Rafz is a

railway station 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 ...

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 ...

canton of Zürich The canton of Zurich is an administrative unit (Swiss canton, canton) of Switzerland, situated in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of (as of ), it is the most populous canton of Switzerland. Zurich is the ''de facto'' Capi ...

and municipality of Rafz. The station is located on the Eglisau to Neuhausen line of the

Swiss Federal Railway Swiss Federal Railways (, SBB; , CFF; , FFS) is the national railway company of Switzerland. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Bern. It used to be a government institution, but since 1999 it has been a special stock corpo ...

(SBB) that crosses the international border twice on its route between the Swiss cantons of Zürich and

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...

. The station is operated by the SBB and is served by

Zurich 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, ...

line S9 that provides a half-hourly service between

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, 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 ...

and Rafz, with alternate trains continuing to

. Before the timetable revision in late 2015, the station was served by S-Bahn line S5 from Zurich, and an intermediate stop on the S22 between

Bülach Bülach () is a historic town and a municipality in Switzerland in the canton of Zürich. It is the administrative capital of Bülach district. It is situated in the Glatt Valley (German: ''Glattal'') to the east of the small river Glatt and ab ...

and Schaffhausen, which was curtailed from Bülach to

Jestetten Jestetten is a municipality in the district of Waldshut (district), Waldshut in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. History In 1806 Jestetten became part of Baden. From 1840 until 1935, the territory of Jestetten together with Altenburg, Lottstette ...

, in turn it no longer fell under the purview of the ZVV.

Customs

As the next station is , which is in Germany, Rafz is a border station for passengers arriving from Germany. Customs checks may be performed aboard trains and in Rafz station by Swiss officials. Systematic passport controls were abolished when Switzerland joined the

Schengen Area The Schengen Area ( , ) encompasses European countries that have officially abolished border controls at their common borders. As an element within the wider area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) policy of the European Union (EU), it ...

in 2008.

Rafz train crash

On 20 February 2015, there was a collision between two trains at the station. The crash occurred at approximately 6.43 am. An

S-Bahn The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...

and an

Interregio The InterRegio, often shortened to IR, is a train categories in Europe, train category for mainly domestic train services in use in some European countries, with Swiss Federal Railways operating the most dense network. InterRegio trains are semi ...

express train collided. The collision occurred as the Interregio train, which was running late, was passing through Rafz without stopping. The S-Bahn train was departing for and was involved in a side-long collision, with the Interregio train coming from behind the S-Bahn train. The express was partially derailed, but the couplings held and no carriages overturned. The S-Bahn train was operated by Class 514

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...

514 046-2. The InterRegio train was hauled by Class 460

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a Battery (electricity), battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime mover (locomotive), ...

No. 460 087-0. The 49-year-old driver of the express was seriously injured. He was airlifted to hospital by helicopter. There were five other injuries requiring hospital treatment. The

Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board The Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board (STSB, ; ; ) is a government agency of Switzerland. It investigates civil aviation accidents and incidents and cableway, roadway, waterway, and railway accidents. The head office is in Bern. T ...

opened an investigation into the accident.

References

External links

Rafz Rafz is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Bülach (district), Bülach in the northwest of the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Rafz was first mentioned in 1413 as ''Rafsa''. Geography Rafz has an area of . Of th ...

Rafz {{Switzerland-railstation-stub