The St. Gallen–Winterthur railway line is a standard gauge railway line between St. Gallen and Winterthur, connecting the Swiss cantons of St. Gallen, Thurgau and Zürich. The 57.1 km (35.5 mi) long line was opened between 1855 and 1856 in four stages by the former St. Gallen-Appenzell Railway (St. Gallisch-Appenzellische Eisenbahn, SGAE) and belongs to the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB). It is part of the West-East main line in Switzerland.

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St. Gallen–Winterthur railway
Thur bridge at Schwarzenbach with a Stadler KISS running as the Rheintal-Express: Wil–St. Gallen–Chur
Overview
Line number850
LocaleSwitzerland
Termini
Technical
Line length57.1 km (35.5 mi)
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in)
Electrification15 kV/16.7 Hz AC overhead catenary
Maximum incline1.6%
Route map

km
80.46
St. Gallen
669.6 m
high point
676.5 m
84.05
St. Gallen Bruggen
651.6 m
Sitter Viaduct (190 m)
86.38
St. Gallen Winkeln
654.7 m
AB from Herisau–Appenzell
line since 1913
90.13
Gossau SG
637.9 m
Glatt at Gossau (110 m)
93.22
siding
623.6 m
chainage adjustment -0.01
95.33
Flawil
610.7 m
Uze (122 m)
100.94
Uzwil
563.8 m
103.23
Algetshausen-Henau
1927–2013
555.4 m
106.72
Schwarzenbach
former station
540.1 m
Thur at Schwarzenbach (166 m)
chainage adjustment-0.21
110.62
Wil
terminus of S1 S12 S35
570.8 m
113.83
Sirnach
549.4 m
117.45
Eschlikon
566.8 m
120.95
Guntershausen
since 1927
546.2 m
122.90
Aadorf
527.6 m
126.15
Elgg
507.0 m
130.51
Schottikon
since 1930
486.1 m
131.84
Räterschen
475.7 m
133.92
Winterthur Hegi
460.9 m
135.29
Winterthur-Grüze
452.1 m
136.48
Schwalmenacker
since 2015
445.9 m
137.81
Winterthur
terminus of S26 S30 S35
438.9 m
Source: Swiss railway atlas[1]
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History

Construction and opening

Thumb
Original Sitter Viaduct with a lattice girder. The bridges over the Glatt, the Uze and the Thur were built according to the same design principles.

The Canton of Thurgau initially refused to grant a concession for the line on its territory, as the route would not have favoured Thurgau. The Swiss Northeastern Railway (Die Schweizerische Nordostbahn) operated the competing Winterthur–Romanshorn railway through the Thurgau.

The Winterthur–Wil–Thur bridge section at Schwarzenbach was built by Julius Herz.[2] The Winterthur–Wil section was opened on 14 October 1855. The journey time was 40 minutes.

The line between Wil and Flawil was hotly debated. The SGAE applied for a concession for the easily-built route south of Uzwil’s local hill, the Vogelsberg, from Schwarzenbach via the Bettenauer Weiher and Oberuzwil to Flawil. Commercial interests preferred a route north of the Vogelsberg so that Uzwil could have a station. So the line was built with a tight S-curve on the edge of the Vogelsberg, where Uzwil station was later built. As a result, this S-curve is today one of the slowest sections of the whole line and the tightest curve on a relatively high-speed line in Switzerland.[3] The Wil–Flawil section was opened on 25 December 1855.

After the construction of the Glatt bridge at Egg between Flawil and Gossau was completed on 15 February 1856, the line reached Gossau and Winkeln. Finally, the line was extended to the town of St. Gallen on 24 March 1856. For this purpose, an iron lattice bridge designed by Karl Etzel was built over the Sitter, the original Sitter Viaduct.

Further development

Thumb
Commencement of electric operations in 1927 with an Ae 3/6 I locomotive in Flawil

A train coming from Winterthur derailed in Vonwil near St. Gallen on 31 December 1879. The two locomotives came to lie on the left and right of the railway track and the carriages were pushed into each other. The accident caused two deaths and several were injured, some seriously.

The route became part of the Swiss Federal Railways on 1 July 1902 when the national railways were nationalised. Starting in 1903, the SBB duplicated the line in stages and electrified it in 1927 at 15,000 Volt 16  Hz. At the same time, the Algetshausen-Henau halt was opened and the Bühler industrial railway in Uzwil was handed over to the company.

The Winterthur Hegi halt was opened in December 2006 as part of the expansion of the Zürich S-Bahn. Algetshausen-Henau and Schwarzenbach stations were closed in 2013.

Operations

Thumb
ETR 610 of Swiss Federal Railways as EuroCity at St. Gallen station
Thumb
S-Bahn services operated by Thurbo at Wil station

In long-distance national traffic, the line is part of the West-East axis between St. Gallen and Geneva operated by InterCity (IC) trains. It is also used by international EuroCity (EC) trains (München HbfBregenzZürich HB). In regional traffic, the line is used by InterRegio (IR) trains between Chur and Wil via St. Gallen (replacing the former Rheintal-Express, REX). In local traffic, the line is served by S-Bahn services: the S1 (St. Gallen–Wil, until 2018 with additional services in the peak-hour as former line S11) and S5 (St. Margrethen–St. Gallen–GossauWeinfelden) of St. Gallen S-Bahn and the S35 (Winterthur–Wil) of Zürich S-Bahn.

As of the December 2023 timetable change, the following services use the railway line:

Long distance
Regional
S-Bahn St. Gallen
S-Bahn Zürich

References

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