Trolleybus Schaffhausen

Trolleybus Schaffhausen
NAW BGT 5-25 118 opposite the Schaffhausen train station
Network plan 2019
Legend Herblingertal Kinepolis bus depot Ebnatring Forest cemetery Alpine view Birkenstrasse Niklausen Hohenstoffel Ebnat Kronenhalde Schönenberg Fire center Schaffhausen station Mill gate Brüggli cross District boundary Scheidegg Burgunwiese Bahnhofstrasse Parish hall Neuhausen center Alusuisse Kreuzstrasse New world Rhenania Community meadows Quench your thirst Autumn fields

The Schaffhausen trolleybus is a trolleybus system operated by Verkehrsbetriebe Schaffhausen vbsh in the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen . It was opened on September 24, 1966 and replaced the Schaffhausen tram at the time . The only route has line number 1 and connects the forest cemetery in the city ​​of Schaffhausen with the Herbstäcker residential area in the neighboring community of Neuhausen am Rheinfall . It also creates the important tourist connection to the Rhine Falls . The diameter line is now - after two extensions - 7.7 kilometers in the direction of Neuhausen and 6.8 kilometers in the direction of Schaffhausen. The Schaffhausen trolleybus is also the youngest and smallest Swiss trolleybus operator.

In addition to the trolleybus line, the VBSH also operate five bus lines. With 3.56 million passengers annually (as of 2016), the trolleybus connection is by far the busiest line of the transport company.

history

The changeover of the tram line Schaffhausen Waldfriedhof-Neuhausen Zentrum to trolleybus operation took place due to a referendum on September 13, 1964, the change took place seamlessly from September 23 to 24, 1966. However, the trolleybus line that emerged from the tram initially only operated to Ebnat, during the tram went one stop further to the forest cemetery in St. Niklausen. Originally the trolleybus ran every ten minutes in normal traffic and every five minutes during rush hour . The trolleybus also took over the depot from the tram. This was originally located at the Cardinal, on the site of today's fire brigade center.

In the spring of 1970 the trolleybus, like the tram, was extended to St. Niklausen. Since then, this district has been accessed with a 1.9 kilometer long loop of houses in a clockwise direction; it is passed through without a long stop at the nominal end point Waldfriedhof.

On May 29, 1974, another new line went into operation, this was the 1.1 kilometer-long Ebnat – Herblingertal section. With it, the public transport company put a second trolleybus line into operation, line 9 Neuhausen Zentrum – Herblingertal. It was an amplifier line that only ran during rush hour and was served by four solo cars. Line 9 thus replaced the reinforcement courses on Line 1 during rush hour, which meant that only articulated cars were used on Line 1 for a number of years. Line 9 served the new section in the Herblingertal exclusively; no public transport was offered there outside of their traffic times.

Car 113 in the center of Neuhausen. This course ends here and will turn back towards Schaffhausen at the intersection in the background

On August 4, 1980, there was also an extension at the other end of the line, when the line from Neuhausen Zentrum to Neuhausen Herbstäcker went into operation. There, too, a house-block loop was created, it is driven through in a counter-clockwise direction and with a longer stay at the terminus. This led to the introduction of a third line signal, because not all courses operated by Herbstäcker. The short-run trolleybuses that only ran to Neuhausen Zentrum were henceforth referred to as Line 2 and continued to be served by articulated vehicles. In return, the solo trolleybuses returned to Line 1 after six years. Line 9 remained unaffected by the extension, it still ended in the Neuhauser center.

On May 31, 1987, the VBSH opened a new trolleybus and bus depot in Herblingertal, the address is Ebnatstrasse 145. The system used to this day replaced the old depot from the tram era and is connected to the rest of the trolleybus network by the overhead lines of the former line 9.

Line signal 2 has not been used since the late 1980s. However, the short courses to Neuhausen Zentrum are still available today as line 1; they are scheduled to be found on weekends and on public holidays.

