Heitersberg route

(Zurich–) Killwangen – Aarau (–Olten)
Timetable field :	650, 650.1
Route length:	25.4 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	15 kV 16.7 Hz  ~
Legend from Zurich HB 16.1 Killwangen-Spreitenbach 393 m above sea level M. to Basel Heitersberg overpass (right track only) 312 m Heitersberg tunnel 4929 m 22.4 Mellingen Heitersberg 397 m above sea level M. Fislisbach Bridge 168 m 22.8 Greetings from Wettingen Reuss Bridge Mellingen 193 m OV Strasse 5 66 m 25.9 Mägenwil 416 m above sea level M. 27.7 from Brugg 27.7 Othmarsingen 419 m above sea level M. Gexi branching structure Erlismoos bridge 125 m from / to Rotkreuz 31.9 Lenzburg connection to the Seetalbahn to Lucerne 406 m above sea level M. 32.4 to Suhr - Zofingen 35.6 from Brugg 35.6 Rupperswil 374 m above sea level M. Rohr - Buchs (closed in 1995) 41.5 Aarau 383 m above sea level M. to Olten

The Heitersberg line is a Swiss railway line between the Killwangen-Spreitenbach and Aarau stations on the east-west main transversal between Zurich and Bern . The main structure of the Heitersberg line is the 4929 meter long Heitersberg railway tunnel , the west portal of which is near Mellingen and the east portal of Killwangen .

The line was built early as part of the planned New Main Transversal (NHT) in the 1970s. It was opened on June 1, 1975 and put into scheduled operation on May 22, 1975.

Routing

After Killwangen the Heitersberg route branches off from the main route Zurich Baden-Aarau -Olten-Bern, and pierces the almost five-kilometer tunnel to Heitersberg (west portal at six hundred and sixty-three thousand four hundred and fifty  /  253440 , east portal at 668209  /  254467 ), united in Mellingen with the National Railway of Wettingen and in Othmarsingen with the Brugg - Rotkreuz southern railway line . Outside of Othmarsingen, a three-story route was created with the cantonal road and the branching structure towards Hendschiken and Lenzburg . West of Lenzburg, a new route leads to Rupperswil and a later four-track section to Aarau.

Thanks to the new direct route, the speed through the tunnel could be increased to 140 km / h and the travel time between Zurich and Bern - also through other structures such as the gray wood tunnel near Bern - was reduced by 20 minutes.

A slab track was tested in the Heitersberg tunnel from 1975 to 2014 .

Expansion plans

Following the Heitersberg route, the Eppenberg tunnel has been under construction in the direction of Olten since 2015 and is expected to open at the end of 2020. In addition, the further expansion of the Heitersberg line was part of the Future Development of Railway Infrastructure (ZEB) program . The Chestenberg tunnel was to be built between Rupperswil and Gruemet . With the FABI template, the ZEB template was changed and the further expansion of the Heitersberg route including the Chestenberg tunnel was dropped. Instead, in the long term, a direct connection from Zurich Altstetten to Rupperswil with a 30 km long tunnel is planned. Due to the high costs of up to CHF 7 billion, implementation is realistic in a rail expansion step in 2045 at the earliest.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hans G. Wägli, General Secretariat SBB (ed.): Schienennetz Schweiz. AS-Verlag, Zurich 1998, ISBN 978-3-905111-21-7 .
2. ↑ Gotthard Base Tunnel complete LVT installation . In: Railway Gazette International . tape 171 , no. 1 , 2015, ISSN  0373-5346 , p. 40-43 .
3. ^ Rail corridor Aarau - Zurich: direct connection instead of Chestenberg tunnel , Federal Office of Transport
4. ^ A long tunnel with a stumbling block , Neue Zürcher Zeitung

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap