Eglisau – Neuhausen railway line

Eglisau – Neuhausen (CH)
Timetable field :	760
Route length:	17.88 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	15 kV 16.7 Hz  ~
Maximum slope :	13  ‰
Legend from Bülach 22.25 Eglisau 390.2 m to Koblenz Eglisau Rhine Bridge (440 m) 23.60 Hüntwangen - Wil 393.2 m 27.04 Rafz 423.5 m 29.30 National border CH-D 30.16 Lottstetten 448.3 m 32.40 Jestetten South 438.1 m 34.33 Jestetten 437.9 m 36.42 Altenburg - Rheinau 428.0 m 37.50 State border D-CH 37.73 Fischerhölzli 415.8 m Fischerhölzli (112 m) Schweizerhof II (84 m) Schweizerhof I (82 m) 39.0 Neuhausen Rhine Falls 402 m Neuhausen (144 m) from Winterthur 40.13 Neuhausen 397.2 m to Schaffhausen

The Eglisau – Neuhausen railway is the last section of the Zurich - Bülach - Schaffhausen railway , which was opened on June 1, 1897 by the Swiss Northeastern Railway (NOB). The route runs between Rafz and Neuhausen across German territory, but is still subject to Swiss railway operating regulations and the Swiss internal tariff.

history

Schaffhausen has been connected to the Swiss railway network since 1857, but the Rhine Falls Railway, which opened at the time, runs via Winterthur . Because this no longer met the needs, especially as the Gotthard feeder, the Swiss Northeast Railway decided to build a more direct route. Since this leads over German territory near Jestetten and Lottstetten , a state treaty was concluded on May 21, 1875 between Switzerland and the Grand Duchy of Baden , which regulates the construction and operation.

The railway branches off from the Rheinfallbahn in Neuhausen and follows the northern bank of the Rhine , whereby four larger engineering structures were necessary before the state border. These are the 144 meter long Neuhausen tunnel, the 82 meter long Schweizerhof I bridge, the 84 meter long Schweizerhof II bridge and the 112 meter long Fischerhölzli tunnel. This is followed by the three stations located in Germany: Altenburg-Rheinau , Jestetten and Lottstetten , with the Altenburg-Rheinau station being abandoned. Immediately after Lottstetten, Swiss territory is reached again. This is followed by the two stations Rafz and Hüntwangen - Wil , then the Rhine is crossed on the 440-meter-long Eglisau bridge . In Eglisau, the line connects to the Winterthur – Bülach – Koblenz railway , which was opened on August 1, 1876. The section between Eglisau and Bülach was expanded to double track in connection with the construction of the railway to Schaffhausen.

The route kilometrage begins in Winterthur. The Eglisau – Neuhausen section is the continuation of the Oerlikon – Bülach line opened by the Bülach-Regensberg Railway on May 1, 1865 .

On December 15, 1928, electrical operation with 15,000 volts and 16.7 Hz between Zurich and Schaffhausen was started.

The second track between Neuhausen and Schaffhausen was laid between 1929 and 1930, but only opened as an official double-track line on September 1, 1931, because the station entrance had to be adapted first. For this purpose, the exit tracks from Schaffhausen station in the direction of Neuhausen for the two lines of the DB and SBB had to be expanded from two to four tracks at the Obertor . This expansion work could only be completed in the course of 1931.

Eglisau – Neuhausen railway line (left) and Rhine Falls Railway (right) near Neuhausen

The line between Hüntwangen-Wil and Rafz was expanded to double lane from May 29, 2009 and put into operation at the end of 2010. With the opening of the double lane Jestetten Süd-Fischerhölzli in December 2012, the continuous half-hourly service in long-distance traffic between Schaffhausen and Zurich could be started. The remaining stretches that were left out of the double-lane expansion will be left as they are, mainly because of their engineering structures, since an expansion would require a great deal of effort. The missing double-lane section Rafz – Jestetten Süd is still in the planning stage, not on any priority list and without guaranteed financing, and therefore also without a construction date.

Due to poor frequency and in favor of the double-lane expansion and a future stop in Neuhausen Zentrum, the Altenburg-Rheinau station has not been served since the timetable change in 2011.

The Neuhausen Rheinfall stop was put into operation with the timetable change in December 2015.

business

Eglisau bridge over the Rhine

Today runs on the track every hour an Intercity Zurich - singing , which in two hourly move to Stuttgart on drives or in singing following an Intercity has to Stuttgart. The RegioExpress also runs between Zurich and Schaffhausen with stops in Zurich Oerlikon and Bülach. Local traffic consists of the hourly line S9 Uster – Zurich – Oberglatt – Rafz – Schaffhausen of the S-Bahn Zurich and a S-Bahn line Jestetten – Schaffhausen of the S-Bahn Schaffhausen . The S9 runs every half hour during rush hour and on Saturdays.

The free ride with the German disabled pass is also valid on the section Schaffhausen-Lottstetten.

Transit freight trains from the Kornwestheim freight yard over the Gotthard use this route. The gravel works in Rafzerfeld generate a large volume of rail traffic from numerous sidings between Hüntwangen and Rafz by sending gravel by rail and filling the dismantled gravel pits with excavated material from major construction sites throughout the Canton of Zurich in block trains .

accident

On February 20, 2015, two trains collided on a flank journey in Rafz station due to a disrupted operating situation . An InterRegio train passing through Zurich – Schaffhausen drove sideways into an S-Bahn multiple unit that was on the way from Rafz to Schaffhausen and had started despite the stop signal. Six people were injured and the train driver for the Interregio was seriously injured. Due to a gap in the ZUB train control system , this could not prevent the collision.

→ Main article : Rafz railway accident

literature

• Hans G. Wägli: Swiss rail network and Swiss rail profile CH + , AS Verlag , Zurich, 2010, ISBN 978-3-909111-74-9

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Newspaper article from 1897 about the railway line
2. ↑ State treaty between Switzerland and the Grand Duchy of Baden regarding the connection of the railways on both sides at Schaffhausen and Stühlingen (PDF; 22 kB)
3. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: project description on BAV homepage
4. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: project description on BAV homepage
5. ↑ http://data.immoserver.ch/file/210033/SBB_Haltestelle_Neuhausen_Rheinfall.pdf PDF information sheet on the new stop
6. ↑ https://www.oepnv-info.de/freifahrt/informationen/baden-wuerttemberg/tarife-und-besonderheiten-baden-wuerttemberg/strecke-schaffhausen-schweiz-lottstetten-deutschland
7. ^ Walter von Andrian, Fabian Scheeder: The collision in Rafz . In: Swiss Railway Review . No. 4 . Minirex, 2015, ISSN  1022-7113 , p. 170-174 .