The Zürichberg Tunnel () is a

railway 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 ...

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

in the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

city of Zürich Zurich (; ) is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The urban area was home to 1.45 mi ...

. The tunnel runs from a junction with the Lake Zürich right bank line at Zürich Stadelhofen station, to

Stettbach railway station Stettbach railway station () is a railway station on the north-eastern boundary of the Swiss city of Zürich. Although the station is located just within the city boundary, in the city's Schwamendingen district, it takes its name from the nearb ...

. It passes under the

Zürichberg The Zürichberg is a wooded hill rising to 679 m (2,228 feet), overlooking Lake Zürich and located immediately to the east of the city of Zürich, Switzerland, between the valleys of the Limmat and the Glatt rivers. Its highest point is about 2 ...

range of hills that separates Zürich city centre from the Glattal region. The tunnel incorporated a set of underground platforms at Stettbach station, and carries twin

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 ...

() tracks electrified at 15 kV AC 16,7 Hz using

overhead line An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, Electric multiple unit, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union ...

. The tunnel is principally used by suburban trains of the

Zürich 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, ...

, but occasional use is also made by postal trains, freight trains, and long-distance passenger trains. The tunnel was opened in 1990 as part of a program of major changes to the railway geography of this part of Zürich. Prior to these changes,

Zürich Hauptbahnhof Zürich Hauptbahnhof, often shortened to Zürich HB or just HB, and known in English as Zurich Main Station, is the largest railway station in Switzerland and one of the busiest in Europe. It is a major railway hub, with services to and from a ...

was a west-facing terminal station that required through trains to reverse in its platforms. Trains to and from the Lake Zürich right bank line had to traverse a long 270° curve to reach Stadelhofen station, whilst trains to and from the north and east were forced to use a rather indirect route through Zürich Oerlikon station. To improve these routings and allow the introduction of cross-city S-Bahn trains, 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 ...

was constructed, taking a long direct route from new low-level platforms at Hauptbahnhof to Stadelhofen. At the same time the Zürichberg Tunnel was constructed from Stadelhofen to Stettbach, where a new station was constructed. To the east of Stettbach new links were constructed, linking to the Zürich to Winterthur line at Dietlikon station, and to the Wallisellen to Rapperswil line at Dübendorf station, thus allowing trains to take a direct route to and from the east and north of Zürich. In 2014, the routing via Hirschengraben and Zürichberg tunnels was supplemented by the Weinberg Tunnel, which links a further set of low-level platforms at Hauptbahnhof via an eastbound route to Oerlikon station, as part of the ''Durchmesserlinie Zürich''. Unlike its 1990 equivalent, this routing is intended for use by long distance passenger trains as well as the S-Bahn.

References

External links

* Transport in Zurich Railway tunnels in Switzerland Tunnels completed in 1990 1990 establishments in Switzerland {{Switzerland-struct-stub