The Wehntal Railway (german: Wehntalbahn), named after the

Wehntal Wehntal is the name of a valley region in the Canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Geography The ''Wehn'' valley (native German name: ''Wehntal'') area is situated between the Lägern and ''Egg'' mountain chain in the Dielsdorf District of the Ca ...

valley, is a standard gauge railway line running between

Oberglatt Oberglatt is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Dielsdorf (district), Dielsdorf in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zurich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland, and belongs to the Glatt Valley (german: Glatttal). Zur ...

and

Niederweningen Niederweningen is a municipality in the district of Dielsdorf in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. History Niederweningen is first mentioned between 1096 and 1111 as ''Waningen''. In 1269 it was mentioned as ''Nidirunweningin''. The railway ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. The line in the greater Zurich area belongs to the Zurich S-Bahn network and is operated by route S15.

History

Construction of the line

The first section of the Wehntal railway was opened between Oberglatt and

Dielsdorf Dielsdorf is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, seat of the district of Dielsdorf District, Dielsdorf in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. History Dielsdorf is first mentioned in 861 as ''Theolvesthoruf''. The name means ''est ...

at 1 May 1865. It was operated by the Bülach-Regensberg-Bahn as a terminal branch line connecting to the main line

Bülach , neighboring_municipalities= Bachenbülach, Eglisau, Embrach, Glattfelden, Hochfelden, Höri, Rorbas, Winkel , twintowns = Santeramo in Colle (Italy) Bülach () is an historic town and a municipality in Switzerland in the canton ...

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

of the same company. At January 1, 1877 the Bülach-Regensberg-Bahn got bought 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 ...

(NOB), which made the acquisition to fight a possible competition 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 ...

(SNB) by providing a shorter connection between Winterhtur and Baden. The extension of the Wehntal railway till Niederweningen was already planned at the time of the purchase by NOB, but was only realized 1891. During the construction work some bones of

Mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, ...

were found in Niederweningen. The Niederweningen Dorf railway station became the new terminal station which was at that time called

. The latest extension of the branch line was realized in 1938, where the line got extended by about one km to connect the agriculture machinery factory Bucher-Guyer to the Swiss railway network. With the opening of the extension the new terminal station was called Niederweningen, while the name of the old terminal station became Niederweningen Dorf.

Surb valley railway

A further extension of the railway line through the

Surb Surbtal is a river valley region in the Canton of Aargau, Switzerland. Geography The ''Surbtal'' (literally ''Surb valley'') is situated parallel to the Limmat Valley (''Limmattal'') in the Baden and Zurzach districts of the Canton of Aargau ...

valley was planned since the mid-19th century, but was never realized. With this extension called Surb railway line the Wehntalbahn would have been connected in Döttingen to the

Turgi–Koblenz–Waldshut railway line The Turgi–Koblenz–Waldshut railway line is a railway line in Switzerland. It runs from Turgi in Switzerland via Koblenz to Waldshut in Germany. The Turgi–Koblenz–Waldshut line was the first rail link between Germany and Switzerland. It was ...

and would have had lost the status as a terminal branch line. The construction of the extension was decided 1916 by amending the Swiss federal law by paragraph SR 742.34, but the construction never started. When the amended paragraph was cancelled 1937, the government had to give in by adapting the Swiss wide ticket prices and fright fares in such a way, that all prices were evaluated if the extension would have been built. The calculation considering the virtual Surb valley railroad only ended somewhere in the seventies.

Electrification

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the Wehntal railway was threatened to be closed due to spares traffic. Some test with

railcar A railcar (not to be confused with a railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach (carriage, car), with a drive ...

s were not successful. After it was decided not to close the railway line it was electrified 1960 with 15 kV 16⅔ Hz as the second to last railway line of the

Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (german: link=no, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen, ''SBB''; french: link=no, Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses, ''CFF''; it, Ferrovie federali svizzere, ''FFS'') is the national railway company of Switzerland. It is usuall ...

to be electrified. The last railway line to be electrified was the

Cadenazzo–Luino railway The Cadenazzo–Luino railway is a railway line that joins Switzerland and Italy. History The line was opened on 4 December 1882 by the Gotthardbahn. On 1 May 1909 it became part of the Swiss Federal Railways. It was electrified on 11 June 1960. ...

, which cross the Italian border. There the steam operation lasted only a few weeks longer than on the Wehntal railway line. Since 1990 the Wehntal railway is part of the Zurich S-Bahn. Until the end of 2015 it was operated by routes S5 and S55. Since then it has been operated by route S15.

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

* – movie showing the steam operation on the Wehntal railway line {{DEFAULTSORT:Wehntalrailwayline Railway lines in Switzerland Transport in the canton of Zürich Standard gauge railways in Switzerland Railway lines opened in 1865