section along the Rotsee , through the Friedental Tunnel and over the subsequent Reuss Bridge is now considered the bottleneck of this route. In connection with the expansion of the Lucerne train station, various options for rectifying it are being examined.

The Zug – Rotkreuz section was massively expanded in connection with the introduction of the Zug light rail system.

literature

• Hans G. Wägli: Swiss Rail Network . AS Verlag, Zurich 1998, ISBN 3-905111-21-7 .
• Hans G. Wägli: Railway Profile Switzerland 2005 . Diplory Verlag, Grafenried 2004.
• Hans-Peter Bärtschi, Anne-Marie Dubler : Railways: The construction period 1850-1870. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .