Zürich Hauptbahnhof
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Zürich Hauptbahnhof, often shortened to Zürich HB or just HB, and known in English as Zurich Main Station, is the largest
railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
in
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
and one of the busiest in
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. It is a major railway hub, with services to and from across Switzerland and neighbouring countries such as
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,
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,
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and
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. The station was originally constructed as the terminus of the Spanisch Brötli Bahn, the first railway built completely within Switzerland. Serving up to 2,915 trains per day, Zürich HB is one of the busiest railway stations in the world. It was ranked as the best European railway station in 2023 and 2024. Zürich HB is one of 29 stations in Zurich. It is located at the northern end of the
Altstadt ''Altstadt'' () is the German language word for "old town", and generally refers to the historical town or city centre within the old town or city wall, in contrast to younger suburbs outside. '' Neustadt'' (new town), the logical opposite of ...
() and east of the Europaallee in central Zurich, near the
confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...
of the rivers
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, continuing a further 35 km until it reaches the river A ...
and
Sihl The Sihl is a Switzerland, Swiss river that rises near the Druesberg mountain in the canton of Schwyz, and eventually flows into the Limmat in the centre of the Zürich, city of Zürich, after crossing the Zürich–Winterthur railway at . It has ...
(the Sihl actually passes through the station in a tunnel with railway tracks both above and below). The station is on several levels, with platforms both at ground and below-ground level, tied together by underground passages and the shopping mall. It is also connected with the subsurface station of SZU, but shares no tracks with the latter. Zürich HB's railway yards extend about to the west. The station is included in the Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National Significance.


History


The first station

The first Zurich railway station was built by , on what were then the north-western outskirts of the city. It occupied a piece of land between the rivers
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, continuing a further 35 km until it reaches the river A ...
and
Sihl The Sihl is a Switzerland, Swiss river that rises near the Druesberg mountain in the canton of Schwyz, and eventually flows into the Limmat in the centre of the Zürich, city of Zürich, after crossing the Zürich–Winterthur railway at . It has ...
, and trains accessed it from the west via a bridge over the Sihl. At the eastern end of the station was a
turntable A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding phys ...
, used for turning locomotives. This basic terminal station layout, with all trains arriving from the west, was to set the basic design of the station for the next 143 years. The new station was the initially the terminus of the
Swiss Northern Railway The Swiss Northern Railway ( German: ''Schweizerische Nordbahn'', SNB), informally known as the ''Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn'', opened the first railway line within Switzerland in 1847, the Zürich–Baden line. This followed the extension of a Fre ...
, more often called the ''Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn'', which opened on 9 August 1847 and linked Zurich with
Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...
. Initially the railway lines in the station were laid to a gauge of , perhaps because the same gauge was used at the contemporaneous and nearby Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway. From the opening of the station, the railways of northern Switzerland developed rapidly, and by 1853 the Swiss Northern Railway had been merged into 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 ...
(''Schweizerische Nordostbahn''; NOB). Also in 1853, the tracks in the station were regauged to the
standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...
() that is still used by all lines in the station. In 1856, the NOB completed its line from the station to
Winterthur Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as well as its ninth-largest agglomeration with about 14 ...
via the Wipkingen Tunnel and Oerlikon. In 1858, the NOB completed its line from Baden via
Brugg Brugg (sometimes written as Brugg AG in order to distinguish it from other ''Brugg''s) is a Switzerland, Swiss Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and a List of towns in Switzerland, town in the canton of Aargau and is the seat of the Bru ...
to
Aarau Aarau (, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital of the northern Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau. The List of towns in Switzerland, town is also the capital of the d ...
, where it connected with the Swiss Central Railway (''Schweizerische Centralbahn''; SCB), thus providing connections to
Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
, Solothurn and
Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...
. With further railways planned, it became clear that the 1847 station was not large enough. A rebuild was started to meet Zurich's increased transport needs, albeit on the same site and using the same basic layout.


The 1871 station

In 1871, the replacement station building opened, to a design by architect Jakob Friedrich Wanner. Its main entrance is a triumphal arch facing the end of the then newly built Bahnhofstrasse. In front of the arch stands a monument to the railway pioneer Alfred Escher. The magnificent
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
neo-Renaissance building features richly decorated lobbies and atriums, restaurants and halls. Originally housed inside it was the headquarters of the Schweizerische Nordostbahn (NOB). The
train shed A train shed is a building adjacent to a station building where the tracks and platforms of a railway station are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof. Its primary purpose is to store and protect from the elements train car ...
, spanned by iron trusses, initially covered six tracks. The station was named ''Zürich Hauptbahnhof'' in 1893, to reflect that year's incorporation of many of Zurich's suburbs into an enlarged municipality. In 1902, the year in which the
Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (, SBB; , CFF; , FFS) is the national railway company of Switzerland. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Bern. It used to be a State-owned enterprise, government institution, but since 1999 it has be ...
(SBB) took over the Schweizerische Centralbahn and the NOB, the tracks inside the eastern end of the train shed were lifted, due to a lack of space. Since then, these tracks have terminated at a more central location, immediately to the north of the Bahnhofstrasse. Also in 1902, four more tracks and a north wing with a restaurant and railway mail service were added to the north of the train shed. In the vacant space left inside the train shed, new rooms were built for baggage handling. On 18 February 1916, the SBB decided that electrification of its network would be by the high-tension single-phase alternating current system that is still used on all routes. On 5 February 1923, the electrified Zug–Zurich railway was put into operation, the first electrified line to Zurich. By 1927 all routes from Zürich Hauptbahnhof had been electrified. In 1933, the station's simple concourse and the iron and glass train shed were created with seven and a half arches to cover 16 tracks. As part of that work, the main shed was shortened by two segments. In the 1940s, the line between Zurich and Geneva served as a "parade route". The first lightweight steel express train had entered service on this route in 1937. By 11 June 1960, the SBB network was largely electrified. In the following year, the SBB introduced its first four-system electric trains under the
Trans Europ Express The Trans Europ Express, or Trans-Europe Express (TEE), was an international first-class railway service in western and central Europe that was founded in 1957 and ceased in 1995. At the height of its operations, in 1974, the TEE network compri ...
banner, and thereby increased Zürich Hauptbahnhof's international importance. In 1963, about 500 metres before the concourse, an imposing six-storey concrete cube arose in the station yard. It was designed by SBB architect , and it has been the home of the ''Zentralstellwerk Zürich'' (central
signalling control On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timeta ...
) since 1966. The then state-of-the-art relay-controlled interlocking system replaced the decentralised mechanical and electro-mechanical signal boxes in the station throat, including the ''Stellwerk «Seufzerbrücke»'' (''"Bridge of Sighs" signal box''), which had spanned the entire station throat just east of the Langstrasse. The signalling control system was modernised to coincide with the commissioning of the
Zurich S-Bahn The Zurich S-Bahn () system is a network of rail lines that has been incrementally expanded to cover the ZVV area, which comprises the entire canton of Zurich and portions of neighbouring cantons (Aargau, Glarus, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, ...
. It is equipped with a computerised controller that performs the standard operations. Apart from the tracks and points (switches) of the "Sihlpost station" (which are controlled by an electronic control system), the entire control of the points and signals in the Langstrasse–Concourse section is still largely under relay control, in some cases with the original relay sets installed in 1966. The immense station yard, with its platform tracks and
station building A station building, also known as a head house, is the main building of a passenger railway station. It is typically used principally to provide services to passengers. A station building is a component of a station, which can include tracks, ...
, is a bottleneck for the city of Zurich. The Limmat and the Sihl were further bottlenecks, and the combination of the three led to gridlock in the 1950s and 1960s. In parallel, there were plans for a subway system. Although the people voted against it in 1962, the city's Civil Engineering Department had already started to convert the Bahnhofplatz for the purpose of a possible underground line.


ShopVille and S-Bahn

On 1 October 1970, construction of the Bahnhofplatz, as well as the pedestrian and shopping arcade ShopVille was completed. Upon its opening, the Bahnhofplatz became a pedestrian-free zone, and the underground ShopVille the only access to the station. Contrary to expectations, ShopVille did not capture the support of the people, who, in 1973, voted even more emphatically to reject a subway system. In the 1980s, ShopVille became a drug-dealing hub, due to its proximity to the ''Autonomes Jugendzentrum Zürich'' (''"Autonomous Youth Center Zurich"''). Its low point was reached at the end of the decade, when travellers avoided all parts of it other than the concourse and the tram stop. Consequently, there were several night-time closures by mesh fences. However, the solution to this problem was foreseeable, as the people had agreed on 29 November 1981 to the construction of the Zurich S-Bahn and the extension of the Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn to the Hauptbahnhof. The long
Hirschengraben Tunnel The Hirschengraben Tunnel is a railway tunnel in the Switzerland, Swiss Zürich, city of Zürich. The tunnel runs from the western approaches to Zürich Hauptbahnhof railway station, east under the station, the river Limmat and city centre before ...
was built for the S-Bahn from the Hauptbahnhof to Zurich Stadelhofen. This new line continued through the
Zürichberg Tunnel The Zürichberg Tunnel () is a railway tunnel in the Switzerland, Swiss Zürich, city of Zürich. The tunnel runs from a junction with the Lake Zürich right bank railway line, Lake Zürich right bank line at Zürich Stadelhofen railway station, Z ...
to Stettbach, with connections to the existing lines to Dietlikon and
Dübendorf Dübendorf is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Uster (district), Uster in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zürich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. It is a suburb of Zürich in Switzerland with a population o ...
. In the Hauptbahnhof, two underground stations were constructed. For the S-Bahn, a four-track station with the working title ''Museumstrasse'' was built, and the Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn was extended to the station, which had once been intended for the never-realized U-Bahn. The opening of the S-Bahn was on 27 May 1990, and since then, the ShopVille arcades have connected the two underground stations with the main hall. Black and white striped marble walls and granite floors are the main design features of what is one of the largest shopping centres in Switzerland. In 1996, the main hall was cleared of its temporary installations. In 1997, the train shed was fitted on both sides with pitched roofs on sloping concrete supports, designed by local architects Marcel Meili and Markus Peter.


Löwenstrasse station

The planning of the S-Bahn and the Rail 2000 long-haul project raised the idea of building the Weinberg Tunnel, a through route from Zürich Hauptbahnhof to Oerlikon. That proposal was initially postponed, but the great success of the S-Bahn led to an expansion of services and, consequently, to capacity constraints. Plans were made to expand existing rail lines within Zurich leading to the north, but this encountered resistance from the population living near those rail lines. As an alternative the construction of the Weinberg tunnel and four additional underground tracks in the railway station was suggested and confirmed by a referendum. In 2002, an architectural competition was held for the new ''Löwenstrasse transit station'', won by the architect . On 22 December 2006, the
Federal Office of Transport The Federal Office of Transport, FOT is a federal authority of the Swiss Confederation. It deals with public transport in Switzerland, i.e. railways, cableways, trolleybuses, buses and ships. It is also responsible for various aspects of freig ...
approved the building of the tunnel and a third underground four-track Löwenstrasse station. In September 2007, construction began on the project, nicknamed ''Durchmesserlinie'' (cross-city link). On 14 June 2014, the new platforms and tunnels were opened. The new line runs from the Altstetten railway station, crosses the Zürich HB station throat on a bridge, and leads into the underground Löwenstrasse station. From there, it goes through the new, approximately long Weinberg Tunnel in a long left-hand curve under the existing Zürich HB–Stadelhofen line. It then ends at the level of the portals of the existing ''Wipkinger Tunnels'' in Oerlikon, where it connects with the northbound lines, including the line to
Zurich Airport Zurich Airport is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the airline hub, principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland, and, with its surface transport links, much of the rest o ...
and
Winterthur Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as well as its ninth-largest agglomeration with about 14 ...
. In 2007, the SBB and
Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...
entered into a station partnership between the Zürich HB and the
Berlin Hauptbahnhof Berlin Hauptbahnhof () (English: Berlin Central Station) is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. It came into full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter Bahnhof, ...
to promote knowledge sharing between operators of similarly sized stations.


Layout and facilities


Layout

The station is aligned approximately east to west, at the northern edge of the city centre and the northern end of '' Bahnhofstrasse'', the city's main shopping street, and Bahnhofplatz. North of the station are the
Platzspitz park Platzspitz, officially Platzpromenade, is a park in Altstadt (Zurich), District 1 of the city of Zurich, Switzerland. It is located next to the Swiss National Museum () and Zürich Hauptbahnhof, Central Station and bound by the rivers Sihl to the ...
and the
Swiss National Museum The Swiss National Museum () is a museum in Zurich, Switzerland's largest city, adjacent to Central Station and the '' Platzspitz'' park. It is part of the ''Musée Suisse Group'', which is itself affiliated with the Federal Office of Culture ...
(). East of the station is 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, continuing a further 35 km until it reaches the river A ...
with two bridges, the and the '' Bahnhofbrücke''. The station is split over three principal levels, with the ground level housing sixteen terminal platform tracks, flanked by the and Postbrücke, and the station's main concourse. Below this level are a series of pedestrian passageways, the ShopVille shopping centre, and the course of the
Sihl The Sihl is a Switzerland, Swiss river that rises near the Druesberg mountain in the canton of Schwyz, and eventually flows into the Limmat in the centre of the Zürich, city of Zürich, after crossing the Zürich–Winterthur railway at . It has ...
river. At the lowest level, and parallel to the terminal platforms at ground level, are ten underground platform tracks, of which two are terminal () and eight are through (). The station's main concourse itself comprises two sections. To the east is the (), which was the train hall of the 1871 station but is now a pedestrian circulation space, sometimes also used for events and exhibits. The is surrounded on three sides by station buildings, whilst to the west it opens onto the (), which stretches across the head of the ground level terminal platforms. These platforms, comprising two
side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms, ...
s and seven
island platform An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...
s, are sheltered by the 1933-built train shed and are served by tracks () numbered 3 to 18. At the subterranean middle level, the station site is crossed north to south by four pedestrian passageways (). The eastern three of these, the , the and the , form an interconnected complex with the ShopVille shopping complex and give direct access to all the station's platforms as well as to the surrounding streets. An intermediate underground level, immediately below the , connects these passageways with the concourse. The westernmost passage, the , lies to the west of the Sihl, which passes under the station from north to south at the same level as the passageways. Because of the presence of the river channel, the Sihlquai passage has no direct connection to the other passageways, but it connects to streets to the north and south of the station, and to all platforms except that serving tracks 21 and 22. At the lowest level, there are three groups of underground platforms. The most southerly are terminal tracks 21 and 22 of the station, with a single island platform, and accessible only to trains on the SZU's Sihltal (S4) and
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), Zürichberg and ...
(S10) lines. To the north of these are two island platforms serving tracks 31 to 34, known as the ''Löwenstrasse'' station, which link to the station's
western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
and southern rail approaches, and to an eastern approach via the Weinberg tunnel from Oerlikon station. Some distance to the north of these are two further island platforms serving tracks 41 to 44, known as the ''Museumstrasse'' station, which also link to the station's western and northern approaches, and to an eastern approach via the
Hirschengraben Tunnel The Hirschengraben Tunnel is a railway tunnel in the Switzerland, Swiss Zürich, city of Zürich. The tunnel runs from the western approaches to Zürich Hauptbahnhof railway station, east under the station, the river Limmat and city centre before ...
from Stadelhofen station.