On September 20, 1995, line 9 was discontinued after 21 years of operation, which ended the use of solo trolleybuses in Schaffhausen. Since then, the route has been served by bus line 6, which also only serves the relevant section in the Herblingertal during rush hour. To compensate for the missing courses on line 9, trolleybus line 1 was also condensed to a 7.5-minute cycle during rush hour.

The 0.8-kilometer-long section Ebnat – Busdepot has been a purely operational route since line 9 was closed and serves the incoming and outgoing routes of Line 1. The 0.3-kilometer-long section of the busdepot – Herblingertal was closed at the beginning of 2014 due to structural changes dismantled.

On December 14, 2003, a change in the route of bus line 6, which from then on also ran to Neuhausen, led to the abandonment of the condensed 7.5-minute cycle during rush hour on line 1. Since then, the Schaffhausen trolleybus has been running all day at a fixed ten-minute cycle.

From July 1, 2007 to September 22, 2008, the former level crossing over the Hochrheinbahn was replaced by an underpass. As a result, the trolleybuses could only run as far as Neuhausen Zentrum, the remaining section of the route was serviced by solo buses for over a year as replacement services. The trolleybus also benefited from this construction measure; previously closed barriers repeatedly hindered operation.

Attitude discussion

Overhead lines at the train station

In recent years, the continued existence of the Schaffhausen trolleybus operation has been questioned for cost reasons. In addition to the switch to diesel buses, the use of gas buses was also examined in detail. In 2008, however, after a thorough discussion, the city council voted in favor of maintaining electrical operation for ecological reasons - despite the somewhat higher operating costs. The city parliament voted on a corresponding bill in September 2008, which also paved the way for the procurement of new low-floor articulated trolleybuses. In addition, planning for a second trolleybus line should be started. In the medium term, it was planned to switch the 8.4 kilometer long bus route 3 Sommerwies – Krummacker to electric operation. This would have almost doubled the catenary network.

In May 2017, the Schaffhausen City Council decided that as part of the procurement of new vehicles in the next few years, battery buses that generate their energy via quick charging stations should be procured. Ten trolleys and eleven charging stations are to be purchased in the short term, and the existing trolleybuses are to be converted to in-motion charging technology. The new vehicles will primarily be used on line 3, which was previously intended to be an extension of the trolleybus network. After all of the trolleybuses have been retrofitted, the catenary will also be partially removed. In a first step, the Bahnhofstrasse is to be free of overhead lines, later a dismantling of the overhead lines in the Neuhausen and Waldfriedhof area is also planned.

vehicles

First generation (Berna)

The former Schaffhausen Berna trolleybus 203 from 1966, here still in the old paintwork in 1996 in use in Valparaíso

The first generation of vehicles from 1966 came from the Swiss manufacturers Berna , Schindler Waggon , Ramseier + Jenzer and BBC . It consisted of the five twin-engine articulated cars 101 to 105 of the type 4 GTP and the five single-engine solo cars 201 to 205 of the type 4 TP-A. Because the solo cars were not yet ready for the opening, five older vehicles from 1948 from the Winterthur trolleybus had to help out in Schaffhausen. The last articulated car of the first generation was phased out in 1994, the last solo car in 1995.

Three of the Berna trolleybuses - carriages 102, 103 and 203 - were handed over to the Valparaíso trolleybus in Chile in December 1992 . 203 was in use there until 2017, 102 was retired in 2009 due to a technical defect. Car 101 was scrapped, car 104 went to Winterthur to donate spare parts. Cars 105 and 202 have been preserved as historical vehicles and today belong to Rétrobus Léman and the Swiss Trolleybus Association .

Car 106, built in 1975, opposite the train station, signposted as line 1/2 in the direction of Waldfriedhof, 1991

A sixth articulated wagon with the number 106 was subsequently procured in 1975 when route 9 was introduced. The vehicle manufactured by Volvo , Hess and Siemens was a replica of the VST standard trolleybus ; similar vehicles also ran on the Lucerne trolleybus . The single item had the type designation B58 and was sold to Lucerne in 1999 as a spare parts donor.

