Rail Freak

THE first sod was cut on April 5 for a €3.84bn 10-year project to build a second east-west S-Bahn line under the centre of Munich to relieve congestion on the parallel existing line. Under an agreement reached in October 2016, the German federal government will contribute around €1.5bn to the project through the Municipal Transport Financing Act (GVFG), with €1.4bn coming from the state of Bavaria, €155m from the city of Munich, and €150m from German Rail (DB). Any additional costs will be divided on a 60:40 basis between the federal and state governments. The project, which has taken 16 years of planning, will be implemented by Germany’s infrastructure manager DB Networks and is due to be completed in 2026. The 7km twin-bore underground line will run from a point between Leuchtenbergring and East Station in the east to the west of Donnersbergerbrücke with new stations at East Station, Marienhof in the city centre and Munich Main Station. Additional tracks will be constructe...

Switzerland’s Federal Transport Office has issued a construction permit for the 13.4km (8.6-mile) Limmattalbahn light rail line, linking Zurich-Alstetten main line station with Killwangen-Spreitenbach in Aargau. The metre-gauge line will serve 27 stations and trams will run on a dedicated alignment for 92% of the route. The line will be electrified partly at 600V dc and partly at 1.2kV dc. Services will operate at 15-minute intervals with a commercial speed of 22km/h and an end-to-end journey time of 37 minutes. The first stage of the route from Altstetten to Schlieren Geissweid could commence in September. The second stage is expected to be built between 2019-2022. The project will cost SFr 715m ($US 709m) excluding rolling stock and is being funded jointly by the Swiss Federation and the cantons of Zürich and Aargau.