The Wipkingen Tunnel (german: Wipkingertunnel) is a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

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 A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

. The tunnel runs from the northern end of Wipkingen station to a portal to the south of Oerlikon station. It carries twin standard gauge () tracks electrified at 15 k V AC 16 2/3 Hz using

overhead catenary 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 equipmen ...

. Since 1902, the line has been part of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB). The tunnel was opened in 1856 to complete the

Schweizerische Nordostbahn 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 th ...

(NOB) line from

Zürich Hauptbahnhof Zürich Hauptbahnhof (often shortened to Zürich HB, or just HB; ''Zürich Main Station'' or ''Zürich Central Station'') is the largest railway station in Switzerland. Zürich is a major railway hub, with services to and from across Switzerland ...

Winterthur , neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell , twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austria ...

via

Wallisellen Wallisellen is a municipality in the district of Bülach in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland, and belongs to the Glatt Valley (German: ''Glattal''). History The first settlement at Wallisellen dates from 58 BC. The municipality Wallisellen ...

, which had opened from Oerlikon to Winterthur the previous year. In addition to the tunnel, a bridge, over the

River Limmat The Limmat is a river in Switzerland. The river commences at the outfall of Lake Zurich, in the southern part of the city of Zurich. From Zurich it flows in a northwesterly direction, after 35 km reaching the river Aare. The confluen ...

, was constructed to the south of Wipkingen station, in order to access the throat of the Hautbahnhof station via a descending embankment. In the 1890s, the embankment was replaced by the

Aussersihl Viaduct Aussersihl is a district in the Swiss city of Zürich. Known officially as District number 4, the district is known as colloquially ''Chreis Cheib'', ''cheib'' being the Zürich German word for an animal cadaver. It earned the name as the area h ...

, which carried the Winterthur line over several streets and the railway yards and line to

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...

. The footprint of the older embankment route is today occupied by ''Röntgenstrasse''. As built, the tunnel was long, with a southern portal close to the ''Rosengartenstrasse''. In the 1990s, the tunnel was extended to the south, by covering the existing

railway cutting Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

, so that the new southern portal was immediately to the north of Wipkingen station. As a result of the extension, the tunnel is now in length. The Wipkingen Tunnel is now one of three different routes from Oerlikon to Hauptbahnhof, each of which tunnels through the intermediate ridge and emerges from adjacent portals to the south of Oerlikon station. Like the Wipkingen Tunnel, the

Käferberg Tunnel The Käferberg Tunnel (german: Käferbergtunnel) is a railway tunnel in the Swiss city of Zürich. The tunnel runs under the Käferberg hill from the western approaches to Zürich Hauptbahnhof to a portal to the south of Oerlikon station. It i ...

(opened in 1969) connects to the Hauptbahnhof's western approaches, whilst the

Weinberg Tunnel The Weinberg Tunnel (german: Weinbergtunnel) is a railway tunnel in the Swiss city of Zürich. The tunnel runs from the western approaches to Zürich Hauptbahnhof railway station, east under the station and city centre before turning north and s ...

(opened in 2014) accesses the Hauptbahnhof's lower level through platforms from the east. Since the opening of the Weinberg Tunnel, use of the Wipkingen Tunnel is largely confined to long distance trains, with most

Zürich S-Bahn The Zürich S-Bahn (german: S-Bahn Zürich) system is a network of rail lines that has been incrementally expanded to cover the ZVV area, which comprises the entire canton of Zürich and portions of neighbouring cantons (Aargau, Glarus, ...

services using either the Weinberg or Käferberg tunnels. However to ensure that Wipkingen station is still served, the half-hourly S-Bahn service S24 uses the Wipkingen Tunnel. As there is no rail access from the Wipkingen route to the Hauptbahnhof's low-level through platforms, this necessitates that the S24 reverses in the high-level terminal platforms, making it the only remaining S-Bahn service to do so.

References

External links

* {{commonscat-inline, Wipkingertunnel, Wipkingen Tunnel Transport in Zürich Railway tunnels in Switzerland Tunnels completed in 1856