Right bank Zurichseebahn

Right bank Zurichseebahn
Route length:	31.90 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	15 kV 16.7 Hz  ~
Maximum slope :	17  ‰
Course book field 730: Zurich – Meilen – Rapperswil
Legend Routes from Altstetten and Oerlikon 1.9 Zurich Hardbrücke 407 m above sea level M. Vorbahnhof viaduct 823 m Route to Wipkingen –Oerlikon Limmat Bridge 175 m 2.8 Zurich Latvians 0.9 99.0 Hirschengraben line through 1990 Apron tunnel Lettentunnel 2093 m Sihl bridge 67 m 0.3 Zurich HB (track hall) 408 m above sea level M. 99.9 Zurich HB (Museumstrasse tunnel station) 394 m above sea level M. Connection to long-distance lines and to the Zurich S-Bahn Hirschengraben tunnel 2148 m Lettentunnel 2093 m 101.6 5.7 Hirschengraben line since 1989 5.7 Zurich Stadelhofen 410 m above sea level M. Covering Kreuzbühlstrasse 5.8 Zurich mountain line branch to Stettbach Riesbach tunnel 1493 m 7.9 Zurich deep well 408 m above sea level M. 9.5 Zollikon 415 m above sea level M. 10.8 Küsnacht Goldbach 417 m above sea level M. 11.7 Küsnacht 415 m above sea level M. 13.5 Erlenbach 419 m above sea level M. Hitzberg tunnel 70 m (right) / Erlenbach 71 m (left) 14.6 Winkel on Lake Zurich 426 m above sea level M. Seehaldebrücke I 96 m (right) Seehaldebrücke II 137 m (right) or 37 m (left) 16.6 Herrliberg - Feldmeilen 423 m above sea level M. 19.4 miles 420 m above sea level M. 22.4 Uetikon 414 m above sea level M. Langacker bridge 64 m 23.6 Männedorf 419 m above sea level M. Lattenberg tunnel 93 m 26.4 Stäfa 414 m above sea level M. 28.9 Uerikon 426 m above sea level M. 31.4 Feldbach 426 m above sea level M. Feldbach Bridge 68 m 33.8 Kempraten 412 m above sea level M. from Zurich via Uster from Uznach / Ziegelbrücke 35.9 Rapperswil 409 m above sea level M. to Pfäffikon SZ

The railway line on the right bank of Lake Zurich , which opened in 1894 and runs from Zurich over miles to Rapperswil , is known as the right bank of the Zürichseebahn .

history

Project

There were plans early on to open up the Gold Coast by public transport. In 1862 the idea for an American tram emerged , a Rösslitram that was supposed to run on the Seestrasse from Zurich to Rapperswil.

The desire, however, to connect the northeast train station with the lake and to make the connection accessible via a standard-gauge railway line was overwhelming. The Zurich canton engineer and railway pioneer Kaspar Wetli was commissioned to build such a railway. Various ideas arose around the route through the urban area, such as building a railway through what is now Bahnhofstrasse or from Zurich Enge by means of a bridge and across the quay to Tiefenbrunnen . The city planners, on the other hand, preferred a Riesbach tunnel from Tiefenbrunnen to Stadelhofen and then a Zürichberg tunnel to the then slaughterhouse, from where the trains could reach the northeast train station via a hairpin .

construction

On April 30, 1871, the company was constituted to establish a right bank Zurichseebahn . At first, the company Kuchen & Napier was entrusted with the construction of the railway, but the company was unable to carry out the work and only supplied the railway sleepers. The Swiss Northeastern Railway (NOB) took over the construction of the line and construction began in 1873. But the NOB was soon prevented from continuing to build due to a financial crisis and all construction work by this company was suspended for around ten years. When the NOB was financially stronger again, the decision of the Federal Council of June 23, 1887 required that all suspended construction work had to be continued.

From the spring of 1889 the line was continued to be built. After the compulsory break, this interruption in construction had a negative impact, especially in the urban area, where a homeowner successfully defended himself against the crossing of his cellar through the Zürichberg tunnel before the federal court . Houses had also been built near the main train station on the previously planned railway line. So the railway builders had no choice but to build a new Letten tunnel from Stadelhofen to Letten and from there use a loop to route the route into the main station. The Zurichberg tunnel, which had already been excavated 88.8 meters at Stadelhofen station, was then used as the ideal storage location for a wine company until the S-Bahn was built at the end of the 1980s.

