Bellinzona railway station

Bellinzona
The station building.
Location	Viale Stazione 36, 6500 Bellinzona, Canton of Ticino, Switzerland
Coordinates	46°11′43″N 09°01′46″E / 46.19528°N 9.02944°E / 46.19528; 9.02944Coordinates: 46°11′43″N 09°01′46″E / 46.19528°N 9.02944°E / 46.19528; 9.02944
Elevation	241 m (791 ft) AMSL[1]
Owned by	Swiss Federal Railways
Operated by	Swiss Federal Railways (SBB-CFF-FFS) Treni Regionali Ticino Lombardia(TILO) Eurocity (EC)
Line(s)	Gotthard railway
Distance	150.9 km (93.8 mi) from Immensee[1]
Platforms	6
History
Opened	December 6, 1874 (1874-12-06)
Electrified	May 29, 1921 (1921-05-29)
Services
Preceding station   Swiss rail network   Following station Arth-Goldau toward Zürich Hbf EC Lugano toward Milano Centrale Arth-Goldau toward Zürich Hbf SBB-CFF-FFS InterCity Lugano toward  Arth-Goldau toward Basel SBB SBB-CFF-FFS InterCity Lugano toward  Biasca toward Zürich Hbf SBB-CFF-FFS InterRegio Locarno Terminus Biasca toward Basel SBB SBB-CFF-FFS InterRegio Locarno Terminus Castione-Arbedo toward Airolo TILO S10 Giubiasco toward Chiasso Castione-Arbedo Terminus TILO S20 Giubiasco toward Locarno Terminus TILO S30 Giubiasco toward Malpensa Aeroporto
Location
Bellinzona railway station Bellinzona railway station (Switzerland)

Bellinzona railway station (Italian: Stazione di Bellinzona) serves the city of Bellinzona, in the Canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is on the Swiss Federal Railways' Gotthard line.^[1]

History

The station was opened in 1874, as part of the opening of the Ticino valley railway, with its Biasca – Bellinzona – Lugano – Chiasso line, and its Bellinzona – Locarno line. In 1882, upon the opening of the Gotthard Rail Tunnel, and the related commencement of services on the line from Airolo to Biasca, Bellinzona was connected with the north, and with German Switzerland.

In 2008, the SBB Cargo facility at Bellinzona hit the headlines, when its workers went on strike, after SBB Cargo had prescribed rigorous reduction measures for the site.^[2]

With the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in late 2016, travel times between Bellinzona and German Switzerland will fall by about one hour.

The station at the opening of the Gotthard line in 1882

Facilities

The station has five through platform tracks, served by a side platform and two island platforms, connected by both a pedestrian subway and a footbridge. There are also transit and overtaking tracks for goods trains.

The station building is on the side platform, and is flanked at each end of the station by two terminal platform tracks; the terminal track to the south is in occasional use by terminating passenger trains, but the one to the north is normally used to stable the Bellinzona tunnel rescue train.

Operations

Passenger traffic at the station is handled by Swiss Federal Railways, which serves the station with long distance trains, and by Treni Regionali Ticino Lombardia (TiLo), which operates the three lines of the Ticino rapid transit network.

Trains operated include:

• Zürich HB – Zug – Arth-Goldau – Bellinzona – Lugano – Chiasso – Milano Centrale (six times daily)
• Zürich HB – Zug – Arth-Goldau – Bellinzona – Lugano (– Chiasso) (every second hour, three train pairs to/from Chiasso)
• Basel SBB – Olten – Luzern – Arth-Goldau – Bellinzona – Lugano (every two hours)
• Zürich HB – Zug – Arth-Goldau – Schwyz – Brunnen – Göschenen – Bellinzona – Locarno (every two hours)
• Basel SBB – Olten – Luzern – Arth-Goldau – Schwyz – Brunnen – Göschenen – Bellinzona – Locarno
• Biasca – Castione – Arbedo – Bellinzona – Lugano – Chiasso – Albate-Camerlata (Italy)
• Bellinzona – Locarno
• Bellinzona – Luino (Italy)

Regional bus routes of the Autopostale terminate on the station forecourt, providing links to various destinations. Autopostale also operates Bellinzona's city bus network, and all city services call at the station.

Station building with regional bus stops  Station building and platforms from the footbridge, looking south  Station platforms and railway works from the footbridge, looking north

The future

Despite the planned Bellinzona rail bypass, which has now been postponed due to lack of funds, the station is set to remain a long distance train stopping point, even after the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel.

Initial plans were to replace the present Bellinzona and Lugano railway stations with a new station, to be named Ticino South, as part of the Ceneri Base Tunnel construction project. The new station would have been situated in Camorino, at the intersection of the Gotthard axis of the new AlpTransit line and the old Gotthardbahn.

However, in May 2007 the Swiss Federal Railways dissociated itself from those plans, and indicated support for the continued stopping of long-distance trains in the city centres of Bellinzona and Lugano.

See also

• AlpTransit
• Bellinzona railway workers strike of 2008
• Gotthardbahn

References

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

This article is based upon a translation of the German language version as at September 2010. The original authors can be seen here.

External links

• Media related to Bellinzona railway station at Wikimedia Commons