Lake Zürich right-bank railway

The Lake Zürich right-bank railway line, or Rechtsufrige Zürichseebahn, is a railway line in the Swiss canton of Zürich. As its name suggests, it runs down the right, or east, bank of Lake Zürich, connecting Zürich to Rapperswil.[2]

Lake Zürich right-bank railway
The right-bank line at Tiefenbrunnen
Technical
Line length	31.90 kilometres (19.82 mi)
Track gauge	1435 mm
Electrification	Overhead line 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC
Maximum incline	1.7  %
Zürich–Meilen–Rapperswil km elev Zürich–Olten line 1.9 Hardbrücke 407 m Vorbahnhof Viadukt 823 m to Wipkingen and Oerlikon Limmatbrücke 175 m 2.8 Letten 0.9 99.0 Hirschengrabenlinie Durchbindung 1990 Vorbahnhoftunnel Letten Tunnel 2093 m Sihlbrücke 67 m 0.3 Zürich HB (surface) 408 m 99.9 Zürich HB (underground) 394 m Hirschengraben Tunnel 2148 m Letten Tunnel 2093 m 101.6 5.7 Hirschengrabenlinie seit 1989 5.7 Stadelhofen 410 m Überdeckung Kreuzbühlstrasse 5.8 Zürichberg line to Stettbach Riesbachtunnel 1493 m 7.9 Tiefenbrunnen 408 m 9.5 Zollikon 415 m 10.8 Küsnacht Goldbach 417 m 11.7 Küsnacht ZH 415 m 13.5 Erlenbach ZH 419 m Hitzbergtunnel 70 m (re) / Erlenbach 71 m (li) 14.6 Winkel am Zürichsee 426 m Seehaldebrücke I 96 m (re) Seehaldebrücke II 137 m (re) bzw. 37 m (li) 16.6 Herrliberg-Feldmeilen 423 m 19.4 Meilen 420 m 22.4 Uetikon 414 m Langackerbrücke 64 m 23.6 Männedorf 419 m Lattenbergtunnel 93 m 26.4 Stäfa 414 m 28.9 Uerikon 426 m 31.4 Feldbach 426 m Feldbachbrücke 68 m 33.8 Kempraten 412 m Wallisellen–Uster–Rapperswil line Rapperswil–Ziegelbrücke line 35.9 Rapperswil 409 m Rapperswil–Pfäffikon SZ railway line over the Seedamm Source: Swiss railway atlas[1]

The line was opened in 1894, nineteen years after the complementary left bank railway. As built, it originally departed from the surface level of Zürich Hauptbahnhof station in a westerly direction, before performing a clockwise 270 degrees turn via a viaduct over the River Limmat and the Letten Tunnel to Stadelhofen station. Since 1990 the Letten Tunnel has been closed and replaced by the Hirschengraben Tunnel, which takes a direct easterly route under the River Limmat from new low level platforms at Hauptbahnhof.[2]

At the same time as the Hirschengraben tunnel was constructed, the Zürichberg tunnel was constructed in order to link Stadelhofen station with the Zürich to Winterthur and Wallisellen to Rapperswil via Uster lines. As a consequence the section of the right bank line between Zürich Hbf and Stadelhofen is now part of the backbone of the Zürich S-Bahn, carrying no fewer than eight separate routes.[2][3]

However beyond Stadelhofen the traffic reduces to three S-Bahn routes. Routes S6 and S16 stop at all stations as far as Uetikon or Meilen respectively. Route S7 runs non-stop from Stadelhofen as far as Meilen, then serves all stations to Rapperswil.[3]

The line is 31.90 kilometres (19.82 mi) long, standard gauge and electrified at 15 kV  16.7 Hz AC supplied by overhead line. It is predominantly double-track, but with single-track sections from Stadelhofen to Tiefenbrunnen, Herrliberg-Feldmeilen to Meilen, Uetikon to Stäfa, and Uerikon to Rapperswil.[2]