Dolderbahn - Römerhof 2010-08-19 13-29-32 ShiftN
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The Dolderbahn (Db or DBZ) is a long rack railway in the
Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...
city of Zürich. The line is in Zürich's Hottingen and
Fluntern Fluntern is a Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter in the district 7 (Zürich), district 7 in Zürich, Switzerland. It was formerly a municipality of its own, having been incorporated into Zürich in 1893. The quarter has a population of 7,325 di ...
suburbs on the south slope of the Adlisberg mountain. The lower terminus of the line is at ''Römerhof'', some from the city centre, where it connects with lines 3 and 8 of the Zürich tramway. The upper terminus at ''Bergstation Dolderbahn'' is adjacent to the
Dolder Grand Hotel The Dolder Grand (formerly known as Grand Hotel Dolder) is a 5 star superior hotel in the Swiss city of Zürich. It is located on Adlisberg hill, some from, and above, the city centre. Built in 1899, the hotel spreads out over and offers 173 ro ...
and the Dolder recreation area. Two intermediate stations, at ''Titlisstrasse'' and ''Waldhaus Dolder'', are also served. The line is owned by the ''Dolderbahn-Betriebs AG'', which is itself 50% owned by the city of Zürich, and is operated on their behalf by the municipal transport operator '' Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich''. The line was opened in 1895 as a funicular railway, and converted to rack operation in 1973. Because of this history, it is still sometimes erroneously referred to as a funicular or cable car.


History

The first proposal for the line was in 1890, when Heinrich Hürlimann purchased land in the area, although his first proposals fell through. In 1893, the ''Dolderbahn-Aktiengesellschaft'' company was formed to build the line, with construction commencing the following year. The line was built as a funicular railway and opened in 1895. The upper terminus of the funicular was roughly on the site of the uppermost of the current line's two intermediate stations. The funicular had a length of and overcame a height difference of with a maximum gradient of 18%. Following the opening of the line, a restaurant was built at the line's upper terminus; this became the Dolder Waldhaus Hotel in 1906. In 1899, the Dolder Grand Hotel was built uphill from the upper terminus of the funicular, and was linked to the funicular by a short electric tramway, with a single tramcar. The line was built to the same gauge as Zürich's other electric tramways, but was never connected to any of them. In 1922 the tramcar was rebuilt to allow one-man operation, but in 1930 it was replaced by a bus. In 1971 the concession of the original company expired, and a new company, the ''Dolderbahn-Betriebs-AG'', was created to convert the line to rack operation. At the same time the line was extended at its upper end to directly serve the Dolder Grand Hotel, thus replacing the bus that had in turn replaced the tram. The new line opened in 1973, and in 1999 the ''Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich'' took over operation of the line. In 2004, the line was completely renovated along with the four stations and two railcars. As part of this rebuild, a new design of flexible rack turnout was installed at the passing point.


Operation

The line is long and overcomes a height difference of . It is built to
metre gauge Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, la ...
( gauge), uses the
Strub rack system A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with ...
and is single track with a single intermediate passing loop. The passing loop is situated between ''Titlisstrasse'' and ''Waldhaus Dolder'' stations and features flexible rack turnouts at both ends. The line is operated by a pair of four-wheel rack railcars, each of which can carry 100 passengers. The cars are electrically driven off a 600 volt direct current overhead supply and are propelled by a cog-wheel attached to the downhill of the vehicles two axles. They were built by the
Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...
, with electrical equipment from Brown, Boveri & Cie, in 1972. In line with its funicular origins, the line has no depot and no track connection to any other line. The cars are stabled and maintained in the terminal stations. The line runs from 06.20 until 23.30 every day, with services running every 10, 15 or 20 minutes depending on the time of day. The journey time is approximately 5 minutes. The standard '' Zürcher Verkehrsverbund'' zonal fare tariffs apply, with the whole of the line being within fare zone 110 (Zürich city, formerly zone 10).


Future

In June 2021, the Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich ordered two new railcars from
Stadler Rail Stadler Rail is a Swiss manufacturer of railway rolling stock, with an emphasis on regional train multiple units and trams. It is also focused on niche products, such as being one of the last European manufacturers of rack railway rolling stock ...
at Bussnang to replace the existing pair of cars used on the line. The new railcars are scheduled to be delivered in mid-2024 and will cost
SFr SFR (; ''Société française du radiotéléphone'', ) is a French telecommunications company. As of December 2015, it had 21.9 million customers in Metropolitan France for mobile services, and provided 6.35 million households with high-spee ...
10.6m.


See also

* List of funicular railways *
List of funiculars in Switzerland This is a list of all funiculars in Switzerland, commercially operated according to a timetable. See also *List of funicular railways *List of heritage railways and funiculars in Switzerland *List of aerial tramways in Switzerland *List of moun ...
*
List of rack railways This is a list of rack railways, both operating and closed. Angola * Lengue gorge. * on Benguela railway – 1906. 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge. Argentina * Transandine Railway between Mendoza and Santa Rosa de Los Andes, Chile, see Chile ...
* List of Swiss rack railways


References


External links

*
Video of ascent of the line from YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dolderbahn Metre gauge railways in Switzerland Rack railways in Switzerland Railway lines in Switzerland Transport in Zürich Railway lines opened in 1895 600 V DC railway electrification