Tram Zurich West
Tram Zurich West ( TZW ) is the official project title for a new line of the Zurich tram operated by the Zurich Transport Authority (VBZ) . The route is located in Zurich's Escher Wyss district , which is part of the Zurich West development focus . It opened on December 11, 2011. The redesign of Pfingstweidstrasse, a national road of class 3E (urban express road), which extends the A1H motorway branch into the city center, is closely linked to the project . Due to the classification of Pfingstweidstrasse, the canton of Zurich and the federal government are also involved in the project in addition to other municipal service departments .
Project dates
In November 2004, the Federal Council granted the VBZ the concession for the tram route between Escher-Wyss-Platz and Altstetten station.
Between January 10, 2005 and November 2006, the project could be examined in detail in the exhibition tram on the shipbuilding site. For this purpose, the discarded four-axle trailer B4 768 was prepared as a stylish showroom. From the middle of December 2006 the trailer was open to groups by prior arrangement in the Hardturm loop. In April 2007 the new “Infocenter Zurich West” on Hardstrasse replaced the exhibition tram.
On February 26, 2007 the Zurich Cantonal Council approved the contribution of 90 million CHF to the project, on February 28, 2007 the Zurich City Council also approved the municipal contribution of 59 million CHF with 76 to 35 votes. The municipal contribution, which is subject to the mandatory referendum, was accepted by the citizens of Zurich on June 17, 2007 with 69.3% yes-votes.
An optional referendum was launched on March 9, 2007 against the cantonal contribution. The “Association of Taxpayers” and the local group “Pro Zurich West” had announced a cantonal referendum independently of each other. The former fundamentally questions the trampoline project and its costs and expects that the votes from the rural communities can tip the credit again. The latter criticizes the link with the renovation of the Pfingstweidsstrasse, which would cement the current situation in the long term, and expects voices from green and anti-car circles.
The referendum was confirmed on June 22nd by the Directorate of Justice and Home Affairs and published in the Official Gazette on July 6th, 2007. The optional referendum resulted in a vote on the cantonal contribution on November 25, 2007, which was also accepted with 69.8% yes-votes. The bill was accepted in all twelve districts, with 58.0% the weakest in the rural district of Andelfingen , with 75.5% most clearly in the district of Zurich , which only includes the city of Zurich. In the latter, the proportion of yes votes compared to the community vote could be increased further.
The start of construction was scheduled for the second half of 2007, due to the cantonal referendum, complaints against the building permit before the Federal Administrative Court and a foreseeable construction stop during Euro 2008 , the official groundbreaking at Escher-Wyss-Platz was delayed until September 9, 2008. An important step in this direction was the canton's application to withdraw suspensive effect from the pending complaints. The Federal Administrative Court already complied with the application for two of the three relevant construction lots in November 2007, which, after a further challenge, was confirmed in the last instance by the Federal Court in April 2008. In consultation with the federal government, the start of construction on two of the three construction lots by the end of 2008 is sufficient for the project to qualify for a contribution from the infrastructure fund. The federal government covers around half of the projected costs from the fund, reducing the cantonal contribution to around CHF 45 million and the city contribution to around CHF 23 million.
At the start of planning, it was hoped that the tram route with the new Hardturm Stadium could be completed by Euro 2008. With the blockade of the new stadium building, this was abandoned and the timetable change in December 2009 was targeted. This date could no longer be achieved due to various delays in the planning phase and was postponed to a planned completion by mid-2010 and the start of operations for the timetable change in December 2010. This date had to be postponed again due to the cantonal referendum; construction began on September 9, 2008 with the planned start of operations in December 2011.
Routing
The new line measures around three kilometers and begins at Escher-Wyss-Platz , which was redesigned as part of the project. The new cross-shaped track system includes all twelve possible connections of the existing three branches to the main station , to Frankental ( Höngg ) and to Werdhölzli ( Altstetten ) and the new branch to Altstetten station , as well as the new integration of the future exit from the Hard tram depot.
From Escher-Wyss-Platz the route leads south in a central position under the Hardbrücke through to Pfingstweidstrasse and follows this in a lateral position to the west to the Hardturm Stadium . The last section crosses Pfingstweidstrasse at the stadium and follows Aargauerstrasse to the north side of Altstetten station, where the turning loop comes to rest on the newly created Vulkanplatz.
The route of bus line 54 corresponds to the course of the future TZW route.
Stops
There are seven stops along the route with an average distance between stops of around 300 to 400 meters. When all stops are served, the travel time on the three-kilometer route is around 7 minutes. The stops are named Schiffbau, Technopark, Toni-Areal, Sportweg, Aargauerstrasse, Würzgraben and Altstetten Nord station.
The Schiffbau stop roughly corresponds to the earlier Pfingstweidstrasse stop, which has been moved slightly to the north and is at the same height on and below the Hardbrücke. The Technopark stop corresponds to the former bus stop, Toni-Areal corresponds to the former Duttweilerbrücke stop. The former Sportweg bus stop will be retained and the Aargauerstrasse stop has been created. In Aargauerstrasse, the stop of the same name was given the name Würzgraben. The terminus at Altstetten Nord station is on Vulkanplatz, east of today's bus stops, which will also be moved to the new square.
Company / line number
In the planning phase of the VBZ, tram route projects are designated with a free, fictitious VBZ line number in accordance with internal usage , as the final line connections are often only determined in the course of further work on the project. The fictitious name "Tramlinie 18" for the new line in Zurich West was picked up by the media and spread, which wrongly led to countless, sometimes highly emotional, inquiries from the population about the whereabouts of lines 16 and 17 or the reason for the construction of an isolated tram line 18 triggered. As a reaction to this, the project was finally officially named “Tram Zurich West” in order to put an end to the idle discussion of line numbers.
