Glatthalbahn

This article describes the former railway company; for the tram network of the Glattal transport company, see Glattalbahn .

Glatthalbahn
Timetable field :	740
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	15 kV 16.7 Hz  ~
Maximum slope :	17  ‰
Wallisellen – Uster – Rapperswil
Legend SBB from Zurich HB - Oerlikon S 8 S 14 93.2 Wallisellen 92.8 SBB to Effretikon – Winterthur S 8 Glatt valley viaduct of the Zurich mountain line 91.7 SBB from Zurich HB - Stettbach S 5 S 9 S 15 SN5 90.4 Dubendorf 90.5 to the Dübendorf military airfield (until 2005) 87.1 Schwerzenbach 84.5 Nänikon - Greifensee 81.3 Uster end point S 9 77.1 Aathal Aathal 265 m 74.5 SBB from Effretikon S 3 74.5 Wetzikon end point S 3 74.5 SBB to Hinwil S 14 68.6 UeBB from Hinwil (parking tracks) 68.6 Bubikon 68.6 Siding Wolfenhausen (formerly UeBB ) 66.4 SBB from Winterthur – Wald S 26 65.9 Rüti ZH end point S 26 Täusi 157 m 61.1 Green rock 60.9 Jonah 59.4 from Ziegelbrücke – Uznach 59.4 SBB from Zurich – Meilen S 7 59.3 Rapperswil end point S 7 S 15 SN5 SOB to Pfäffikon SZ ( Seedamm ) S 5

The Glatthalbahn (Gl-TB) is a former Swiss railway company. Your standard gauge railway line Wallisellen - Uster is in the canton of Zurich . The extremely short-lived company merged with the United Swiss Railways (VSB) just nine months after its route opened on May 1, 1857 .

The route was further expanded under the VSB and finally connected to their main network in Rüti ZH . With the nationalization of the VSB, the route became the property of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB).

history

The industrialists in Uster fought passionately for a railway line in the middle of the 19th century. On August 1, 1856, the time had come: the Glatthalbahn opened the Wallisellen – Uster line. However, there was not enough money to continue building the route to the east. On September 4, 1856 the merger of the Glatthalbahn with the St. Gallisch-Appenzellische Eisenbahn and the Südostbahn to form the United Swiss Railways (VSB) was decided. This secured the financing of the further construction and on November 9, 1857 the VSB was able to open the section to Wetzikon . On August 15, 1858 the section to Rüti ZH and on February 15, 1859 the continuation via Rapperswil to Weesen was put into operation.

From 1884 to 1902 the Arlberg Express ran from Zurich to Vienna on the Glatthalbahn line. In 1902 the VSB was nationalized and the SBB took over operations. The line has been electrified since October 2, 1932.

The oldest circular segment locomotive shed in Switzerland in Uster

From the time of the United Swiss Railways, Uster still has the oldest ring segment locomotive depot with a turntable in Switzerland. The remise was restored and now serves as a depot and locomotive workshop of the Zürcher Oberland Steam Railway Association , which operates the Bauma - Hinwil museum railway . The 150th anniversary celebrations of the Glatthalbahn took place on September 9, 2006, and the groundbreaking ceremony for the restoration of the second building took place on the occasion of the celebrations.

On February 18, 1979, the Zurich electorate approved a cantonal contribution of CHF 49.6 million for the double-track expansion of the Glatthalbahn. The expansion began in October 1980. On July 31, 1983, the first section from Wallisellen to Dübendorf was put into operation. Since September 30, 1984, the entire Wallisellen – Uster route has been open to two lanes. As early as the spring of 1985, the construction machinery started up again near Dübendorf in order to connect the Glatthalbahn line to the new line of the Zurich S-Bahn by autumn 1989 . Until 2005 there was a siding for the tank trucks to the Dübendorf military airfield . After the end of jet operations at the airfield, the track became superfluous and was removed as part of the upcoming track construction work.

On February 17, 2013 at around 1:20 a.m., a night S-Bahn between Schwerzenbach and Uster derailed . The official accident report of the Swiss Accident Investigation Board SUST traces the derailment of Zug 20051 to the fact that it was driving on a track damaged by the opposite train. Shortly before, a service train had broken the rail, tearing away a section of rail 5.6 m in length. Nobody was injured, but the tracks were destroyed over 300 meters.

route

S-Bahn train on the move in the Zurich Oberland between Bubikon and Wetzikon

The route of the former Glatthalbahn and its continuation to Rapperswil are now shown as part of the timetable field 740.

The line was initially single-track, it was not until the SBB that it was partially upgraded to double-track in the 1980s:

• July 31, 1983 Wallisellen – Dübendorf
• September 25, 1983 Dübendorf – Schwerzenbach
• September 30, 1984 Schwerzenbach – Uster
• May 19, 1990 Aathal – Wetzikon
• October 2, 2006 Bubikon – Rüti
• September 29, 1989 Grünstels – Rapperswil

The train stations were also renewed.

With the construction of the Zurich S-Bahn, a link was created with the Zurich mountain line. The branch is located between Wallisellen and Dübendorf and was officially put into operation on May 27, 1990. While the branching on the new line on the Neugut Viaduct takes place without crossing, on the Glatthalbahn line it is a normal switch connection that also crosses the opposite track.