In 1980, due to the extension to Herbstäcker, two used Saurer / Schindler solo cars, both built in 1961, came from Lucerne to Schaffhausen. With a total of 13 trolleybuses, the number reached its all-time high. These two vehicles with the numbers 206 (formerly Luzern 226) and 207 (formerly Luzern 227) were in use until 1991. Car 207 is now also owned by Rétrobus.

Second generation (NAW / Hess)

The second generation of vehicles, type BGT 5-25 , was built in 1991 and 1992 and replaced the vehicles from the opening year as well as the two used vehicles from Lucerne. They had road numbers 111 to 118 and were a joint product of the Swiss companies Carrosserie Hess , NAW , Ramseier & Jenzer and ABB . For the first time in its history, the Schaffhausen trolleybus had a completely homogeneous fleet from 1995.

As the first trolleybus of the second generation, car 114 was parked at the end of 2007 and was finally replaced by a universal diesel articulated bus at the beginning of January 2009. At that time, the stock reached its all-time low with only seven operational wagons. The cause of the shutdown of trolleybus 114 was a fire in the outside area of ​​the depot, which arose due to a technical defect in the emergency generator. From then on the car served as a spare parts dispenser.

In the last few years of operation, some second-generation trolleybuses received more modern matrix displays instead of the previous roll-up displays , before the last seven high-floor wagons were also phased out in 2011 and 2012 .

Third generation (Swisstrolley)

Modern Swistrolleys 3 have also been in operation in Schaffhausen since 2011, here trolley 105 in front of the station

As a replacement for the second generation, seven low-floor articulated trolleybuses of the type Swisstrolley 3 from Carrosserie Hess to Schaffhausen came in 2011 , they have the road numbers 101 to 107. The decision by the city council was made on April 20, 2010, the new vehicles cost a total of 10, 5 million Swiss francs .

The first two Swisstrolleys were transferred to Schaffhausen on June 29, 2011, the last followed in September 2011. Six trolleys are required for normal operation of Line 1, the seventh vehicle is a reserve.

Trivia

Since May 1, 2010, the Schaffhausen public transport company has no longer been responsible for maintaining the trolleybus overhead lines , but rather the Elektrizitätswerk des Kantons Schaffhausen AG ( EKS AG ).

Web links

Commons : Trolleybuses in Schaffhausen  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of the operating company VBSH
• History of the Schaffhausen trolleybus on trolleymotion.eu
• Rails in the sky and a human face: Verkehrsbetriebe Schaffhausen (VBSH) , article in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung from November 18, 2008
• Extensive image documentation from the Schaffhausen City Archives
• Rolf Koestner, illustrated report from 1990
• Gerry Cork, illustrated report from 2003

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fahrzeit - The magazine of the Schaffhauser Verkehrsbetriebe, issue 10/2016
2. ↑ City of Schaffhausen: Strategy and planning loan template for traction types of VBSH (Next Generation Trolleybus) , template of the City Council of May 2, 2017 at www.stadt-schaffhausen.ch
3. ↑ Profile of the trolleybus series 20-25 (1948) on trolleybus.ch, accessed on April 6, 2017
4. ↑ Trolleybus Magazine Number 292 (July – August 2010), pages 88–89. ISSN  0266-7452 .
5. ↑ Schaffhausen on trolleybus.ch
6. ↑ Véhicules RétroBus Suisse allemande on retrobus.ch
7. ↑ Is SFR 12 million too much for the environment? ( Memento of the original from January 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on www.trolleymotion.eu. April 20, 2009. 
8. ↑ Seven new HESS SwissTrolleys have been ordered ( Memento of the original from April 15, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . on www.trolleymotion.eu. April 26, 2010. 
9. ↑ Buszytig , June 2010 edition, page 2