The Limmattal light rail line () is a

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

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 ...

line in the

Limmat Valley The Limmat Valley (German: ''Limmattal'') is a river valley and a region in the Canton (Switzerland), cantons of Canton of Zürich, Zürich and Canton of Aargau, Aargau in Switzerland. Geography The Limmat () is a long river located in ...

between Zürich Altstetten and

Killwangen Killwangen is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Baden (district, Aargau), Baden in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History The town was first known as ''Chullewangen'' as early as 1227 ...

which started service in 2022. The line is 13.4 kilometres (8.3 mi) long and serves 27 stops. It is served by the lines 20 and 2 of the

Zürich tram network Trams make an important contribution to public transport in the city of Zurich in Switzerland. The tram network serves most city neighbourhoods, and is the backbone of public transport within the city, albeit supplemented by the inner sections of ...

History

The Limmat Valley is of primary historical importance for Swiss public transport as it is the location of the

Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn The Swiss Northern Railway (German language, German: ''Schweizerische Nordbahn'', SNB), informally known as the ''Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn'', opened the first railway line within Switzerland in 1847, the Zürich–Baden railway line, Zürich–Bad ...

, the first railway line of the country, operational since 1847. That line now carries long-distance passenger trains, freight trains and 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, ...

. A light rail line, the Limmattal tramway, was operational since 1900, but closed in stages between 1928 and 1955, being replaced by buses. The success of the

Glattalbahn The Glattalbahn, originally known as the Stadtbahn Glattal, was a project that was ultimately successful in introducing a modern rapid-transit system to the Glattal area of Switzerland, to the north of the city of Zürich. Stadtbahn Glattal ...

suburban tram lines in the north-east of Zurich and the road system in the Limmat Valley running at capacity with projected 113,000 extra journeys a day by 2030 led to the development of the Limmattalbahn project. Planning began in 2000, and by 2007 the line was included in the cantonal structure plans of the Canton Zürich and Canton Aargau. In 2010, the Limmattalbahn AG company was founded by the two cantons as a planner and projected operator of the infrastructure. After the project got the approval of the parliaments of both involved Cantons, a group of citizens from the Canton of Zurich gathered the 3'000 signatures by voting citizens necessary in order to enforce a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

on the investment of CHF 510,3 Mio by the Canton. The citizens of the Canton of Zurich approved the investment in a November 2015 referendum. In May 2016 it was announced that the line would be operated by BDWM Transport, now part of

Aargau Verkehr Aargau Verkehr AG (AVA) is a Swiss transport company. It was formed on 19 June 2018 from the merger of BDWM Transport and the Wynental and Suhrental Railway. The new company operates both rail and bus services, with most of the latter being prov ...

, who also operate the Bremgarten–Dietikon line. Construction commenced in August 2017, and phase 1 between Farbhof and Schlieren opened in September 2019, operated by

Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich (VBZ) is a public transport operator in the Swiss city of Zurich, and is wholly owned by the city. Previously known as the Städtische Strassenbahn Zürich (StStZ), the organisation was founded in 1896 and adopted its c ...

and served by an extension of the existing tram line 2 from

Zürich Tiefenbrunnen railway station Zürich Tiefenbrunnen railway station () is a railway station in the Swiss city of Zürich. It is located on the Lake Zürich right bank railway line, and is situated on the shore of Lake Zürich, in the Seefeld quarter of the city. Operation ...

at the shore of

Lake Zurich Lake Zurich (, ; ) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or can be used to describe the lake as a whole, or just that part of the lake downstream of the Hurden peninsula and ...

. Line 20 of the Zurich tram network from

Zürich Altstetten railway station Zurich Altstetten railway station () is a railway station in the Altstetten quarter of the Swiss city of Zurich. The station is located on the Zürich to Olten main line and is the junction for the Zürich to Zug via Affoltern am Albis line. ...

to Killwangen-Spreitenbach railway station, operated by Aargau Verkehr, opened on December 11 2022.

Service

Trams on line 20 run every 15 minutes between

Zürich-Altstetten Altstetten is a quarter in district 9 (Zurich), district 9 of the city of Zurich in Switzerland. It was formerly a municipality in its own right, but was incorporated into Zurich in 1934. History Altstetten is first mentioned in 1249, at which t ...

and Killwangen-Spreitenbach stations, with the option to later increase the frequency to every 7.5 minutes. The line is double-track throughout, and over 90% segregated from road traffic. The stretch of the line between Farbhof and Schlieren is also in use by an extension of Zürich tram line 2 since 2019, running every 7.5 minutes and replacing the trolleybus line 31 on that stretch. (Although Line 31 still serves the stops at Seidelhof, Farbhof and Micafil on the route). The Limmattal and Bremgarten–Dietikon lines also share a short section of track in the centre of Dietikon.

Infrastructure

From Farbhof to Schlieren the line is electrified at 600 V DC for compatibility with the Zürich tram network, and the section of phase 2 between Altstetten and Farbhof is also electrified at this voltage. The rest of the line is electrified at 1200 V DC, which is also used by the Bremgarten–Dietikon line. A joint order, with

Baselland Transport Baselland Transport AG (BLT) is a Swiss public transport operator in the cantons of Basel-Land, Basel-Stadt, Solothurn and in France. The BLT was founded in 1974, and is owned by the Canton of Basel-Land, located to the south of the city. It tra ...

, was placed with Stadler for the supply of light rail vehicles to operate the service from Altstetten to Killwangen. The Limmattal portion of this order is for eight long and wide bi-directional Tramlink vehicles, with an option for up to eight more. The extension of Zürich tram line 2 is operated by the existing single-ended Zürich tram fleet, for which a turning loop has been provided at Schlieren. 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 ...

granted authorization in 22 February 2020 for the construction of a depot for the line 20 at Müsli, between Dietikon and Spreitenbach. The depot provides parking space for up to 14 light rail vehicles. The facility also includes a building with a maintenance area and a washing facility.

References

External links

Official web site of Limmattalbahn AG
{{Authority control Aargau Verkehr railway lines Railway lines opened in 2019 Transport in Aargau Transport in the canton of Zürich Transport in Zurich