The Heitersberg railway line (''Heitersbergstrecke'') is a Swiss railway line between the stations of Killwangen-Spreitenbach and

Aarau Aarau (, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital of the northern Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau. The List of towns in Switzerland, town is also the capital of the dis ...

on the east-west main line between

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

and

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

. The main structure of the line is the 4,929 metre-long Heitersberg Tunnel, which has its west portal near

Mellingen Mellingen is a historic town and a municipality in the district of Baden in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. The town is located on the Reuss. History Mellingen is first mentioned in 1045 as ''Mellingen'' though this comes from a 16th-ce ...

and its east portal near

Killwangen Killwangen is a municipality in the district of Baden in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal insti ...

. The line was built in the 1970s as part of the planned '' New Main Transversal'' (''Neue Haupttransversale'', NHT) project. It was opened on 1 June 1975 and handed over for scheduled operations on 22 May 1975.

Route

The Heitersberg route branches off from the Zürich– Baden–Aarau–Olten–Bern main line after Killwangen and runs through an almost five kilometre-long tunnel to

Heitersberg Heitersberg Pass aka "The Dabiah Passage" (el. 657 m.) is a mountain pass in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. In 1975, a rail tunnel was opened under the pass from Mellingen to Killwangen Killwangen is a municipality in the district of B ...

(west portal at , east portal at ), connecting in

with the line from Wettingen built by the

Swiss National Railway The Swiss National Railway (German: ''Schweizerische Nationalbahn'', SNB) was a railway company in Switzerland. The Swiss National Railway was created in 1875 from the merger of the two companies, the ''Winterthur–Zofingen Railway'' and the ''Zo ...

(''Schweizerische Nationalbahn'') and in

Othmarsingen Othmarsingen is a municipality in the district of Lenzburg in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History Mesolithic siliceous rock objects and tools and Hallstatt era graves indicate that the Othmarsingen area was prehistorically occupied. O ...

with the

Brugg–Hendschiken railway line The Brugg–Hendschiken railway line is a standard gauge railway line located in the canton of Aargau, in Switzerland. It runs from to . The line runs north-south and interchanges with several other lines, including the Rupperswil–Immensee, ...

from Brugg AG to

Rotkreuz Risch is a municipality in the canton of Zug in Switzerland. It is also promoted as Risch-Rotkreuz. Four villages (Rotkreuz, Risch, Buonas and Holzhäusern) belong to the municipality ''Risch''. On 24 November 2007 it was decided to promote the ...

. Outside of Othmarsingen, there is a three-level crossing with a cantonal road and branches running towards

Hendschiken Hendschiken is a municipality in the district of Lenzburg in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History Hendschiken is first mentioned in 1160 as ''Hentschikon''. During the Middle Ages, the major landowners in Hendschiken included Muri Ab ...

and

Lenzburg Lenzburg is a town in the central region of the Swiss canton Aargau and is the capital of the Lenzburg District. The town, founded in the Middle Ages, lies in the Seetal valley, about 3 kilometres south of the Aare river. Lenzburg and the neigh ...

. West of Lenzburg a new line runs to

Rupperswil Rupperswil is a municipality in the district of Lenzburg in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History A partially preserved Roman era tile kiln from the 2nd Century was discovered in 1911. There is also evidence of the emergence of a late ...

and then it turns into a recently rebuilt four-track section to Aarau. Thanks to the new direct line, including the tunnel, which allows speeds of 140 km/h, the running time between Zürich and Bern has been reduced by 20 minutes, partly as a result of the building of other structures such as the Grauholz Tunnel near Bern.

Ballastless track A ballastless track or slab track is a type of railway track infrastructure in which the traditional elastic combination of ties/sleepers and ballast is replaced by a rigid construction of concrete or asphalt. Characteristics In ballastless t ...

was tested in the Heitersberg tunnel from 1975 to 2014.

Development projects

The development of the Heitersberg route is part of the . The construction of the ''Chestenberg Tunnel'' between Rupperswil and Gruemet was proposed, but a direct 30 km-long tunnel between Aarau and Zürich is now favoured. The Eppenberg Tunnel has been under construction since 2015 as a continuation of the Heitersberg line towards

Olten Olten (High Alemannic: ''Oute'') is a town in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland and capital of the district of the same name. Olten's railway station is within 30 minutes of Zürich, Basel, Bern, and Lucerne by train, and is a rail hub o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heitersberg Railway Railway lines in Switzerland Railway lines opened in 1975 1975 establishments in Switzerland Swiss Federal Railways lines 15 kV AC railway electrification