The Lake Zürich left bank railway line (german: Linksufrige Zürichseebahn), is a railway line in Switzerland. As its name suggests, it runs down the left, or west, bank of

Lake Zürich __NOTOC__ Lake Zurich ( Swiss German/ Alemannic: ''Zürisee''; German: ''Zürichsee''; rm, Lai da Turitg) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zürich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or ''Zürichsee'' can be used ...

, connecting

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

Ziegelbrücke Ziegelbrücke is a village in Switzerland. Ziegelbrücke is shared by the municipalities of Niederurnen in the canton of Glarus and Schänis in the canton of St. Gallen. Geography and political situation The village of Ziegelbrücke is divided ...

and

Näfels Näfels is a former municipality in the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Effective from 1 January 2011, Näfels is part of the municipality of Glarus Nord. History Näfels is first mentioned in 1240 as ''Nevels''. In 1388, the Swiss Confederates ...

. The left-bank railway opened in 1875 and forms part of the Zürich–Chur main line. It is long, standard gauge, double track and electrified at supplied by

overhead line An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipm ...

. Between Zürich and

Thalwil Thalwil is a municipality and town in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. In addition to the town of Thalwil, the municipality includes the village of Gattikon. History Thalwil is first mentioned around 1030 as ''Tal ...

, the line originally shared its tracks with the Zürich–Lucerne main line, although many through trains on this stretch now use the

Zimmerberg Base Tunnel The Zimmerberg Base Tunnel (ZBT) is a railway tunnel under the Zimmerberg mountains in Switzerland. Phase I of the tunnel was opened to traffic during April 2003. The ZBT has been divided into two phases of work; as of 2020, only Phase I is op ...

rather than the lakeside line.

Geography

History

The line was opened by the

Swiss Northeastern Railway The Swiss Northeastern Railway (''Schweizerische Nordostbahn''; NOB) was an early railway company in Switzerland. It also operated shipping on Lake Constance (''Bodensee'') and Lake Zürich. Until the merger of the Western Swiss Railways into the ...

in 1875. Prior to this, trains between Zürich and Chur travelled on the Wallisellen to Rapperswil via Uster line. The parallel line on the opposite bank of Lake Zürich did not open until 1894. Between 1875 and 1925, the line followed a routing through Zürich north of Wollishofen that differed from the current alignment and was largely at street level, with many

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term a ...

s. The line passed through a single tunnel, the original Ulmberg rail tunnel, and crossed the

Sihl river The Sihl is a Swiss river that rises near the Druesberg mountain in the canton of Schwyz, and eventually flows into the Limmat in the centre of the city of Zürich. It has a length of , including the Sihlsee reservoir, through which the river f ...

on a bridge. Between 1925 and 1927, this stretch of line was relocated westwards and to a lower level, largely in the new Ulmberg and Enge tunnels, and the current

Wiedikon Wiedikon is a district in the Swiss city of Zurich. It corresponds to District number 3 and comprises the neighborhoods of Alt-Wiedikon, Sihlfeld and Friesenberg. Wiedikon was formerly a municipality of its own, having been incorporated into ...

and Enge stations date from this period. The original Ulmberg rail tunnel is still in use for road traffic, forming the western bore of the Ulmberg road tunnel, but most of the rest of the former route has been obscured by subsequent building.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lake Zurich left-bank railway line Railway lines in Switzerland Railway lines opened in 1875 1875 establishments in Switzerland Swiss Federal Railways lines 15 kV AC railway electrification