But also in the country things had changed, so there was a dispute in the municipality of Küsnacht whether the station should be above (on the village side) or below (on the lake side) the route (ultimately below) and about the location of the station in the municipality Herrliberg . There, the planned train station was planned around 350 meters outside the municipal boundary in Feldmeilen , but even the intervention at the Federal Council brought nothing and went unheard.

opening

Lake Zurich Railway in Zollikon in front of the Golden Halde, around 1905

On March 12, 1894, the 30.3-kilometer route from Stadelhofen to Rapperswil was officially approved and inaugurated two days later. On the opening day, March 14th, a pageant with two wreathed locomotives and 14 wagons drove from Stadelhofen along the lake to Rapperswil at 12:20 p.m. On the way, the train was warmly welcomed everywhere and longer stops were made. In Herrliberg there was a feeling of displeasure because the local train station, the Herrliberg-Feldmeilen station that still exists today , had been created in the municipality marker of Meilen . Black flags were hung up in the morning and two masks (arches) greeted the special train in the Unter-Grüt. On the return journey of the special train, these arches were doused with petrol. As the train drove by, pieces of burning peat were thrown on the railroad cars and some of the panes were broken by stones. There was a loss of 7 francs. This incident was later referred to as the Herrliberg railway riot and eight Herrlibergers were arrested, three of whom were sentenced to two months in prison.

On the following day, March 15, 1894, regular service from Stadelhofen to Rapperswil began. Eight trains served the stations in each direction and covered the distance in 67 to 75 minutes. Only a little over six months later, on October 1, 1894, the continuous operation from Rapperswil to Zurich main station through the Lettentunnel and then on a viaduct parallel to the main line Zurich – Winterthur was handed over to operation. In 1902 the NOB was transferred to the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB).

expansion

From May 15, 1926, after the line was supplemented with a catenary, the trains could be run electrically and the Goldbach stop was put into operation at the same time . Small adjustments and extensions were made continuously. For example, Küsnacht received a central underpass instead of various level crossings and shuttle trains were introduced, which were also known as Arbeiterpullman because of their blue and white paintwork .

In 1943, the idea of ​​a so-called Leonhardsplatz train station came up (the name of today's Central ). The route in the Lettentunnel between Stadelhofen and Letten should be better connected to the city of Zurich by means of an access tunnel and a lift system to the ETH . At peak times, it should be possible to turn trains in Letten in order to relieve the main station. During the construction of the new S-Bahn connection from Stadelhofen to Zurich HB, this project should come back up as a university station .

The operational management became more and more difficult, because on the single-lane route with 80 trains also 200 train crossings were necessary. For this reason, the first studies were commissioned in the 1950s as to how an improvement in the stability of the timetable could be achieved with affordable means. The expansion to a continuous double lane was rejected as irresponsible. It turned out, however, that using a rigid timetable, vehicles with high acceleration capabilities and two double lane islands that allow a flying intersection , the desired destination could be reached. By maintaining the previous crossing stations, additional trains and freight trains were still possible.

In 1967 two double-track islands were built on the route, between Erlenbach and Herrliberg-Feldmeilen as well as Stäfa and Uerikon . A year later another one was added between Küsnacht and Erlenbach. With these islands it was possible to introduce a continuous half-hourly regular timetable . With the multiple units RABDe 12/12 and the short-lived prototype multiple units RABDe 8/16 the first S-Bahn operation in Switzerland was implemented. So-called visual wagons at the top or at the end of the trains were only intended for travelers with visual tickets that were checked for validity through sporadic checks. From 1969 onwards, the trains ran in a fixed timetable every thirty minutes with a journey time of 48 minutes. It took four circuits with up to four vehicles. When the rigid timetable was introduced in 1969, 16 of a total of 20 RABDE 12/12 vehicles were planned for this route.

In 1976 passenger self-control of tickets was introduced on the entire route, and the trains ran unaccompanied. The conductorless regional traffic was still unusual for the SBB at the time. On May 27, 1979, the Kempraten stop was opened between Feldbach and Rapperswil in the former municipality of Jona SG .

In 2019, a turning track was opened in Herrliberg-Feldmeilen, which was necessary for the introduction of the S20.

Expansion by 2035

Stadelhofen station is one of the biggest bottlenecks in the Zurich S-Bahn system. Nine S-Bahn lines operate on the three tracks, which results in a total of 36 trains per hour with four movements per line and hour. During rush hour, this number increases to around 40 trains per hour due to intermediate trains.