Facilities

Underneath the Bahnhofplatz and the station is the large underground shopping centre called "ShopVille" of over 200 shops or other businesses. It benefits from the Swiss employment law rule that while generally labour on Sundays is not allowed, it is allowed in "centres of public transport". The huge underground "Rail City" is, therefore, usually bustling on Sundays even while the streets of Zurich are largely empty. The western
underpass A subway, also known as an underpass, is a grade-separated pedestrian crossing running underneath a road or railway in order to entirely separate pedestrians and cyclists from motor or train traffic. Terminology In the United States, as ...
(between Sihlpost and Sihlquai) also contains shops and take aways. Between 2018 and 2023, the south wing of the station building, facing ''Bahnhofplatz'', was renovated. It features shops, restaurants and ticket offices. Events take place regularly in the ''Haupthalle'', including "open air" cinema; vegetable, flea and Christmas markets; and events such as
skating Skating involves any sports or recreational activity which consists of traveling on surfaces or on ice using skates, and may refer to: Ice skating *Ice skating, moving on ice by using ice skates **Figure skating, a sport in which individuals, ...
,
beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...
and the "warm up" for the Street Parade. Since 8 June 2009, Zürich HB has been the site of the first ''SBB Lounge''. This waiting room was exclusively for holders of a first-class general subscription or a valid international first-class ticket or for frequent traveller program members of the Railteam partner railways. However, the lounge was closed in 2016. The station also has its own chapel, jointly run by the Evangelical Reformed and the
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
churches, but open to travellers of all denominations or religions. The chapel is located on the intermediate underground level, immediately below the ''Haupthalle''. Between 2009 and 2020, the Europaallee building complex was constructed on the former
rail yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of Track (rail transport), tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for k ...
of the Sihlpost, located west of the Zürich HB station building. The site features several shops, restaurants and offices. The Europaallee is connected with the area north of the railway tracks via the (), which opened in 2021, and with the station's platforms via the western underpass.


Station bells, clock and lights

There are station bells above the rear exit of the large hall. In the 1847 station, bells rang before each departure of the ''Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn''. The ''signal order'' prescribed as follows: ''"10 minutes before the departure of a train, one ell 5 minutes before the same, two ells and immediately prior to departure, three bells"''. For the 1871 renovations, the architect Jakob Friedrich Wanner gave the station clock the place of honour in the portal above the main entrance, and the bells were placed in a small tower in the east facade. On 12 September 2006, to commemorate the station's 150th anniversary, the
ETH Zurich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...
installed the ''NOVA'', a three-dimensional, bivalent display, which consists of 25,000 individually addressable light balls. It represents a play of light of several colours, but can also represent cinematic sequences. It is expected to remain hanging in the station until further notice.


Operation

Zürich HB is served by more than 2,900 trains daily. In 2018, it had an average of 471,300 passengers each working day. The station is busy at all times, with trains running from 05:00 until 01:00 during the week. From Friday night to Sunday morning, trains run also all night as part of the '' ZVV Nachtnetz'' (nighttime network).


Tracks

The station has four distinct groups of tracks (), giving a total of 26 tracks: * Tracks 3–18 are terminal tracks located at ground level, served by two side platforms and seven island platforms. These are used by long-distance trains from throughout Switzerland, and by international trains such as the
EuroCity EuroCity (EC) is an international Train categories in Europe, train category and brand for European inter-city rail, inter-city trains that cross international borders and meet criteria covering comfort, speed, food service, and cleanliness. E ...
, Cisalpino,
InterCityExpress Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE () and running under this category) is a high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands as part of cross-border services. It ...
and
TGV The TGV (; , , 'high-speed train') is France's intercity high-speed rail service. With commercial operating speeds of up to on the newer lines, the TGV was conceived at the same period as other technological projects such as the Ariane 1 rocke ...
. A few S-Bahn services (, , , ) also depart from these tracks. * Tracks 21 and 22 are underground terminal tracks, served by a single island platform, and located on the southern side of the station. This platform is known as and is used by SZU operated S-Bahn services and , heading south and west towards
Sihl The Sihl is a Switzerland, Swiss river that rises near the Druesberg mountain in the canton of Schwyz, and eventually flows into the Limmat in the centre of the Zürich, city of Zürich, after crossing the Zürich–Winterthur railway at . It has ...
valley and
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), Zürichberg and ...
, respectively. * Tracks 31–34 (''Löwenstrasse'' station) are underground through tracks, served by a pair of island platforms, and located just to the north of tracks 21 and 22. These are used by long-distance trains and S-Bahn services and running to and from Oerlikon station via the Weinberg Tunnel. * Tracks 41–44 (''Museumstrasse'' station) are underground through tracks, served by a pair of island platforms, and located on the northern side of the station. These are used by S-Bahn trains running via the
Hirschengraben Tunnel The Hirschengraben Tunnel is a railway tunnel in the Switzerland, Swiss Zürich, city of Zürich. The tunnel runs from the western approaches to Zürich Hauptbahnhof railway station, east under the station, the river Limmat and city centre before ...
and Zurich Stadelhofen station (services , , , , , , , , , , ). File:Zürich Hauptbahnhof - Zurich main train station.jpg, The surface platforms (tracks 3–18) File:Zuerich Hauptbahnhof P6A2419.JPG, The platform (tracks 21–22) File:Bf Löwenstrasse Zürich 3.JPG, The ''Löwenstrasse'' platforms (tracks 31–34) File:S-Bahn, Gleis 43.jpg, The ''Museumstrasse'' platforms (tracks 41–44)


