Zurich freight yard

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Former freight yard; Photo taken in 2016, before the building was demolished

The Zurich freight yard was a building in Zurich's Aussersihl district , which was used for goods traffic for the city of Zurich and its agglomeration. It was in the apron of Zurich main station , west of the coal triangle , where the railway lines separate via the Aussersihl viaduct to Oerlikon and to Wiedikon . The horseshoe-shaped terminal station was considered to be the most modern freight station in Europe at the time.

description

A three-storey goods expedition building was built as the end of the entire facility. This four-storey central risalit joined a large forecourt like a castle. The entrance area and the continuous base band were made of granite ; the cornices , keystones and ribbons of sandstone . The long wings of the saw-shaped goods halls connected to the recessed articulated structures. Inside, the architectural equipment was limited to a few elements that were concentrated in the entrance area. The entrance and counter hall were delimited by round arches and strongly profiled ceiling fields corresponded with colored patterned terrazzo floors , which were later replaced by a glass stone floor . In each wing there was a staircase; A generous staircase on the central axis was dispensed with. The flat roofs with saddle-shaped skylights in the goods and reception halls were supported by cast iron columns with visible screw connections.

The freight yard can be seen as a late example of historicism . The freight yard was assigned a mediating role between the development of the Aussersihl district and the track field. In addition, the overall architectural and organizational concept - impressive head building and wing structures with staggered loading tracks - served as a template for other systems in Germany and abroad. For example, in 1904 for the Basel Bad Bf freight yard . The “sawing principle” developed by Robert Moser was even described in the 1900 Locomotive Magazine in London .

history

Previous buildings and plans

Three years after the construction of Zurich's main train station, around 1850, the first open goods ramp was built in the Zurich train station. Just eight years after the opening of the Zurich train station, the number of passengers was 100,000 and over 8,000 tons of goods were moved. As early as 1855, a goods shed had to be built in the station (today's platform 18). On June 26, 1856, the Swiss Northeast Railway (NOB) opened the Wipkinger line , which led to a further increase in freight traffic in Zurich. So more goods sheds followed. The first “real” freight yard went into operation in 1863. It was on the west bank of the Sihl on the tracks in the direction of Baden and consisted of three goods sheds with 100 meter long ramps. For this purpose, there were two larger "Niederlagsgebauten" behind it, which were connected by a turntable , a fuel cellar and two acid sheds .

A year before the opening of the railway line to Thalwil , there was a discussion for the extension of the Zurich train station. In particular, a separation of goods and passenger traffic was in the room; In 1874 there were already 472,000 tons of goods and 1.4 million passengers. In the same year, the NOB engineer Robert Moser presented a plan for a through freight station in the then undeveloped Sihlfeld between today's Hardplatz and Kalkbreite . The "Project Moser", which provided for seven goods halls and three turntable sheds and would cost 12 million francs, met resistance from the city of Zurich. Due to the financial difficulties of the NOB in 1877/1878, the expansion plans failed.

"New freight yard" project

At the end of 1894, the NOB again presented a project for a freight yard that should separate passenger and freight traffic. The 20 million franc project envisaged a combined through and terminus station between Hardplatz and the Zurich – Thalwil line. On February 4, 1895, the project was submitted to the Federal Railway Department (now DETEC). A counter-draft presented by a commission of experts appointed by the city council envisaged the freight station on the other side - in today's industrial district between Hardstrasse and Langstrasse . The Zurich city council approved the original project on February 4, 1896 with a few changes. On April 30, 1896, the NOB submitted the revised and reduced renovation project for the Zurich train station. It only provided for the relocation of the freight station to Aussersihl, a new express freight station and a few additional tracks for the passenger station. The railway technical plans - a freight station with a space-saving saw or staggered loading track arrangement - came from the former NOB engineer Moser, the high-rise buildings were planned by engineer Legani and the architect Vital Kirchen. On June 4, 1896, the Federal Council gave its final approval.

Photo from 1904 with the freight yard on the far right

The groundbreaking ceremony took place on August 24, 1896 . The freight yard was partially put into operation on May 17, 1897. The entire freight yard was ready for use in September. On the more than 100,000 square meter site stood the three-story administration wing, the approximately 400-meter-long reception hall, which accommodated eleven squadrons of four freight cars, and the 250-meter-long dispatch hall with four squadrons of 4 freight cars. A vaulted cellar with more than 7,000 square meters of storage space, where, among other things, 50 wooden and cement barrels with a total capacity of 6,100 hectoliters were located, was located under the new freight yard. Around 500 meters of around 9.5 kilometers of track were covered.

In operation from 1897 to 1980

In the first year of operation, around 500 employees handled 697,893 tons of goods; the highest level during the NOB era. On June 1, 1901, the federal government took over the NOB, so the freight yard was henceforth owned by the SBB . In 1914, with a view to the First World War , it built new tracks and loading areas west of the express cargo halls, including a military and cattle ramp. The war meant that in 1916 more than a million tons were processed for the first time. On February 1, 1919, the Zurich goods administration was incorporated into the Zurich railway station inspection.

