Zürich Main Station
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| Zürich Main Station Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Tracks "Long Distance" | 16* tracks 3 to 18, Street Level *2 tracks permanently closed |
| Tracks "S-Bahn" | 10 tracks 1+2, 21 to 24 underground tracks 51–54 Street level |
| Trains (daily number of arrivals and departures) |
Long Distance: 884 (tracks 3–18) S-Bahn: 442 (tracks 51–54) 1281 (tracks 21–24) 308 (tracks 1+2, SZU) Total: 2915 trains |
| Shunting moves (daily) |
about 5000 (incl. yards) |
| Passengers (daily) | 360,000 |
| Switches and Signals | Switches: 799 dwarf Signals: 791 Main Signals: 177 |
Zurich Main Station (in German: Zürich Hauptbahnhof, often shortened to Zürich HB) is Zurich's central and biggest railway station. Extremely central in situation, it is also large in size and accommodates trains from not only all over Switzerland, but other countries in Europe as well, such as Spain and the neighbouring countries France, Italy, Austria and Germany.
The ground floor has 20 tracks (Tracks 3 - 18 and 51 - 54). Tracks 3 - 18 are for trains coming from major areas in Switzerland as well as most, if not all, international trains, such as the EuroCity, Cisalpino, TGV and InterCityExpress. Tracks 51 - 54 are mostly used by regional trains.
One floor below lie two tracks (Tracks 1 and 2), for the exclusive usage of SZU S-Bahn trains, which head west towards Uetliberg and the western part of the canton of Zürich.
Another floor below there are four tracks catering mainly to regional trains in the canton. The S-Bahn trains use the four tracks (Tracks 21 to 24).
Until 1991, this station was a dead-end station which did not permit traffic to go through the station. In 1991, an underground passage was opened to enable trains to proceed to Zurich Stadelhofen. Formerly used only by the Zurich S-Bahn, it is now also used by the ICE tilting train.
Zurich HB is served by more than 2,700 daily trains. The station is busy at all times, with trains running as early as 5 AM and as late as 1 AM during the week. From Friday night to Sunday morning, the trains run all day and all night as part of the ZVV Nachtnetz (night network).
Numerous trams, trolleybuses and buses link to the main station.
The station is home to a vast underground shopping centre, of over 200 shops or other businesses, which benefits from the curious Swiss rule that only shops located in railway stations are allowed to open on Sundays. The huge underground "Rail City" is, therefore, usually bustling on Sundays even while the streets of Zurich are largely empty.
