Schwyz railway station

Schwyz railway station (German: Bahnhof Schwyz) is a railway station in the municipality of Schwyz, the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. Opened in 1882, it is owned and operated by the Swiss Federal Railways, and forms part of the Gotthard railway, which links northern Switzerland and Immensee with Chiasso and Italy, via the Gotthard Tunnel.[1][2]

Schwyz
The station building in 2010
Location	Bahnhofstrasse Schwyz Switzerland
Coordinates	47°1′35.004″N 8°37′55.675″E
Elevation	455 m (1,493 ft)[1]
Owned by	Swiss Federal Railways
Line(s)	Gotthard line
Platforms	3
Train operators	Swiss Federal Railways
Connections	AAGS local buses
History
Opened	1882 (1882)
Services
Preceding station Swiss Federal Railways Following station Arth-Goldau towards Basel SBB InterRegio IR 26 Brunnen towards Airolo Arth-Goldau towards Zürich Hauptbahnhof InterRegio IR 46 Preceding station Zug Stadtbahn Following station Steinen towards Rotkreuz S 2 South Brunnen towards Flüelen Preceding station Lucerne S-Bahn Following station Steinen towards Lucerne S3 Brunnen Terminus
Location
Schwyz Location within Switzerland Show map of Switzerland Schwyz Schwyz (Canton of Schwyz) Show map of Canton of Schwyz

The station is located in the village of Seewen in the middle of the Schwyz valley, about 2 km (1.2 mi) northwest of the town centre, between the Grosser Mythen and the Urmiberg.

History

Schwyz railway station was opened in 1882, as the Gotthardbahn began operations. When the Gotthardbahn was nationalised in 1909, the station came into the ownership of the SBB-CFF-FFS.

In 1900, the Schwyzer Strassenbahnen electric tramway opened their first line, from the station to the Schwyz Post stop in the town centre. In 1914 and 1915, the line was extended through the town centre to Brunnen railway station and the Brunnen ferry terminal. The line closed in 1963, and was replaced by bus services.[3][4]

In 1979 and 1980, the entire station was redeveloped. The station building was demolished and replaced with the present, post-modern buildings. Also, the platform system was renewed, and the sidings removed.[3]

Facilities

The railway facilities at the station include four through tracks, three of which face a railway platform. However, only the middle platform facing tracks 2 (towards Brunnen) and 3 (towards Steinen/Arth-Goldau) is used for scheduled passenger trains. Track 1, facing the main platform, and track 4, which has no platform, are used for overtaking trains.

There are also still some sidings and connecting tracks, mainly for the Schwyzerland cheese factory, KIBAG, Arthur Weber Stahl and Zeughausareal Seewen.

Services

The following services stop at Schwyz:[5]

• InterRegio: hourly service between Erstfeld and Arth-Goldau, trains continue to Basel SBB or Zürich Hauptbahnhof.
• Zug Stadtbahn S 2: hourly service between Rotkrezu and Flüelen.
• Lucerne S-Bahn S3: hourly service between Luzern and Brunnen.

Bus traffic

The bus station is next to the station building and has three bus platforms. Several bus routes operated by the Auto AG Schwyz company link the station with the Schwyz town centre in about five minutes:

• Line 1: Lauerz – Schwyz – Muotathal
• Line 3: Seewen – Ibach – Schwyz – Rickenbach

See also

• History of rail transport in Switzerland
• Rail transport in Switzerland

References

1. Eisenbahnatlas Schweiz. Verlag Schweers + Wall GmbH. 2012. p. 23. ISBN 978-3-89494-130-7.
2. map.geo.admin.ch (Map). Swiss Confederation. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
3. "Dorfgeschichte" [Village history]. www.seewen-schwyz.ch (in German). Einwohnervereins Seewen/SZ. 2009. Archived from the original on 9 September 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
4. "Altdorf–Flüelen". www.eingestellte-bahnen.ch (in German). Retrieved 8 July 2015.
5. "Luzern - Rotkreuz - Arth-Goldau - Erstfeld" (PDF). Bundesamt für Verkehr. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2020.

Bibliography

• Moser, Beat; Pfeiffer, Peter (2004). SBB Gotthardbahn (in German). Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany: Eisenbahn-Journal (Verlagsgruppe Bahn GmbH). ISBN 3-89610-121-8.

External links

• Schwyz railway station – SBB