International services

The following international trains call at Zürich Hauptbahnhof: *
Intercity Express Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE () and running under this category) is a high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands as part of cross-border services. It ...
: four round-trips per day over the Zurich–Baden line to Hamburg-Altona and two round-trips to . * TGV Lyria: five round-trips per day over the Zurich–Baden line to
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. *
EuroCity EuroCity (EC) is an international Train categories in Europe, train category and brand for European inter-city rail, inter-city trains that cross international borders and meet criteria covering comfort, speed, food service, and cleanliness. E ...
: :* '' Transalpin'': Single round-trip per day over the Zurich–Winterthur line to
Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...
. :* Ten trains per day over the Lake Zurich left-bank line to
Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...
,
Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
,
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
, or
Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
. :* Six round-trips per day over the Zurich–Winterthur line to
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
. :* Single round-trip per day over the Zurich–Baden line to Hamburg-Altona. :* Single round-trip per day over the Zurich–Baden line to
Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof, also called Frankfurt Central Station and Frankfurt Main Station, is the busiest train station in the German state of Hesse. Due to its location near the middle of Germany and usage as a transport hub for long an ...
. *
InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...
: Hourly service over the Zurich–Winterthur railway to
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
. *
InterRegio The InterRegio, often shortened to IR, is a train categories in Europe, train category for mainly domestic train services in use in some European countries, with Swiss Federal Railways operating the most dense network. InterRegio trains are semi ...
: Hourly service over the Zurich–Winterthur railway to * Railjet Express: Four round-trips per day over the Lake Zurich left-bank line to
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
,
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
, or
Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...
. *
Nightjet Nightjet (stylised as nightjet) is a brand name given by the ÖBB, Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) to its overnight passenger train services. ''Nightjet'' operates in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Switze ...
/
EuroNight EuroNight, abbreviated EN, is a European train category that denotes many mainline national and international night train services within the Western and Central European inter-city rail network. Overview The classification and name were brough ...
: ** Overnight train over the Zurich–Baden line to
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
. ** Overnight train over the Lake Zurich left-bank line to Graz, Vienna,
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
, Budapest, or
Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
.


