Tram tunnel Milchbuck – Schwamendingen

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Tram tunnel Milchbuck – Schwamendingen
Animal hospital station
Animal hospital station
Gauge : 1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Legend
   
 from Schaffhauserplatz
   
 from ETH / University Hospital
   
 Milchbuck
   
 according to stars Oerlikon
   
   
 Throwing
   
 Animal hospital
   
 Forest garden
   
 Schörlistrasse
   
   
 Track crossing
   
 Schwamendingerplatz
   
 to Stettbach train station
   
 to Hirzenbach

The Tram Tunnel Milchbuck Schwamendingen is part of the tram network of Zurich , who as Unterpflaster tram was built. The double-lane tunnel between Milchbuck (in the Unterstrass district ) and Schwamendingerplatz (in the Schwamendingen district ) is 2.5 km long and has three underground stations. Part of the route was built in the 1970s together with the Schöneichtunnel as preliminary construction work , but remained unused for over a decade after the failure of the underground project in 1973. Since February 1, 1986, the tunnel has been used by tram lines 7 and 9 of the Zurich Transport Authority (VBZ).

description

The tunnel section begins immediately north of the Milchbuck stop, where it branches off from the route to Oerlikon . It initially follows Hirschwiesenstrasse in an east-northeast direction and reaches Winterthurerstrasse, under which the Tierspital station is located. It then runs under the south side of the Schöneichtunnel . The Waldgarten station is located in this area. Continue under the A1L motorway feeder to the third underground station, Schörlistrasse. Shortly afterwards, the tunnel turns in a south-easterly direction and finally ends at the ramp near the Saatlenstrasse / Auhofstrasse intersection.

A special feature of the tunnel is that the trams drive on the left . The three tunnel stations are equipped with 138 meters long and 6 meters wide central platforms, which can be traced back to the earlier subway plans. As classic one-way vehicles, however, the Zurich tram cars only have doors on the right-hand side. In order to make it possible to change sides, there is a level-free underground bridge structure at the Milchbuck (which is not visible from the outside). The corresponding crossing in Schwamendingen is designed as a track crossing after the ramp in Saatlenstrasse .

Planning and construction history

Schwamendingen was already served by a tram line from 1906 to 1931. This was a 2.1 km long single-track branch line of the Zurich – Oerlikon – Seebach tram from the Sternen in Oerlikon to the Hirschenplatz in Schwamendingen. After the incorporation in 1934 Schwamendingen began to grow strongly. In 1946 the VBZ received an order from the city council to plan a tram line from Milchbuck to Schwamendingen, but city engineer Herbert Steiner, in particular, opposed this plan. When the decision to expand Winterthurerstrasse was made in 1951, the simultaneous construction of a tram route was no longer considered. The underground railway project presented in 1961 envisaged an extensive underground tram network in the center of Zurich as well as underground branches to Oerlikon and Schwamendingen. However, on April 1, 1962, the voters of the City of Zurich rejected the 543.7 million franc project with 61.1% of the vote.

The traffic problems increased further and Schwamendingen in particular recorded sustained high population growth. A delegation of authorities, appointed by the Cantonal Council , City Council and SBB General Management, began planning an underground and S-Bahn network in 1965. From the first subway line between Dietikon and Zurich Airport , a branch line to Schwamendingen should branch off at the Hirschwiesen station (at Milchbuck). The plans were shaped by the seemingly boundless growth euphoria of the 1960s. The project initially met with little opposition. At the beginning of the 1970s, construction of the A1L motorway slip road should begin. In order not to delay this unnecessarily, it was decided to build the underlying 1364 meter long section of the underground tunnel as a shell , together with the Schöneicht tunnel . The city authorities explicitly pointed out the possibility of later use by the tram if the subway project should "unexpectedly" fail. On March 14, 1971, the voters of Zurich approved this CHF 31 million sub-project with a yes share of 78.5%.

