SWISS RAIL HOT SPOTS
SWISS RAIL HOT SPOTS |
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| Home > Trains > Switzerland > Swiss Rail Hot Spots | |||
| By the term "rail hot spot" I mean a place or line where rail traffic is concentrated, often because of 2 or more railway lines joins together. On this page I will try to give a description of some of the swiss rail hot spots, I have visited. | |||
Gotthard line:Introduction:The Gotthard line is one of two busy north-south railway corridors through the Swiss Alps, the other is the BLS (Bern - Lötschberg - Simplon) line. The line:
Passenger trains (status autumn 2010):Slower IR trains travel the Gotthard line every hour in each direction, alterning between the Basel SBB - Locarno (or Locarno - Basel SBB) route and the Zürich HB - Locarno (or Locarno - Zürich HB) route.
Freight trains:As the Gotthard line is one of only two north-south railway lines through the Swiss Alps, it is a major freight corridor, especially for freight between Germany and the Netherlands in the north and Italy in the south. A lot of the freight is intermodal containers and swap bodies. Major players are companies like HUPAC and Bertschi. Traction for freight trains is quite uniform, especially compared with countries like Germany. On the Gotthard line between Erstfeld on the north ramp and Chiasso and Luino on the south ramp, perhaps 80% of all freight are hauled by a SBB Re 10/10 - that is a Re 4/4 II + a Re 6/6. The rest is hauled by other SBB traction, traction from BLS and DB and traction from companies like TXL. Most freight trains on the Gotthard line enter or leave Switzerland at Basel. From Basel the line used for freight trains is via Rotkreuz and Arth-Goldau to Erstfeld. Specific locations: |
Selected photos from the Gotthard Line:
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