Domestic long-distance traffic

The following long-distance services call at Zürich Hauptbahnhof: * EuroCity/InterCity: half-hourly service over the Lake Zurich left-bank line to (EuroCity continues to Milano). *
InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...
: :* Half-hourly service over the Zurich–Baden and Zurich–Winterthur lines between
Geneva Airport Geneva Airport – formerly and still unofficially known as Cointrin Airport – is an international airport of Geneva, the second most populous city in Switzerland. It is located northwest of the city centre. It surpassed the 15-million-pas ...
/
Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...
and . :* Hourly service over the Zurich–Baden and Lake Zurich left-bank lines between
Basel SBB Basel SBB railway station (, or in earlier times ''Centralbahnhof'' or ''Schweizer Bahnhof'') is the central railway station in the city of Basel, Switzerland. Opened in 1854, and completely rebuilt in 1900–1907, it is Europe's busiest intern ...
and
Chur '' Chur (locally) or ; ; ; ; ; ; or ; , and . is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, town of the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of the Grisons and lies in the Alpine Rhine, Grisonian Rhine Valley, where ...
. :* Hourly service over the Zurich–Baden line to
Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...
. :* Hourly service over the Zurich–Baden and Zurich–Winterthur lines between
Spiez Spiez is a town and Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality on the shore of Lake Thun in the Bernese Oberland region of the Switzerland, Swiss canton of Bern. It is part of the Frutigen-Niedersimmental (administrative district), Frutigen-Nied ...
and
Romanshorn Romanshorn is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Arbon (district), Arbon in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. History Romanshorn was probably settled in the 7th century, and is first menti ...
; service every two hours from Spiez to and . *
InterRegio The InterRegio, often shortened to IR, is a train categories in Europe, train category for mainly domestic train services in use in some European countries, with Swiss Federal Railways operating the most dense network. InterRegio trains are semi ...
: :* Hourly service over the Lake Zurich left-bank line to Chur. :* Hourly service over the Zurich–Baden and Zurich–Winterthur lines between Basel SBB and
Zurich Airport Zurich Airport is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the airline hub, principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland, and, with its surface transport links, much of the rest o ...
. :* Two trains per hour over the Zurich–Baden line to
Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
. :* Hourly service over the Zurich–Baden line to Basel SBB. :* Half-hourly service over the Lake Zurich left-bank line to
Lucerne Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...
. :* Service every two hours over the Lake Zurich left-bank line to . *
RegioExpress RegioExpress, commonly abbreviated to RE, is a Train categories in Europe, category of fast regional train service in Switzerland, run by Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS) or other railway companies (such as Treni Regionali Ticino Lombardia, ...
: :* Hourly service over the Zurich–Baden line to
Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...
. :* Hourly service over the Zurich–Baden line to .


S-Bahn services

Since the commissioning of the
Zurich S-Bahn The Zurich S-Bahn () system is a network of rail lines that has been incrementally expanded to cover the ZVV area, which comprises the entire canton of Zurich and portions of neighbouring cantons (Aargau, Glarus, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, ...
in May 1990, the Hauptbahnhof has been the central node of the Zurich S-Bahn ''Stammnetz'' (core network). As such, it is the nodal point where S-Bahn lines S2, S3, S5, S6, S7, S8, S9, S12, S14, S15, S16, S19, S20, S21, S24 and S25, the Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn ( S4 and
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 a ...
) and Zurich trams interconnect. During weekends, there are seven nighttime S-Bahn services (SN1, SN4, SN5, SN6, SN7, SN8, SN9) calling at the Hauptbahnhof, offered by ZVV: * : hourly service between and . * : hourly service to . * : hourly service between and . * : hourly service between and . * : hourly service between and . * : hourly service between and . * : hourly service between and .


Urban public transport

Around the station, the
tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...
s and
trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
es of the Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich (VBZ) provide local public transport services. The (HB) is one of the most important nodes of the Zurich tramway network. The main station is accessible from five tram and bus stops: *Sihlquai/HB to the north next to exit ''Sihlquai'' via the most western underpass, tram lines , , and ; *Bahnhofquai/HB to the east via the main hall, tram lines , , , , and trolleybus ; * Bahnhofplatz/HB to the south via traverse hall, main hall, or underground ShopVille, tram lines , , , and trolleybus ; * Bahnhofstrasse/HB just south of ''Bahnhofplatz'' via main hall or underground ShopVille, tram lines , , , and ; *Sihlpost/HB to the south-west from exit '' Europaallee'' via the most western underpass, tram lines , and trolleybus . Two additional tram/bus stops, Central and Löwenplatz, are within walking distance. Near the entrance of
Platzspitz park Platzspitz, officially Platzpromenade, is a park in Altstadt (Zurich), District 1 of the city of Zurich, Switzerland. It is located next to the Swiss National Museum () and Zürich Hauptbahnhof, Central Station and bound by the rivers Sihl to the ...
, next to the
Swiss National Museum The Swiss National Museum () is a museum in Zurich, Switzerland's largest city, adjacent to Central Station and the '' Platzspitz'' park. It is part of the ''Musée Suisse Group'', which is itself affiliated with the Federal Office of Culture ...
, northeast of HB, there is a
pier A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out from its shore, typically supported by piling, piles or column, pillars, and provides above-water access to offshore areas. Frequent pier uses include fishing, b ...
for the Limmat cruise boats.


