
The ''Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn AG'' – commonly abbreviated to SZU – 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 Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...
company and transport network in the
canton of Zürich in
Switzerland. The network comprises the
Uetliberg railway line and the
Sihltal railway line, a cable car and a network of bus services.
The SZU is jointly owned by the city of
Zürich
, neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon
, twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco
Zürich () i ...
(32.6%), the municipalities of
Adliswil
Adliswil is a town and a municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.
The official language of Adliswil is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Ale ...
,
Langnau am Albis
Langnau am Albis is a village in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.
History
Langnau am Albis is first mentioned between 1101 and 1150 as ''Langenow'' (in a 14th Century copy of the 12th century document). Between 11 ...
,
Horgen
Horgen is a municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.
It is one of the larger towns along the south bank of the Lake of Zurich.
On 1 January 2018 the former municipality of Hirzel merged into the municip ...
,
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 ...
and
Uitikon
Uitikon is a village and municipality in the district of Dietikon in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Besides the village of Uitikon itself, the municipality includes the villages of Waldegg and Ringlikon.
Geography
Uitikon lies on the ...
(6.8%), the
Canton of Zürich (23.8%), the
federal government
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...
(27.8%), and other parties (9%). It is constituted as an
Aktiengesellschaft
(; abbreviated AG, ) is a German word for a corporation limited by share ownership (i.e. one which is owned by its shareholders) whose shares may be traded on a stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria, Switzerland (where it is equiva ...
(AG) or public company.
History
The history of the SZU dates back to two separate companies, which built the two railways that now make up the SZU. The first of these companies was the ''Uetlibergbahn-Gesellschaft'', which opened its line from
Bahnhof Selnau in Zurich to the summit of the
Uetliberg
__NOTOC__
The Uetliberg (also known as Üetliberg) is a mountain in the Swiss plateau, part of the Albis chain, rising to . The mountain offers a panoramic view of the entire city of Zürich (to the northeast of its summit) and the Lake of Zur ...
mountain in 1875. This was followed in 1892 by the ''Sihltalbahn'' company (SITB), which opened a line from Bahnhof Selnau to
Sihlwald. In 1897 this latter line was extended to
Sihlbrugg and a connection with the
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 ...
to
Zug line of 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).
In 1920, the ''Uetlibergbahn-Gesellschaft'' became bankrupt and was liquidated. Two years later the ''Uetlibergbahn'' was taken over by the ''Bahngesellschaft Zürich–Uetliberg'' (BZUe). In 1923 the ''Uetlibergbahn'' was electrified using the
direct current
Direct current (DC) is one-directional flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or eve ...
system, whilst the following year the ''Sihltalbahn'' was electrified using
alternating current
Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in which ...
.
[
In 1932 the SITB took over the management of the BZUe, but the two companies remained in existence until 1973, when they were merged to form the SZU. In the meantime, in 1954, the SITB had taken over the management of the ]Adliswil-Felsenegg cable car
The Adliswil-Felsenegg cable car (LAF; german: Luftseilbahn Adliswil-Felsenegg or ) is a cable car in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. The lower station is located in Adliswil in the Sihl Valley, whilst the upper station is located on the F ...
.
In 1990, the two lines were extended from their previous joint terminus at Bahnhof Selnau to a terminus at . This extension involved the construction of a new rail tunnel from Selnau to Zurich HB, and a new underground intermediate station adjacent to the former terminus. The underground platforms used at Zurich HB were already in existence, having been built prior to 1973 for a U-Bahn scheme that was ultimately rejected by voters. Once the new extension had been opened, the former terminus at Selnau was redeveloped and little evidence of it is now visible.
In 1995, the company took over responsibility for bus services in parts of the district of Horgen through which the Sihltalbahn is running.[
In 2006, after 109 years, the ''Sihltalbahn'' stopped servicing Sihlbrugg and the last but one station Sihlwald became the new terminus.
]
Operation
Rail network
The SZU continues to operate the original ''Uetlibergbahn'' and ''Sihltalbahn'' lines. The two lines share a common double-track section between Zürich Giesshübel and , with the final approach in tunnel, partly under the Sihl
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 fl ...
river. A dedicated pair of underground platforms are used at the Hauptbahnhof with no rail connection to the rest of the station.
