Bill's Excellent Swiss Adventure

[bill937ca]

I recently came back from five day adventure in Switzerland. I have been many mostly tram focused European adventures since 2011.

 

I flew from Toronto on Swissair and stayed in Zurich for three nights, one night in Basel and another night in Zurich before flying home. My Swiss trip had a greater rail component than any previous trip.

 

For getting around purchased a 6-day second-class Swiss Travel Pass.  Although pricey there is no need to be concerned with fare zones or buying tickets from fare machines.  The Swiss Travel Pass is good on SBB (Swiss Federal Railway) trains, trams, inclines, boats.  Alone in Zurich there are 37 operators.

 

Usually my photography is about 50% trams and 50% buildings and general sightseeing, but two days of steady rain curtailed building photography and sightseeing. I ended up doing far more tram riding and repeated visits to Zurich Hauptbahnhof (main train station).

 

My quest was to ride and photograph high-floor trains in Zurich which are becoming rarer and rarer as the march for accessibility marches on. I succeeded in riding three of the four groups I was targeting and photographing all four groups.

 

While I was there I located one hobby shop and passed on visiting  another because of its outlying location and the stormy weather. From Sunday noon until Tuesday noon there was two straight days of steady rain.  I picked up a Kato Bernina Express Souvenir Coach Api 1301 which doesn't seem to be available in Japan.

Kato #05250-9

Noch #7074061

 

My time in Zurich started with a quick 13 minute ride into the city on the IR75 (the first train that came along) from the airport. By 0730 I was in the city and checked into the hotel.

 

More to come.

 

Photo: Two SBB trains and a Deutsch Bahn train at Zurich HB.

Edited 6 hours ago by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

Zurich Hauptbahhof is the main train station in Zurich. For SBB trains there are 16 surface level tracks, 4 underground through tracks with two platforms and a further 4 underground tracks with two platforms used by S-Bahn trains.  On a workday 405,200 passengers pass through the station on over 3,000 trains. Its a great place to watch trains. Underground there were trains coming through about every 10-15 minutes.  On the main floor trains pulse every 30 minutes.

 

There has been a train station on this site since 1847. The current station with the triumphal arch dates from 1871. The current train shed was built in 1933 behind the 1871 trainshed, which is still there but used for food festival while I was in town.  The underground tracks were added in the 1980s and later.

 

SBB Station user stats https://reporting.sbb.ch/en/stations?=&years=1,4,5,6,7&scroll=2883&highlighted=

 

The Man in Seat 61 has a good article on Zurich HB with lots photos.  https://www.seat61.com/stations/zurich-hb.htm

 

For those who want to know where everything is SBB has a great three dimensional plan.  

https://plans.trafimage.ch/zuerich-hb?lang=en&layer=zurich_innenplan&x=683178.42&y=248017&z=19.98117604498825

 

Photos:

1. Looking across the concourse  on Tuesday morning.

2. Looking out along the tracks.

3. Across the tracks at a busy time. Thursday morning on arrival from Basel. All the electric locomotives was unusual.  Usually the place is full of EMUs.

 

 

[bill937ca]

I found a floorplan  of Zurich HB.

The open area to the right is the old station of 1871.  It is just open space now and used for special events like an annual Christmas market.

[EdF]

Really great live came of the approach to the station.

 

Zurich live cam

[bill937ca]

SBB has an excellent app that will show up coming departures and their departure time, track and load factor in first class (1) or second class (2) along with the travel time and arrival time. The examples below are for Zurich HB to Basel.  

 

Red indicates a full carriage.  There are no reservations in Switzerland apart from trains like TGV or ICE trains.

IR is Inter Regio

IC is Inter City

EC is Euro City...international, cross-border day trains connecting major European cities run by SBB

 

Edited 6 hours ago by bill937ca