In 2019, the National Council and the Council of States approved a comprehensive expansion of Stadelhofen train station as part of STEP 2035. The construction of a fourth underground track and three access tunnels will increase the station's capacity by 50%. The new tunnels disentangle the branching to the Zürichberg tunnel and the Riesbach tunnel of the right bank of the Zürichsee line without crossing . The access to the new fourth track branches off from the Hirschengraben tunnel after exiting the Zurich main station and passing under the Weinberg tunnel . An underground branch will be created on the east side of the station. One tunnel branch leads into the double-lane Zürichberg tunnel, a second follows as a second Riesbach tunnel parallel to the existing, single-lane Riesbach tunnel to Tiefenbrunnen station. The start of construction is planned for 2026 at the earliest.

Accidents

On January 18, 1971, the two Goldküstenxpress trains RABDe 12/12 1109 and 1119 collided in the Herrliberg-Feldmeilen station because of a defective switch and errors by station officials . Six people died in the accident and 17 were injured.

On March 25, 1971, the RABDe 12/12 1113 and 1117 collided at the exit in Uerikon, because one of the train drivers ran over a closed exit signal . The collision left 16 injured.

Zurich S-Bahn

Routes from Zurich main station to Zurich Stadelhofen

The new infrastructure for the Zurich S-Bahn included the new double-lane Hardbrücke – Hauptbahnhof – Stadelhofen line, the so-called Hirschengraben line , which made the previous route over Letten station superfluous. Its heart, the Hirschengraben tunnel , was provisionally put into operation on May 28, 1989 and replaced the Letten line (Stadelhofen – Letten – Hauptbahnhof) that had been shut down the day before , creating the direct connection between Stadelhofen and the main station, which was discussed in the 19th century.

The complete opening of the Hirschengraben line, the Stadelhofen train station, the Zürichberg line (Stadelhofen– Stettbach ) and the Riesbach tunnel (Stadelhofen– Tiefenbrunnen ) took place on May 27, 1990 as the heart of the Zurich S-Bahn. The regional trains on the right bank of the Seebahn were connected to S-Bahn lines running radially through the Museumstrasse through station.

The SBB intended to keep the Lettenlinie in their possession for any later use, but were exposed to harsh criticism after the drug scene had spread in 1992 on the disused railway area. After the police evacuation in 1995, the tracks were removed. The Lettentunnel , which in the meantime was in danger of collapsing due to lack of maintenance , was filled in between October 2002 and spring 2004, and the remaining railway line between the former train station and the industrial quarter was replaced by a bicycle and footpath after the work was completed.

In the 2008 timetable year, the right bank of the Zürichseebahn will be used by three S-Bahn lines:

• S 6 Baden - Regensdorf-Watt - Zurich HB - Uetikon
• S 7 Winterthur - Kloten - Zurich HB - Stadelhofen - Meilen - Rapperswil
• S 16 Zurich Airport - Zurich HB - Herrliberg-Feldmeilen (- miles )
• SN7 Bassersdorf - Oerlikon - Zurich HB - Stadelhofen - Stäfa (ZVV night network)

swell

• Werner Neuhaus: From the annals of the right-wing people . Th. Gut + Co. Verlag, Stäfa 1983, ISBN 3-85717-018-2
• Hans G. Wägli: Swiss Rail Network . General Directorate SBB, Bern 1980

Individual evidence

1. ^ Daniel Fritzsche / Adi Kälin: "Herrliberger Eisenbahnkrawall": why a train line on Lake Zurich led to an uprising 125 years ago In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of September 28, 2019
2. ^ Yearbook of the Railway System, Volume 20, 1969, pages 50–51
3. ↑ Yearbook of the Railway System, Part 20 1969, illustration of the schedule on page 61
4. ↑ bahnonline.ch: Zurich S-Bahn: S20 has been running since June 11, 2019
5. ↑ SBB: Planning expansion of Stadelhofen station
6. ↑ ZVV: expansion step 2035
7. ↑ Stefan Hotz: The S-Bahn becomes a fast agglo-tram In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of November 23, 2018
8. ↑ Federal Office of Transport FOT: Expansion step 2035
9. ↑ ^{a b} Werner Nef: Locomotives on the Zurich S-Bahn network (=  Loki-Spezial . No. 35 ). Lokpress, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-906013-04-6 , p. 27, 45-46 .