The bonded warehouse, which opened in Albisrieden in 1927 , was served twice a day by station wagons from the freight station. At the same time, the cellars in the freight yard received the status of a customs depot. In 1931 the SBB introduced night reloading in the reception hall and in 1934 in the dispatch hall. In the same year they built a wooden connecting bridge between the two halls. In 1944 they expanded the dispatch hall by three more staggered units (around 120 meters).

In the 1940s the building and the equipment were modernized: from 1949 the first fully automatic trolley was in operation in the shipping hall, the first electric tugs were used, in 1950 the first stage of the waybill conveyor system was put into operation and has been in operation since 1952/1953 the first forklifts are used. The dispatch hall was extended one last time in 1960. In 1961 and 1970, the freight yard handled record volumes of 1,140,000 tons each. With the gradual opening of the Limmattal marshalling yard (RBL) from 1969 to 1978, the freight yard was relieved, in particular, of pure reloading operations. In 1970 the SBB built a warehouse for small containers , in 1974/75 a concrete hall and a charging station for electric lifters . On May 31, 1976, the Schnellgut main station at Altstetten station was opened, replacing the express freight station at the main station and further relieving the freight station.

The freight yard up to and including the demolition

In 1985, the Mülligen postal center in Schlieren went into operation. A year later, the Zurich city council added the freight yard to its inventory of art and cultural-historical objects of protection of municipal importance. In 1987 a large container terminal was set up; it was put into operation on June 3, 1991. In 1995 the general cargo traffic was handed over to CDS Cargo Domizil AG and in 1996 it was relocated to the Zurich-Altstetten express freight station.

Between 1982 and 2000, the judiciary and police authorities of the Canton of Zurich examined and discussed various overall concepts for merging its locations, including the prison and police school. In September 2000 the Zurich government council decided to set up a police and justice center (PJZ) on the area of ​​the freight station. After various laws and loans had been approved by the Cantonal Council and the people and the Federal Supreme Court rejected the last appeal in October 2012 , the canton bought the land in January 2013. In 2005 the Zurich customs inspectorate moved to the Albisrieden free warehouse and at the end of 2009 SBB Cargo ceased operations and re-processed the duties of the customs office via the Niederglatt container terminal .

The dismantling and remediation of contaminated sites began in May 2013, and the excavation work in June 2014. The foundation stone was laid on June 22, 2017. The building planned by the Zurich architects Theo Hotz is to be occupied in 2021/22.

Web links

Commons : Güterbahnhof Zürich  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
  • Aussersihl-Hard neighborhood association (ed.): 1897–1997: 100 years of the Zurich freight yard. A more detailed chronology . ( 8004.ch [PDF]).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c SBB building in Zurich - Langstrasse track area to Altstetten station: special inventory. (PDF; 15.6 MB) Building Department of the City of Zurich: Office for Urban Development, Archeology and Monument Preservation, July 2005, pp. 46–49 , accessed on May 15, 2020 .
  2. ^ Quartierverein Aussersihl-Hard (Ed.): 1897–1997: 100 years of the Zurich freight yard. A more detailed chronology . S. 19 .
  3. ^ Quartierverein Aussersihl-Hard (Ed.): 1897–1997: 100 years of the Zurich freight yard. A more detailed chronology . S. 2 .
  4. ^ Quartierverein Aussersihl-Hard (Ed.): 1897–1997: 100 years of the Zurich freight yard. A more detailed chronology . S. 2-4 .
  5. ^ Quartierverein Aussersihl-Hard (Ed.): 1897–1997: 100 years of the Zurich freight yard. A more detailed chronology . S. 4-6 .
  6. ^ Quartierverein Aussersihl-Hard (Ed.): 1897–1997: 100 years of the Zurich freight yard. A more detailed chronology . S. 8 .
  7. ^ Quartierverein Aussersihl-Hard (Ed.): 1897–1997: 100 years of the Zurich freight yard. A more detailed chronology . S. 10 .
  8. ^ Quartierverein Aussersihl-Hard (Ed.): 1897–1997: 100 years of the Zurich freight yard. A more detailed chronology . S. 12 .
  9. ^ Quartierverein Aussersihl-Hard (Ed.): 1897–1997: 100 years of the Zurich freight yard. A more detailed chronology . S. 14 .
  10. ↑ SBB building in Zurich - Langstrasse track area to Altstetten station: special inventory. (PDF; 15.6 MB) Building Department of the City of Zurich: Office for Urban Development, Archeology and Preservation of Monuments, July 2005, p. 90 , accessed on May 16, 2020 .
  11. ^ Quartierverein Aussersihl-Hard (Ed.): 1897–1997: 100 years of the Zurich freight yard. A more detailed chronology . S. 16 .
  12. ^ Quartierverein Aussersihl-Hard (Ed.): 1897–1997: 100 years of the Zurich freight yard. A more detailed chronology . S. 18 .
  13. ↑ a b Police & Justice Center: History. Building Department of the Canton of Zurich, accessed on May 16, 2020 .
  14. ^ History of the freight yard. District association Aussersihl-Hard, accessed on May 16, 2020 .

Coordinates: 47 ° 22 ′ 52 "  N , 8 ° 31 ′ 13"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred and eighty-one thousand six hundred and eighty-one  /  248370