Winterthur Central Station

Winterthur Central Station (German: Winterthur Hauptbahnhof or Winterthur HB) is a railway station for Winterthur, a city in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland.

Opened in 1855, the station is owned and operated by the SBB-CFF-FFS. It is served by all express trains to and from Winterthur, and by a number of Zürich S-Bahn lines. There are also direct trains to Germany. However, most trains to and from Eastern Switzerland bypass the station.

The term "Hauptbahnhof" or "HB" is not much used by the station's operator to describe it: the signs inside the station, and the schedule information on the SBB-CFF-FFS website, refer to the station simply as "Winterthur", but the expression "Hauptbahnhof" appears on its bus stop.

The station is inscribed on the Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National Significance.^[1]

Location

Winterthur HB is centrally located, at the northwestern edge of the city centre.

History

In 1855, the first temporary station building was built in Winterthur as a timber framed structure. The design of the building was by A. Beck, who also managed the construction. The building was sold in 1860 to the City of Zurich, which wanted to move and rebuild it in the vicinity of the Kornhaus. Most likely, it was used for the construction of the Kornhauswirtschaft, as these two buildings bear a very great resemblance.^[2]

Five years after the opening of the provisional building, the first real station was built, under the direction of the architect Jakob Friedrich Wanner, who, together with A. Beck, was responsible for the design. The builder, Meier, came from Winterthur, and the train shed was built by the firm Benkiser of Pforzheim.^[3] In 1875, its first expansion was completed, to coincide with the commencement of the Winterthur operations of the Tösstalbahn and the Nationalbahn. This expansion consisted of an extension to each side of the station building equal to the width of four window bays, in order to create space for new waiting rooms.

Further renovations in 1894-96 left the station building in its present form. These renovations, proposed by the architect Ernst Jung and Otto Bridler, produced a station building in Renaissance style; the Federal Palace of Switzerland served as a template.

In 1944, the present day tracks 8 and 9 were added. In 1980, the station was again extended by two tracks (the current platforms 1 and 2), which were used for the Tösstal line and for postal trains. Today, S-Bahn trains to Wil depart from the Postal train track.

In 1988, the two-storey parking deck was built over the station yard. In 2000 followed the construction of the Stadttor Winterthur between the station building and the EPA department store, which is now a Coop City department store.

Tracks

Winterthur HB is a through station with nine tracks, of which only tracks 1 and 2 are bay platforms. From those two platforms, S-Bahn trains depart for the Tösstal and to Wil. Long distance trains stop at tracks 3, 4 and 5, which are the ones closest to the station concourse.

In front of the station, on the line towards Zurich, is the former goods station. It was closed in 1995/1996, and serves today only for the storage of trains. As a replacement for the closed structure, a maintenance facility was built at the Oberwinterthur railway station.

Long distance services

The following regularly scheduled long distance trains stop at Winterthur HB:

• IC Genève Aéroport – Genève – Lausanne –Fribourg- Bern – Zürich HB – Zürich Flughafen – Winterthur – Wil SG- Uzwil - Flawil - Gossau SG – St. Gallen
• IC Brig - Visp – Spiez – Thun – Bern – Zürich HB – Zürich Flughafen – Winterthur – Frauenfeld – Weinfelden - Amriswil - Romanshorn
• ICN Genève Aéroport – Genève - Nyon - Morges/Lausanne – Yverdon-les-Bains Neuchâtel – Biel/Bienne – Solothurn – Olten - Aarau – Zürich HB – Zürich Flughafen – Winterthur – Wil – St. Gallen
• IR Biel/Bienne – Solothurn – Olten – Zürich HB – Zürich Flughafen – Winterthur – Frauenfeld – Weinfelden – Kreuzlingen – Konstanz
• EC Zürich HB – Zürich Flughafen – Winterthur – St. Gallen – St. Margrethen – Bregenz – Lindau (Bodensee) – München Hbf

Local services

Zürich S-Bahn

The following S-Bahn lines, all of which belong to the Zürcher Verkehrsverbund, serve Winterthur HB. While the lines with the lower numbers are operated by the SBB-CFF-FFS, the trains with the higher numbers (from S26) are operated by THURBO.

S 7 Winterthur HB – Kloten – Zürich HB – Meilen – Rapperswil

S 8 Weinfelden – Winterthur HB – Wallisellen – Zürich HB – Pfäffikon SZ

S 11 Zürich HB – Winterthur HB

S 12 Brugg – Zürich HB – Winterthur HB – Seuzach/Seen

S 16 (Thayngen – Winterthur HB –) Zürich Flughafen – Zürich HB – Herrliberg-Feldmeilen (– Meilen)

S 26 Winterthur HB – Bauma – Rüti ZH

S 29 Winterthur HB – Stein am Rhein

S 30 Winterthur HB – Frauenfeld – Weinfelden (– Romanshorn – Rorschach)

S 33 Winterthur HB – Andelfingen – Schaffhausen

S 35 Winterthur HB – Wil SG

S 41 Winterthur HB – Bülach – Bad Zurzach – Waldshut

Night trains

Winterthur HB is a terminus of five night trains, two of which are part of the Zürich S-Bahn network. The other three belong to the "THURBO-Nightliner" system. Line SN4 of the Zürich S-Bahn is also operated by THURBO and belongs simultaneously to the THURBO-Nightliners.

• SN1 Winterthur – Zürich HB – Dietikon – Lenzburg (– Aarau)
• SN4 Winterthur – Schaffhausen (– Stein am Rhein – Konstanz (D) - Kreuzlingen - Romanshorn)
• SN Winterthur – Romanshorn ((– Konstanz (D)) - Kreuzlingen)
• SN Winterthur – Wil SG – St. Gallen
• SN Winterthur – Bülach

Urban public transport

Winterthur HB is the central bus station of the Stadtbus Winterthur company and therefore also the most important hub of the Winterthur trolleybus system. All but two of the city bus lines stop at the Hauptbahnhof. Additionall, the regional Stadtbus lines, along with Postauto lines, all stop there. Only the lines that serve Wiesendangen and a few villages northeast of Winterthur depart from Oberwinterthur station instead. The Winterthur bus station is the largest in the canton of Zurich.

Stadtbus Winterthur

Lines 1–3 are trolleybus lines. The remaining lines are operated exclusively by low-floor buses. Normally, articulated buses run on lines 5, 7 and 14. On the remaining lines, conventional (rigid chassis) buses provide the services.

Regional lines

The yellow numbers are Postauto lines, and the blue numbers are city bus lines. However, lines 665/670 are served by both Postauto buses and city buses.

Night buses

Night buses operate hourly on Friday to Saturday and Saturday to Sunday from 01:30 to 04:30. As the last regular buses usually depart from HB at 0.50 and the first such buses start running again from 5:30, one can therefore speak of a continuously operating network when the night buses are running.

The night buses operate on the following lines, but only outwards; there are no return services.

Panorama

See also

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

References

Notes

Cited works

• Stutz, Werner (1976). Bahnhöfe der Schweiz [Railway Stations of Switzerland]. Zürich: Verlag Berichthaus. ISBN 3-85572-018-5.  (German)

External links

• SBB-CFF-FFS website (Swiss rail operator)
• RailCity Winterthur (English)

This article is based upon a translation of the German language version as at November 2011.