St. Gallen–Winterthur railway line

The St. Gallen–Winterthur railway line is a standard gauge railway line in the Swiss cantons of St. Gallen, Thurgau and Zürich and belongs to the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB). The 57.1 kilometre-long line was opened between 1855 and 1856 in four stages by the St. Gallen-Appenzell Railway (Sankt Gallisch-Appenzellische Eisenbahn, SGAE).

St. Gallen–Winterthur railway
Thur bridge at Schwarzenbach with a Stadler KISS running as the Rheintal-Express: Wil–St. Gallen–Chur
Overview
LocaleSwitzerland
TerminiSt. Gallen
Winterthur
Line number850
Technical
Line length57.1 km (35.5 mi)
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Electrification15 kV/16.7 Hz AC overhead catenary
Maximum incline1.6%
Route map
km
elev
SBB line from Rorschach and
SOB line from Romanshorn
AB line from Trogen
80.46
St. Gallen
terminus of S1 S5
669.6 m
AB line to Appenzell
high point
676.5 m
SOB line to Herisau–Wattwil
84.05
 St. Gallen Bruggen
651.6 m
Sitter Viaduct (190 m)
AB line from Herisau–Appenzell
until 1913
86.38
 St. Gallen Winkeln
654.7 m
AB from Herisau–Appenzell
line since 1913
90.13
 Gossau SG
637.9 m
SBB line to Sulgen S5
Glatt at Gossau (110 m)
93.22
siding
623.6 m
chainage adjustment -0.01
95.33
 Flawil
610.7 m
Uze (122 m)
100.94
 Uzwil
563.8 m
Bühler industrial railway
103.23
Algetshausen-Henau
1927–2013
555.4 m
106.72
Schwarzenbach SG
former station
540.1 m
Thur at Schwarzenbach (166 m)
chainage adjustment-0.21
SBB line from Wattwil
110.62
 Wil
terminus of S1 S35
570.8 m
Thurbo line to Weinfelden
line to Frauenfeld
113.83
 Sirnach
549.4 m
117.45
 Eschlikon
566.8 m
120.95
Guntershausen
since 1927
546.2 m
122.90
 Aadorf
527.6 m
126.15
 Elgg
507.0 m
130.51
 Schottikon
since 1930
486.1 m
131.84
 Räterschen
475.7 m
133.92
 Winterthur Hegi
460.9 m
SBB line from Rapperswil
135.29
 Winterthur-Grüze
452.1 m
SBB line from Romanshorn
S8 S30
136.48
Schwalmenacker
since 2015
445.9 m
SBB line from Schaffhausen
137.81
Winterthur
terminus of S30 S35
438.9 m
SBB line to Koblenz
SBB line to Zürich S8
Source: Swiss railway atlas[1]

History

Construction and opening
Original Sitter Viaduct with a lattice girder. The bridges over the Glatt, the Uze and the Thur were built according to the same design principles.

The Canton of Thurgau initially refused to grant a concession for the line on its territory, as the route would not have favoured Thurgau. The Swiss Northeastern Railway (Die Schweizerische Nordostbahn) operated the competing Winterthur–Romanshorn railway through the Thurgau.

The Winterthur–Wil–Thur bridge section at Schwarzenbach was built by Julius Herz.[2] The Winterthur–Wil section was opened on 14 October 1855. The journey time was 40 minutes.

The line between Wil and Flawil was hotly debated. The SGAE applied for a concession for the easily-built route south of Uzwil’s local hill, the Vogelsberg, from Schwarzenbach via the Bettenauer Weiher and Oberuzwil to Flawil. Commercial interests preferred a route north of the Vogelsberg so that Uzwil could have a station. So the line was built with a tight S-curve on the edge of the Vogelsberg, where Uzwil station was later built. As a result, this S-curve is today one of the slowest sections of the whole line and the tightest curve on a relatively high-speed line in Switzerland.[3] The Wil–Flawil section was opened on 25 December 1855.

After the construction of the Glatt bridge at Egg between Flawil and Gossau was completed on 15 February 1856, the line reached Gossau and Winkeln. Finally, the line was extended to the town of St. Gallen on 24 March 1856. For this purpose, an iron lattice bridge designed by Karl Etzel was built over the Sitter, the original Sitter Viaduct.

Further development
Commencement of electric operations in 1927 with an Ae 3/6 I locomotive in Flawil

A train coming from Winterthur derailed in Vonwil near St. Gallen on 31 December 1879. The two locomotives came to lie on the left and right of the railway track and the carriages were pushed into each other. The accident caused two deaths and several were injured, some seriously.

The route became part of the Swiss Federal Railways on 1 July 1902 when the national railways were nationalised. Starting in 1903, the SBB duplicated the line in stages and electrified it in 1927 at 15,000 Volt 16 ⅔ Hz. At the same time, the Algetshausen-Henau halt was opened and the Bühler industrial railway in Uzwil was handed over to the company.

The Winterthur Hegi halt was opened in December 2006 as part of the expansion of the Zürich S-Bahn. Algetshausen-Henau and Schwarzenbach stations were closed in 2013.

Operations

In long-distance traffic, the line is part of the West-East axis from St. Gallen to Geneva. In regional traffic, the Rheintal-Express (REX) runs from Chur via St. Gallen to Wil. In local traffic, the line is served by line S 1 (St. Gallen–Wil), with additional services in the peak as line S 11 (St. Gallen–Wil), and line S 5 (St. Gallen–Gossau–Weinfelden) of the St. Gallen S-Bahn. The section west of Wil is served by line S 35 (Winterthur–Wil) of the Zürich S-Bahn.

The route is served by the following lines (2017/18):

Long distance
Regional
S-Bahn St. Gallen
S-Bahn Zürich
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References

Footnotes
  1. Eisenbahnatlas Schweiz (Swiss railway atlas). Schweers + Wall. 2012. pp. 13, 14. ISBN 978-3-89494-130-7.
  2. Heer 2006.
  3. "Die engste Kurve im Bahnnetz". Homepage of the municipality of Uzwil (in German). Retrieved 7 November 2018.

Sources
  • Heer, Anton (2006). Rorschach-St.Gallen-Winterthur: zwischen 170-jähriger Eisenbahngeschichte und Zukunft (PDF; 14.2 MB). St. Gallen: Sabon-Verlag. ISBN 3-907928-55-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Wägli, Hans G. (1998). Generalsekretariat SBB (ed.). Schienennetz Schweiz (in German). Zürich: AS-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-905111-21-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Wägli, Hans G. (2004). Bahnprofil Schweiz 2005 (in German). Grafenried: Diplory Verlag.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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