Zurich railway station bridge

Coordinates: 47 ° 22 ′ 37 "  N , 8 ° 32 ′ 34"  E ; CH1903:  683,380  /  247,928

Station bridge
Railway station bridge, view in the direction of the Limmat
use	Road traffic and tram, connection Bahnhofplatz - Central
Crossing of	Limmat
place	Old town (District 1), Zurich
width	1863: 10.5 m 1899: 15.5 m 1952: 28 m
construction time	1861–1863, widened in 1899, new building 1950–1952
engineer	Arnold Bürkli
location
Bridges in the city of Zurich

The station bridge in Zurich connects the station square over the Limmat with the Central .

history

First train station in Zurich. On the left the bridge over the Schanzengraben , on the right the Lange Steg.

First train station

The Swiss Northern Railway (SNB) connected Zurich and Baden from 1847 , although the station was built on the site of today's Zurich main station . The location on the headland between Sihl and Limmat shortly before their confluence of the two rivers was poorly connected to the city at that time: It was north of the city to the left of the Limmat and could only be reached via a small bridge over the Schanzengraben . At that time the Schanzengraben still flowed into the Limmat above the train station, not like today at the Gessnerallee into the Sihl. The city on the right bank was connected to the train station via the Lange Steg . This wooden bridge from 1662 could not be used by heavy wagons. They could only reach the station via the Rathausbrücke .

Railway station bridge by Arnold Bürkli, photo taken around 1870. In the background, the ETH still without a dome, to the left of the bridge in the foreground is the Neumühle, Escher Wyss' first factory building .

Arnold Bürkli Bridge

In 1853 the Swiss Northern Railway was merged with the Zurich-Lake Constance Railway to form the Swiss Northeast Railway (NOB). In 1854 the new railway company decided to leave the station's location unchanged and to introduce the railway line from Winterthur via Oerlikon to the existing station. So that the train station could be better connected to the city on the right of the Limmat, the city engineer Arnold Bürkli created a project in the same year for the construction of the train station bridge, which was to be located a little above the Lange Steg and was to replace it. Construction of the bridge began in autumn 1861, with the Schanzengraben being diverted into the Sihl. Arnold Bürkli was responsible for the construction management, the entrepreneur was Johann Ludwig Pestalozzi , who previously worked mainly for the United Swiss Railways. The construction work was completed in 1863 and the bridge opened to traffic in 1864. Unlike the Lange Steg, the stone arch bridge led over the Papierwerd .

Arnold Bürkli's bridge was widened by five meters downstream in 1899.

New building in the 1950s

The new construction of the station bridge in the 1950s. The new bridge between Werdinsel and Central has been completed. The arm of the Limmat to the left of the Werdinsel will be replaced by the motor vehicle underpass. The arches of the old bridge can still be seen.

On September 12, 1948, the voters decided on a loan of CHF 10.65 million for the redesign of the Bahnhofplatz, the Central - at that time still Leonhardplatz - and the new construction of the Bahnhofbrücke. Before the new station bridge could be built, the old Globus property had to be demolished and the motor vehicle underpass built on Bahnhofquai. The existing bridge was gradually demolished between 1950 and 1952. The new concrete slab bridge was made wider upstream compared to the old bridge, but still uses the pillar foundations of the old bridge. On the side of the Central, the banks of the Limmat were raised in order to gain more space for the tram stop. There is therefore a filled in arch of the old bridge under the square. On the station side, the Limmat river bed was used for the motor vehicle underpass at Bahnhofquai, so that the newly built bridge was shorter than its predecessor.

Web links

Commons : Bahnhofbrücke  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• The station bridge. In: Gang dur Alt-Züri. 
• Cornelia Bauer, Hanspeter Rebsamen, Jan Capol: Bahnhofbrücke . In: INSA: Inventory of modern Swiss architecture, 1850-1920: Cities: Zurich . Orell Füssli, 1992, Bahnhofbrücke, p. 305 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-10931 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Matthias Dürst: The Long Bridge. In: Gang dur Alt-Züri. Retrieved September 5, 2019 . 
2. ↑ General renovation of Zurich main station south wing. The main station from 1871. SBB, accessed on August 26, 2019 . 
3. ↑ INSA
4. ^ Construction of the City of Zurich, Civil Engineering Office: Competition for widening the station bridge . In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung . tape 34 , no. 8 , August 26, 1899, advertisement section ( archive.org ).
5. ↑ Redesign of Bahnhofplatz and Leonhardsplatz in Zurich . In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung . 1948, doi : 10.5169 / seals-56796 .