The political climate changed. While the S-Bahn was largely undisputed, the U-Bahn was increasingly seen as a “megalomaniac project”. Two votes on May 20, 1973 ended with a surprisingly clear rejection of the ambitious project, the first phase of which had been estimated to cost CHF 1.255 billion. The canton of Zurich's share of the funding of 599.2 million francs was rejected across the canton with 56.9% of the votes. The second vote in the city on a contribution of 545.5 million francs even failed with 71.1% no. Just a month after the vote, the Social Democratic Party tabled a municipal popular initiative that demanded a lump sum loan of 200 million for the expansion of public transport (spread over ten years). In particular, the previously neglected tram should benefit from this. When the initiative was put to the vote on March 13, 1977, it was accepted with just under 51.3%.

In 1978, the tunnel section under the motorway slip road, approved seven years earlier, was nearing completion. The main part of the 200 million loan was to finance the construction of a tram line that would lead from Milchbuck through the tunnel to Schwamendingerplatz and branch there into two above-ground branches to Stettbach station and Hirzenbach. The cost should be 123 million francs. After the municipal council approved the project with 72 to 19 votes, it was also successful in the municipal referendum on September 24, 1978 (approval of 60.8%). There was only significant opposition in Schwamendingen itself. There, the bill was rejected by 60%, which prompted an anti-tram committee to collect signatures for the popular initiative “Züri-Tram nöd eso” (Zurich tram not like that). She demanded that the tram route only run to Schwamendingerplatz and that the two branches to Stettbach and Hirzenbach be avoided. On June 8, 1980, the initiative failed with 67.4% no, in Schwamendingen there was an extremely narrow rejection. After a little more than five years of construction, the opening took place on February 1, 1986.

In 2009, City Councilor Andres Türler announced the upcoming renovation of the Tierspital, Waldgarten and Schörlistrasse tunnel stations. The cost was estimated at 13.2 million Swiss francs, of which 10.1 million went to the technical renewal and 3.1 million to the design upgrade. The work began in March 2011 and lasted until October 2012. The primary goal was to increase safety and provide barrier-free access to the trams. The new escalators are the first in Switzerland to run alternately, i.e. operated in both directions. In addition, the previously gloomy stations have been made friendlier with various measures.

On December 31, 2015, at 5 a.m., a cable fire broke out in the tunnel between the Milchbuck and Tierspital stops. Nobody got hurt. The property damage amounts to well over 100,000 francs.

gallery

  • Waldgarten station before renovation (2005)

  • Access to the Waldgarten station before the renovation

  • Access to the Waldgarten station after renovation

  • Passage in the Waldgarten station after the renovation

  • VBZ Be 5/6 in the Waldgarten station after the renovation

  • Schörlistrasse station

  • Exit from the Schörlistrasse station

  • Tunnel exit on the Schwamendingen side

  • Track crossing in Schwamendingen

  • Tram at the Milchbuck stop

Web links

Commons : Tramtunnel Milchbuck – Schwamendingen  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d The tram from Oerlikon to Schwamendingen. Tram Museum Zurich, August 30, 2006, archived from the original on December 19, 2010 ; Retrieved June 9, 2014 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e voting database. City of Zurich, accessed on June 9, 2014 .
  3. ^ Hans-Rudolf Galliker: Tramstadt - local public transport and urban development using the example of Zurich . Chronos Verlag, Zurich 1997, ISBN 3-905312-02-6 , p. 224-225 .
  4. ↑ Galliker: Tram city. P. 225.
  5. ↑ Galliker: Tram city. Pp. 227-228.
  6. ↑ Galliker: Tram city. P. 234.
  7. ↑ Redesign of the Schwamendingen tram tunnel. Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich, October 26, 2009, accessed on June 9, 2014 .
  8. ↑ Tramtunnel Schwamendingen, renovation and upgrading of the stops and entrances completed. (PDF, 45 kB) Zurich Public Transport Authority, November 12, 2012, accessed on June 9, 2014 .
  9. ↑ Zurich's “U-Bahn” tunnel with a new look. 20 minutes , November 12, 2012, accessed June 9, 2014 .
  10. ^ Fire in the Schwamendingen tram tunnel. Tages-Anzeiger , December 31, 2015, accessed January 1, 2016 .

Coordinates: 47 ° 24 '12.2 "  N , 8 ° 33' 21.6"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred and eighty-four thousand three hundred forty-two  /  250887