Also operated is a connecting line from Giesshübel to 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 ...
at Zürich Wiedikon, although this is normally only used for freight traffic. In all, the SZU network measures : km as part of the ''Sihltalbahn'' (including the Wiedikon to Giesshübel line) and of the ''Uetlibergbahn''.
The passenger services on the two lines now form part of the S-Bahn Zürich
The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban-suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble c ...
, with the service over the ''Sihltalbahn'' to Sihlwald branded as the S4 and the ''Uetlibergbahn'' branded as the S10 S10 may refer to:
Automobiles
* Chevrolet S-10, a pickup truck
* Nissan Silvia (S10), a sports car
* Toyota Crown (S10), a luxury car
Aviation
* Lake Chelan Airport, in Chelan County, Washington, United States
* Letov Š-10, a Czech trainer ...
.
Both railway lines are constructed to . They are unusual in that, whilst the ''Sihltalbahn'' is electrified using the standard Swiss mainline system of overhead lines at 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC, the ''Uetlibergbahn'' is electrified using overhead lines at 1200 V DC. In order to avoid conflict on the common section, the ''Uetlibergbahn'' uses an overhead line offset from the centre of the track, and its cars are equipped with specially designed pantographs
A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen. If a line dr ...
to collect from this.
Other services
The cable car Cable car most commonly refers to the following cable transportation systems:
* Aerial lift, such as aerial tramways and gondola lifts, in which the vehicle is suspended in the air from a cable
** Aerial tramway
** Chairlift
** Gondola lift
** ...
Luftseilbahn Adliswil-Felsenegg (LAF for short or commonly called ''Felsenegg
Felsenegg (el. ) is a vantage point in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.
Geography
Felsenegg is located some to the southwest of the city of Zürich on the Albis chain, between the municipalities of Stallikon and Adliswil. The hill ...
bahn'') is provided by the SZU, in addition to the Zimmerberg bus line (German: ''Zimmerbergbus'') in the district of Horgen which is providing a network of including 201 stops.
Tariffs
The SZU was a founder member, in May 1990, of the Zürcher Verkehrsverbund
The ZVV (German language, German abbreviation for Zürcher Verkehrsverbund, translated into English language, English as Zürich Transport Network or Zürich Traffic Network) is a public transportation system. It combines Rail transport, rail, bus ...
(ZVV) and the standard ZVV zonal fare tariffs apply to its services.
Rolling stock
The SZU uses the following rolling stock:
Sihltalbahn (S4)
* 6 Locomotives Re 4/4 542–547
* 7 Control car (rail)
A control car, cab car (North America), control trailer, or driving trailer (UK and Ireland) is a non-powered rail vehicle from which a train can be operated. As dedicated vehicles or regular passenger cars, they have one or two driver compartm ...
Bt 971–973, Bt 984–987
* 6 Intermediate single deck cars BD 281–285, B 293
* 6 Intermediate double deck cars B 271–276
* 2 Re 456 Double deck trains (DPZ): Re 456 551, 552, B 231, 232, 241, 242 and Bt 951, 952 (two sets taken over from SBB, type Re 450)
* 8 Low floor double deck cars (NDW).
Uetlibergbahn (S10)
* 8 motor cars Be 4/4 521–528
* 4 lowfloor intermediate cars B 221–224
* 6 SZU Be 510
Class SZU Be 510 designates a multi system EMU of the Swiss railway Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn (SZU), procured for the Uetliberg railway. These EMUs could operate on the former 1200 V DC electrification of the Uetliberg line and can run on ...
class EMUs ordered from Stadler in 2010,
details in German on http://www.bahnonline.ch. that entered service in 2014, equipped for dual voltage operation with movable Pantograph (rail), pantograph
Notes
External links
*
Luftseilbahn Adliswil-Felsenegg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sihltal Zurich Uetliberg Bahn
Railway companies of Switzerland
Transport companies of Switzerland
Bus companies of Switzerland
Transport in the canton of Zürich
Sihl
Swiss companies established in 1875
Transport companies established in 1875
Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn