Letten Tunnel
As built in 1894, the right bank railway was a single track line that departed from Hauptbahnhof in a westerly direction, before performing a clockwise 270 degrees turn via a viaduct over the Limmat, the principal river flowing through the city of Zurich. It then passed through Letten station and the Letten Tunnel in order to reach Stadelhofen station. By rail the distance between Hauptbahnhof and Stadelhofen was some 5 kilometres (3.1 mi), despite the fact that they are only 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) apart in a straight line.
In 1990 the Letten Tunnel was replaced by the Hirschengraben Tunnel, which took a direct route from new through low-level platforms at Hauptbahnhof under the Limmat to Stadelhofen. After the new route opened, the original railway line and tunnel fell into disuse. The railway line was closed in 1989, and by 2002 it had been removed, and the tunnel was filled in and sealed off.
The northern portal of the tunnel can still be observed from a location close to the former Letten railway station and the Letten power station on the banks of the Limmat. The northern approaches to the tunnel, including the bridge over the Limmat, are now used as a cycle and pedestrian path.
References
- ^ map.geo.admin.ch (Map). Swiss Confederation. Retrieved 2015-04-14.
- ^ "Der ehemalige Bahnhof Letten Wasserwerkstrasse 93" [The former railway station Letten Wasserwerkstrasse 93] (in German). Prof. Arthur Dürst. Archived from the original on 2015-04-07. Retrieved 2012-03-16.
- ^ Eisenbahnatlas Schweiz. Verlag Schweers + Wall GmbH. 2012. pp. 64–65. ISBN 978-3-89494-130-7.
External links
- Media related to Letten Tunnel at Wikimedia Commons