Tunnel instead of bottleneck: SBB upgrades line between Zurich and Winterthur
In order to eliminate the current bottleneck in rail traffic between Zurich and Winterthur, SBB is expanding the line on behalf of the federal government. The centrepiece of the project is the approximately 9-kilometre-long Brüttener tunnel. This will create an additional high-performance double track between the major stations of Zurich and Winterthur.
Today, all rail traffic between Zurich and Winterthur uses the only double-track connection via Effretikon. This section of the line is therefore a veritable bottleneck. To eliminate the bottleneck, SBB is upgrading the line on behalf of the federal government. A new double-track line through the Brüttener Tunnel as well as the expansion of four stations and existing lines should bring relief.
The core of the Zurich-Winterthur multi-track project is the Brüttener Tunnel. It will be about 9 kilometres long and have two tunnel tubes with one track each. Trains will travel at 160 kilometres per hour. The journey time in the tunnel is around 3 minutes.
The northern portal of the Brüttener Tunnel is at Tössmühle before Winterthur. The tunnel tubes divide and end in two tunnel portals in the south: at Bassersdorf and at Dietlikon. This route is the fastest and most efficient connection between Zurich and Winterthur, as it connects both Zurich Airport (via Bassersdorf) and Zurich HB (via Dietlikon) directly to Winterthur. Because most of the new double track runs underground, no major interventions in the landscape will be visible after construction.
The project will increase the rail capacity between Zurich and Winterthur by 30 per cent to around 900 trains and 156,000 passengers per day. Two long-distance lines will run between Zurich and Winterthur every quarter of an hour in future.
The project will be made public at the end of May 2023. If the project progresses without any appeal proceedings, construction work is currently expected to start in the mid-2020s and the service could be put into operation in the mid-2030s.
With the “2035 expansion stage”, the federal government is investing around CHF 12.89 billion in numerous projects to expand the railway infrastructure throughout Switzerland. The “Zurich-Winterthur multi-track” project is the largest of these projects, with estimated costs of around CHF 2.9 billion.