Limmattal marshalling yard
The Limmattal marshalling yard (RBL) is one of the largest and most efficient marshalling yards in Europe. It is located in the Limmat Valley in the area of the municipalities of Spreitenbach in the canton of Aargau and Dietikon in the canton of Zurich .
It is the most important station for national single wagon load traffic in Switzerland, the second most important is the Lausanne marshalling yard near Denges . It is operated by the SBB Infrastructure Division (Operations Department), whereby (since 2015) SBB Cargo has been responsible for the actual shunting service; this company is also the sole user. It is designed as a one-sided marshalling yard.
history
The final expansion of the RBL was completed in 1978. It replaced the marshalling system in the Zurich forecourt and was designed in such a way that it would be possible to operate with wagons equipped with automatic couplings. It also made it possible to close the old marshalling yards in Winterthur and Romanshorn . Since 2017, the Cargo Express traffic, which was previously formed in the Zurich Mülligen marshalling yard, has been integrated into the RBL, making it possible to use Zurich Mülligen as a parking station for passenger trains.
technology
The RBL is a marshalling yard built according to modern standards; it is located west of the Zurich-Basel / Bern railway line. The wagons run through it from northwest to southeast. The 18-track approach group is followed by a double-track drainage hill with hydraulic track brakes . This leads into a 64-track direction group, which is equipped with railway carriage conveyor systems; From the eastern side of this, a side drainage mountain (has not been used for years, technical installations have already been partially expanded) can also be drained into 12 tracks of the directional group. A sequence operation would be possible from both sides on 11 tracks. There is also a 17-track exit group, an 8-track transformer group with eight additional sidings. There are also several locomotive siding, a depot building for locomotive maintenance and a freight car repair facility.
The station has two signal boxes (west and east), which enable computer-controlled operations with the LimDis system, which calculates its data from the Swiss car data system CIS. It is therefore no longer necessary to record data in the track field during normal operation. In an easterly direction, exit from the direction tracks and in a westerly direction from the exit group. The tracks from which the fully formed trains normally leave are equipped with a radio-controlled pre-braking system.
Web links
- private page about the RBL
- Track plan of the Zurich railway system including the complete AVL (PDF file; 304 kB)
Coordinates: 47 ° 25 '15.7 " N , 8 ° 22' 54" E ; CH1903: 671.16 thousand / 252675