Railway Expansion in the Zürich Region: The SBB Is Building Three New Tunnels
Projections for the greater Zürich area indicate a 30% increase in demand for rail transport by 2050. To cope with this increase, three major projects – Zimmerberg Base Tunnel 2, Zürich Stadelhofen Expansion and Zürich–Winterthur Multitrack Expansion – will be implemented in the 2035 expansion phase at a cost of around five billion Swiss francs. (This article was part of the conference programme at the Swiss Tunnel Congress 2023 in Lucerne.)
1 Project Development Until 2035
In order to cope with the growing demand for rail transport, the Swiss federal government intends to further expand the Swiss rail network via a 2035 rail expansion project. The forecast demand has been met with a corresponding offer. To implement this offer, it is necessary to expand railway infrastructure, which will be realised in the next 15 years. With the confirmation of the 2035 expansion stage, parliament approved a comprehensive development programme for a total of 12.89 billion Swiss francs.
For rail traffic in the greater Zürich area, forecasts...
