Zürich Letten (german: Bahnhof Zürich Letten) is a former railway station 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 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 ...

. It is situated on the old route of the Lake Zürich right bank railway (''Rechtsufrige Zürichseebahn'') from to via . Radical changes to the local railway geography in conjunction with the opening of the Zürich S-Bahn system led to the closure of the station in 1989, but the station building still exists, and the trackbed and

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

s are used as a pedestrian path/cycling route. The former railway station is adjacent to the

Letten Power Station James B. Letten (born September 12, 1953) is an American attorney. A career prosecutor, Letten served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana for more than eleven years. By the time Letten resigned as U.S. Attorney in December 2 ...

on the

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 confluenc ...

History

As built in 1894, the right bank railway was a single track line that departed from Zürich HB (main station) in a westerly direction, before performing a clockwise 270 degrees turn via the ''

Aussersihl Viadukt 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 ...

'' and a bridge over the River

. It then passed through Letten station and the ''

Letten Tunnel The Letten Tunnel (german: Lettentunnel) is a disused railway tunnel in the Swiss city of Zürich. It is situated on the old route of the Lake Zürich right bank railway (''Rechtsufrige Zürichseebahn'') from Zurich Hbf station to Rapperswil st ...

'' in order to reach

Stadelhofen station Stadelhofen is a municipality in the Upper Franconian (German: ''Oberfranken'') district of Bamberg and a member of the administrative community (''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'') of Steinfeld. Geography The community lies on the edge of the “ Fr ...

. By rail, the distance between Zurich HB and Stadelhofen was some , despite the fact that they are only apart in a straight line. With the opening of the Zürich S-Bahn in 1990, the Letten Tunnel was replaced by the Hirschengraben Tunnel, which took a direct route from new through low-level platforms at Zurich HB under the Limmat to Stadelhofen. After the new route opened, Letten station was closed and the original railway line and tunnel fell into disuse. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the adjacent

Platzspitz The Platzspitz park is a park in Zurich, located next to the Swiss National Museum. History History of the park goes back to the Middle Ages. Positioned between the Sihl and Limmat rivers, it was originally used as a hunting and shooting ground ...

and later also the vacated Letten station area became a centre for Zürich's drug scene, until this was driven away by police action in 1995. The railway line was closed in 1998, and by 2002 the tracks had been removed, and the tunnel was filled in and sealed off. The station building, built in 1893, is under

cultural heritage management Cultural heritage management (CHM) is the vocation and practice of managing cultural heritage. It is a branch of cultural resources management (CRM), although it also draws on the practices of cultural conservation, restoration, museology, archae ...

Current use

The Letten Tunnel has been closed off and filled to prevent collapse. Its northern entrance is still visible. The former track bed through Letten station, the bridge across the River Limmat, and the part of the ''Aussersihl Viadukt'' on the line between ''Industriequartier'' and Letten have been converted into a pedestrian and cycle route (the

line Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Arts ...

between Zürich HB and via of the ''Aussersihl Viadukt'' is still operative). Since 2010, the areas below the arches of the ''Aussersihl Viadukt'' house shops and restaurants (''Im Viadukt''). The station building is currently used by the publishers of the magazine '' Transhelvetica'', but other future uses for the station building are under discussion, with use as a theatre and/or restaurant proposed.

Gallery

File:SBB Historic - F 122 01239 001 - Zuerich Letten Stationsgebaeude mit Gueterzug Ae 47.jpg,

Locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

of a

cargo train Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers. A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons ( International Union of Railways) haule ...

at Letten station (1985) File:SBB Historic - F 122 01239 009 - Zuerich Letten Stationsgebaeude Bahnseite.jpg, Station building with railway tracks in 1989 File:SBB Historic - F 122 01239 010 - Zuerich Letten Stationsgebaeude Strassenseite.jpg, Street front of the station building (1989) File:Zurich Letten Tunnel.jpg, Northern entrance of the ''

Lettentunnel The Letten Tunnel (german: Lettentunnel) is a disused railway tunnel in the Swiss city of Zürich. It is situated on the old route of the Lake Zürich right bank railway (''Rechtsufrige Zürichseebahn'') from Zurich Hbf station to Rapperswil s ...

'' File:Zurich Letten Rail Bridge.jpg,

Viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

over the

viewed from the station site (now pedestrian/bicycle bridge) File:All roads heading to Zürich - panoramio.jpg, ''Aussersihl Viadukt'': Line to and above, the line to Letten (below) was repurposed as a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists File:Aussersihler Viadukt Markthalle aussen.jpg, ''Im Viadukt'' market where the line to Letten (left) diverges from the line to Wipkingen (right) File:Aussersihler-Viadukt-Night-2010.jpg, Illuminated arches of the ''Aussersihl Viadukt'' with shops (''Im Viadukt'')

References

External links

*
Article on the history of the station and tunnel
(in German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zurich Letten Disused railway stations in Switzerland Letten