Train stations

Most of the temporary reception buildings were built for the opening of the route. In 1856 a definitive reception building was built only in Uster and possibly in Dübendorf. When the station Uster and the custodian of Wallisellen-Uster-Rapperswil railway line today was created. In 1883, Aathal received today's reception building, which was classified by the SBB as regionally worthy of protection. In 1886 Rüti received its medium-sized reception building. In 1892, Bubikon received a new building, which the SBB classified as worthy of regional protection. The Rapperswil railway station received its current reception building in 1895. The Wetzikon train station received a new reception building in 1908. On the occasion of the expansion of the S-Bahn, Schwerzenbach and Nänikon received a new reception building. The reception building in Schwerzenbach (1985), the goods shed and service building in Wetzikon (1984) and the goods shed in Uster were built according to plans by Max Vogt .

Expansion plans

The single-track section Uster - Aathal is used by three S-Bahn lines, i.e. a total of 12 trains per hour. While regular traffic can be handled, there are often subsequent delays for other trains in the event of a train delay. In addition, additional lines are no longer possible over this section of the route. With the acceptance of the financing and expansion of the railway infrastructure (FABI) in 2014, the federal government is responsible for further infrastructure expansion. The expansion could be implemented with the STEP 2035 expansion step, which parliament will decide on in 2019.

According to the Equal Opportunities for People with Disabilities Act , train stations and boarding the train must be step-free until 2024. With the completion of the work at Uster station in November 2018, the station facilities in Dübendorf, Schwerzenbach and Nänikon-Greifensee will be adapted over the next few years.

business

Re 450 S-Bahn train between Schwerzenbach and Dübendorf

The Glatttal route is now used by the S 5 , S 9 , S 14 and S 15 of the Zurich S-Bahn . The SN5 of the ZVV night network runs from Zurich HB via Stadelhofen to Rapperswil.

The daily lines run every half hour. The S 5 and S 15 together run a quarter of an hour between Zurich and Rapperswil. The S 9 and S 14 complement each other between Dübendorf and Uster at another quarter of an hour with stops at all intermediate stations. The SN5 runs every hour between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m.

Zurich S-Bahn

In the 2019 timetable year, the route will be used by the following Zurich S-Bahn lines :

• S 5 Zug - Affoltern a. A. - Zurich HB - Uster - Pfäffikon SZ
• S 9 Schaffhausen - Rafz - Zurich HB - Stettbach - Uster
• S 14 Affoltern a. A. - Altstetten - Zurich HB - Oerlikon - Wallisellen - Hinwil
• S 15 Rapperswil - Uster - Zurich HB - Oberglatt - Niederweningen
• SN5 Bülach - Oerlikon - Zurich HB - Stadelhofen - Dübendorf - Uster - Wetzikon - Rapperswil (ZVV night network)

literature

• Hans G. Wägli: Swiss rail network and Swiss rail profile CH + . AS Verlag, Zurich 2010, ISBN 978-3-909111-74-9 .
• Glatthalbahn. In: Via Storia, Center for Transport History. University of Bern, accessed on January 30, 2014 . 

Web links

Commons : Wallisellen – Uster – Rapperswil railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

1. ^ The railway, financed with English capital, aimed to build a Lukmanier railway. It is not to be confused with today's Swiss Southeast Railway (SOB).
2. ^ Anton Heer: Rorschach-St.Gallen-Winterthur: between 170 years of railway history and the future. (PDF 14.2 MB) Historical Association of the Canton of St.Gallen, 2005, accessed on February 1, 2014 . 
3. ↑ Two cranes heave the train back on rails. Tages-Anzeiger Online, February 17, 2013, accessed February 1, 2014 . 
4. ^ Final report of the Swiss Accident Investigation Board SUST. Swiss Accident Investigation Bureau SUST, accessed on October 7, 2018 . 
5. ↑ SBB Historic, signature GD_BAUSBB 64; Inventory of historical train stations, Aathal.
6. ↑ SBB Historic, signature GD_BAUSBB 64; Inventory of historical train stations, Aathal.
7. ↑ Ruedi Weidmann, Karl Holenstein: Max Vogt - Building for the Railways 1957–1989 , published by the SBB Specialist Agency for Monument Protection and the Society for Swiss Art History GSK, Scheidergerr & Spiess 2008, ISBN 978-3-85881-185-1 .
8. ↑ Double lane between Uster and Aathal: Cantonal council reluctantly rejects the initiative . In: az Limmattaler Zeitung . ( limmattalerzeitung.ch [accessed on October 7, 2018]).
9. ↑ Expansion of the rail infrastructure: Zurich advocates a more expensive option . In: az Limmattaler Zeitung . ( limmattalerzeitung.ch [accessed on October 7, 2018]).
10. ↑ Federal Office of Transport FOT: Expansion step 2035 . ( admin.ch [accessed October 7, 2018]).
11. ↑ Strategy 2020-2023: Principles for the development of offers and tariffs in public passenger transport. In: ZVV. Zürcher Verkehrsverbund, July 1, 2017, accessed on October 7, 2018 .