Train operations

Due to its central location in Switzerland and in Europe, the station was quickly able to establish itself as an important railway junction. Most trains running through several European countries operated through Switzerland. In addition, a majority of Swiss mainline trains travelled to or from Zurich. For the clock-face timetable introduced to Switzerland in 1982, Zurich is the "pacemaker". Delays and other disruptions at Zürich Hauptbahnhof sometimes affect the whole of Switzerland. Long-distance trains meet in Zurich on the hour and half-hour, and thus connect with each other. In cases of delays, connecting trains wait a maximum of 3 minutes beyond the scheduled departure time, except for some international trains and the late night trains. S-Bahn services do not wait for late connecting trains, but the long-distance trains - contrary to popular opinion - usually wait for delayed S-Bahn trains (also for a maximum of 3 minutes).


Taxi stands

Taxi stand A taxicab stand (also called taxi rank, cab stand, taxi stand, cab rank, or hack stand) is a queue area on a street or on private property where taxicabs line up to wait for passengers. Operation Stands are normally located at high-traffic l ...
s are located on Bahnhofplatz, Postbrücke and along Museumstrasse along the northern side of the station building. An additional taxi stand is situated at Central.


Customs

Zurich main station is, for customs purposes, a border station for passengers arriving from Germany. As such, customs checks may be performed in the station by Swiss customs officials. Systematic passport controls were abolished, however, when Switzerland joined the
Schengen Area The Schengen Area ( , ) encompasses European countries that have officially abolished border controls at their common borders. As an element within the wider area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) policy of the European Union (EU), it ...
in 2008.


Flood risk

The
Sihl The Sihl is a Switzerland, Swiss river that rises near the Druesberg mountain in the canton of Schwyz, and eventually flows into the Limmat in the centre of the Zürich, city of Zürich, after crossing the Zürich–Winterthur railway at . It has ...
passes through the station in a tunnel, with platforms above and below the river, and public circulation areas to either side. The tunnel comprises 5 culverts with a length of and a clear opening of by each. This limits the river's flow capacity, raising concerns about the capacity of the tunnel to deal with extreme flood events. Additionally, during the building of the new Löwenstrasse platforms, it was necessary to temporarily close part of this tunnel, thus reducing the capacity even further. Some upstream of the station lies the Sihlsee, Switzerland's largest artificial lake, which is impounded by a high dam. Studies showed that a failure of this dam could lead to an high flood wave reaching the Hauptbahnhof within 2 hours. This threat has led the City of Zurich to develop, publish and test evacuation plans for the affected areas of the city, and especially the station area.


See also

*
History of rail transport in Switzerland The construction and operation of Switzerland, Swiss railways during the 19th century was carried out by private railways. The first internal line was a 16 km line opened from Zürich to Baden, Switzerland, Baden in 1847. By 1860 railways conn ...
*
Rail transport in Switzerland Rail transport in Switzerland is noteworthy for the density of its network, its coordination between services, its integration with other modes of transport, timeliness and a thriving domestic and trans-Alps, Alp freight system. It is made nece ...
* Public transport in Zurich


References


Notes


Further reading


Books

* * * *


Article

*


External links


Station data
from SBB web site
Interactive station plan (Zürich HB)

Station plan (Zürich HB)
(PDF, 6.8 MB)

(PDF, 4.5 MB) {{DEFAULTSORT:Zurich Hauptbahnhof Hauptbahnhof Bahnhofplatz, Zürich Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Zurich HB Sihl Swiss Federal Railways stations Railway stations located underground Railway stations in Switzerland opened in 1871