Zürich Airport railway station

History

When Zürich Airport first opened in 1948, the nearest railway was the single-track line from Oerlikon to Effretikon, forming a loop off the original main line of the Zürich to Winterthur line. This line passed through Kloten Balsberg and Kloten stations, which are respectively 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) and 2.1 kilometres (1.3 mi) from the airport terminal. In 1980 and in order to improve access to the airport, a new main line was constructed between Oerlikon and Effretikon. The new line passed under the airport terminal, and the airport railway station was opened. Originally the station was planned to be served only by intercity trains, but it is now served by a mixture of long distance and suburban trains.

The previous line from Oerlikon through Kloten Balsberg and Kloten to Bassersdorf was retained, and is used by suburban trains that do not call at the airport and freight trains. However the section from Bassersdorf to Effretikon was abandoned, and trains off the Kloten line now join the new line for this section of their journey. Other suburban trains use the original main line through Dietlikon.

Layout and facilities

The station is situated on the airport railway line between Oerlikon and Effretikon, which forms one variant of the Zürich to Winterthur main line. The station, which is entirely underground, has two island platforms providing four platforms faces each with a length of 400 metres (1,300 ft). The platforms are linked to the Airport Centre, which contains the station ticket office, by escalators and lifts. The Airport Centre also contains several floors of retail and catering facilities, as well as access, via check-in and security, to the Airside Center and gate lounges.

The airport terminal complex also includes a bus station, served by regional bus lines, and a station on the Stadtbahn Glattal light rail system, served by Zürich tram routes 10 and 12. These can be accessed from the station via the Airport Centre.

Operation

The station is served by approximately 300 trains per day, formed of a mixture of EuroCity (EC) InterCity (IC) and InterRegio (IR) trains, serving cities throughout Switzerland, as well as Zürich S-Bahn trains on lines S2, S16 and S24. Most trains also serve Zürich Hauptbahnhof, the city's main railway station, with, for most of the day, some 13 trains per hour (tph) taking between 10 and 15 minutes for the journey.

Other Swiss stations served (with typical daytime frequencies) include Aarau (IC; 1 tph), Basel (IR; 2 tph), Bern (IC; 2 tph), Biel/Bienne (IC; 1 tph), Brig (IC; 1 tph), Dietikon (IR; 1 tph), Effretikon (S24; 2 tph), Enge (S2/S24; 4 tph), Frauenfeld (IC/IR; 2 tph), Fribourg/Freiburg (IC; 1 tph), Geneva (IC; 1 tph), Hardbrücke (S16; 2 tph), Herrliberg-Feldmeilen (S16; 2 tph), Kreuzlingen (IR; 1 tph), Lausanne (IC; 2 tph), Lucerne (IR; 1 tph), Oerlikon (IR/S2/S16/S24; 8 tph), Olten (IC; 1 tph), Pfaffikon SZ (S2; 2 tph), Romanshorn (IC; 1 tph), Schaffhausen (S24; 1 tph), Solothurn (IC; 1 tph), Spiez (IC; 1 tph), Stadelhofen (S16; 2 tph), St. Gallen (EC/IC/IR; 3 tph), Thalwil (IR/S2/S24; 5 tph), Thun (IC; 1 tph), Weinfelden (IC/IR; 2 tph), Wil (IC; 2 tph), Winterthur (IC/IR/S24; 7 tph), Ziegelbrucke (S16; 2 tph), and Zug (IR/S24; 3 tph).

The airport station is also linked to Konstanz station, just over the border in Germany, by an hourly Swiss InterRegio train. Several daily EuroCity trains call at the airport station on route from Zürich Hauptbahnhof to Bregenz, in Austria, and various German cities as far as Munich.