Several variants were examined, with the main focus being on the extensions of lines 6 (part-time terminus) and 10 via Escher-Wyss-Platz to Altstetten station. The older plan of extending line 8 from Hardplatz by crossing the SBB track field and thereby developing the Hardbrücke station was no longer an option, as the necessary structure was deleted from the TZW project for cost reasons. This route will only open in a second stage in 2017.
In July 2006, the VBZ published their line concept with the planned expansions by 2025. The Zurich West tram, which is to be completed by 2011, has top priority within this concept. The original plan was to extend tram line 10 on what is now line 4 from the main station via Escher-Wyss-Platz to Werdhölzli. Ultimately, however, it was decided to use a new line 17 for the connection between the main train station and Werdhölzli, which will also replace the previous HVZ line 4E. In future, tram line 4 will branch off at Escher-Wyss-Platz onto the new route to Altstetten Nord station.
The postponed crossing of the track field between Hardplatz and the TZW section Schiffbau-Escher-Wyss-Platz is expected to go into operation in December 2017. With the extension of line 8 via Escher-Wyss-Platz to Werdhölzli, line 17 should be replaced according to the original plan, but due to the high demand for current planning during rush hour, it will continue to be on the Hardturm – Escher-Wyss-Platz– route. Main station – Albisgüetli.
With the integration into the rest of the Zurich tram network, the usual urban timetable will also apply on the future new lines. The “Cobra” trams and the “classic” “Tram 2000” are used 50% each .
Construction work related to the TZW
Escher-Wyss-Platz
With the complete new construction of the track system at Escher-Wyss-Platz , the management of individual traffic will also be reorganized and will in future lead over the northwest of the square, instead of the current roundabout around the tram island. This should make the square more pedestrian-friendly.
Instead of the current tram stop with the striking “Sirius” (1972–2009) fountain sculpture by Annemie Fontana under the Hardbrücke, the new track crossing will be located there. The tram stop was moved to Limmatstrasse on April 7, 2009, whereby the entrances to the trolleybuses on the Hardbrücke have to be redesigned. In the south-east of the square, a larger contiguous area is being created through which the active, standard-gauge siding of the Coop mill (“Swissmill”) runs. The future design of the square was largely determined at the end of 2007 as part of a design competition; the jury requested that Caruso St John Architects LLP (London) and Studio Thomas Demand (Berlin) continue to work on the “Nagelhaus” project.
One of the aims of the new track system is to make the time-consuming maneuvers at the Hard tram depot superfluous. In addition, the depot is to receive a new west wing, which would enable the facility to operate through the depot.
Pfingstweidstrasse
The central part of the TZW runs along the four-lane Pfingstweidstrasse, which runs through the Escher Wyss district. Since 1973 it has been taking the traffic off the N1 (now A1H) motorway at the Hardturm Stadium and directing it to the Hardbrücke, part of the “provisional” west bypass. The western bypass connects the A1L and A3W motorway branches that extend into the city . With around 42,000 journeys per day, it is one of the busiest streets in Zurich. The capacity is to be increased to around 50,000 journeys per day.
Today there are no residential buildings in the relevant section of Pfingstweidstrasse, instead there are a number of commercial and industrial buildings. The large building complexes on Pfingstweidstrasse include the Swisscom Herdern telecommunications center by Theo Hotz , the Engrosmarkt, the Hardturm Stadium, the Herdern distribution center and headquarters of the Migros Zurich cooperative , and the former Toni dairy Förrlibuck. On the industrial wasteland of the former Escher, Wyss & Cie. The Technopark and Westpark commercial buildings and an Accor hotel complex are now in place.
Classified as a national road, necessary modifications and renovations of the Pfingstweidstrasse can be ordered by the federal government without having to obtain the approval of the city. Since a renovation of the road and the utility lines is imposed anyway, the opportunity was used to coordinate the construction of the TZW and the road renovation in order to make today's asphalt desert a bit friendlier. Opponents criticize that the street space is to be greatly widened and thus acts as a corridor through the newly planned residential area.
Volcano square
The fallow parcels on the north side of Altstetten station are land reserves that belong to the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and are now also to be used. A few years ago, part of the land reserve east of the Europabrücke was used for the construction of the Herdern maintenance facility.
To the west of the Europabrücke, the Vulkanplatz is to be built, a public station square on the north side, which will accommodate the tram loop and bus stop. The parcel between the future Vulkanplatz and the Europabrücke will no longer be kept free for any SBB operating facilities, but will be built over as part of the SBB WestLink project .
The project competition and the implementation of WestLink and Vulkanplatz take place independently of the TZW, but are coordinated in terms of time to ensure that the necessary systems on the Vulkanplatz can be completed on time with the TZW.
See also
Web links
- VBZ - Tram Zurich West
- SBB - Westlink
- A clear yes to the "pulse artery" of Zurich-West in the Tages-Anzeiger on February 28, 2007
- Clear yes to the Zurich-West tram in NZZ Online on February 28, 2007
Individual evidence
- ↑ Official Journal of the Canton of Zurich : Edition of March 9, 2007 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , P. 374
- ↑ Facultative referendum in the canton of Zurich by submitting at least 3000 valid signatures
- ^ Official Journal of the Canton of Zurich: Edition of July 6, 2007 , p. 1144
- ^ Department of Economics: Tram Zurich-West: Groundbreaking in September , media release of April 11, 2008
- ^ Department of Economic Affairs : Tram Zurich-West: Benefit for the entire canton , media release of September 21, 2007
