Heinrich Brändli (engineer)

Heinrich Brändli

Heinrich Brändli (born April 18, 1938 in Wald ZH ; † April 12, 2018 ) was a Swiss engineer and professor at ETH Zurich . He dealt with transport and railway technology.

Life

Heinrich Brändli grew up in Oberstrass (City of Zurich ). His parents had a clothes shop right under the Polybahn , which fascinated him from an early age and was probably the origin of his fascination for public transport and trams. He attended middle school and graduated from ETH as a civil engineer in 1961 . He worked for the city of Zurich in water treatment for two years and was then hired by the Zurich Transport Authority (VBZ) in 1963 .

In May 1973 the plans developed by the VBZ for an underground and suburban railway network, on which Heinrich Brändli had worked out essential technical and political parts, were put to the vote. This was not accepted, however, as voices were raised, especially from the SP , that the railway was anti-worker. In 1975 Brändli switched to ETH.

Act

During his work for the Zurich Transport Authority, Heinrich Brändli introduced a radio system for communication between staff on the vehicles or in the network and a central control center. This was initially designed as a safety measure to ensure smooth operation even without a vehicle attendant. Soon this was also used as an instrument for analyzing and guiding the system. The first computer-aided operations control system for local public transport was created.

As a professor at the ETH, his research was focused on the operational principles of public transport and, in particular, its susceptibility to failure. The mechanisms for various phenomena, such as the accumulation of trams and buses (package formation), instead of regular intervals according to the timetable, were researched and recorded. The critical factors could be identified and countermeasures developed and tested. These findings made public transport more reliable.

Heinrich Brändli was also very politically committed to efficient and passenger-compliant public transport, e. B. the S-Bahn in Zurich.

Publications (selection)

• Unconventional public and para-public transportation systems. National Research Program City and Transport, Zurich 1994, ISBN 3-907118-61-8 .
• Public transport in a clinch. Heinrich Brändli, Fredi Bollinger, Hochschulverlag AG at the ETH Zurich, Zurich 1996, ISBN 3-7281-2127-4
• To evaluate the effect of safety-oriented measures in railway operations. Heinrich Brändli, Rudolf Röttinger, Institute for Transport Planning, Transport Technology, Road and Railway Construction, ETH Zurich, Zurich 1989, 10.3929 / ethz-a-000510558
• Evaluation of the regional development by public transport. R. Bahman, H. Brändli, W. Züst, GVF order; No. 21, General Secretariat EVED, Service for General Transport Issues, Zurich 1993
• Optimal distance between stops for public transport. H. Brändli, M. Glaser, G. Junker, Federal Road Construction Office, research report; 24; Series: Research report, Association of Swiss Transport Engineers; No 25/70, Bern 1981
• Basic development: Standard of development by public transport depending on the supply and demand structure. Diss. Techn. Wiss. ETH Zurich, No. 8646, 1988. Ref .: H. Brändli; Correction: C. Hidber; Correction: J. Oetterli, Zurich 1988, 10.3929 / ethz-a-000911975
• Elastic mounting of tram rails in streets. Federal Department of Transport and Energy, Federal Roads Office, Bern 1993
• Influence of the approach route on the use of public transport. R. Siegrist, W. Altherr, R. Enz; Ed .: H.Brändli, 1987
• Influence of new station entrances on passenger behavior. H.Brändli, W.Berg, Institute for Transport Planning and Technology - ETHZ, Zurich 1979
• The future of traffic in Zurich. Unimagazin; 2001, No. 1
• Alpine transit focal point. Magazine of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, No. 284, pp. 40–43; 2002
• Feasibility study to evaluate the regional development by public transport. R. Bahmann, H. Brändli, W. Züst; GVF project support: GS-EVED, Service for General Transport Issues, 1992
• Think Trac. An easy-to-port traction program for calculating travel times in rail traffic, arr .: J. Hoessly; Ltg .: H. Brändli, 1993
• Safety in rail transport: dealing with risks using the example of the railroad. Verlag AG of the academic technical associations, 1990, 10.5169 / seals-77550
• Cost problems of rail transport. Arr .: J. Wichser; Head: H. Brändli, IVT, Institute for Transport Planning, Transport Technology, Road and Railway Construction, ETH Zurich, 1993
• Public transport between market and politics. Magazine of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (1996); No. 260, 1996
• The S-Bahn as a link in the public transport chain. Tailor-made S-Bahn: international study days in Zurich, 1991
• Quo vadis ... The compulsion to (also) long-term thinking and acting in the transport sector using the example of public transport. Yearbook of the Swiss Transport Industry 1997/98, 1998
• Timetable dependency of the flow of passengers to stops. Head: H. Brändli; Arranged: H. Müller, IVT Berich; No 81/5, 1981
• Planning of public transport in non-urban areas. Heinrich Brändli, Hans Amacker, IVT series of publications; No. 74, ETHZ, 1988
• Aerobus system: suitability as «urban mass transportation» and approval issues. ETH; Institute for Transport Planning and Technology, 1980

lectures

• Planning of traffic systems: elements of the rail route. Institute for Transport Planning and Technology - ETHZ, 1976
• Transport Technology Institute for Transport Planning and Technology - ETHZ, 1976
• Basics of public transport. H. Brändli, W. Berg, F. Reutimann, Institute for Transport Planning and Technology - ETHZ, 1976
• Look back ahead. Farewell lecture by Heinrich Brändli, ETH Library picture archive, 2003
• Illusions and realities in public transport. ETH Library, 1976
• What is and can "public transport" video library - 118 - TV Uni Zurich, 1997

Web links

• Literature by and about Heinrich Brändli in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature by and about Heinrich Brändli in the bibliographic database WorldCat
• Complete list of publications
• Farewell lecture at the ETHZ

Individual evidence

1. ^ Obituaries of Heinrich Brändli , NZZ , April 17, 2018