Rapperswil railway station

Rapperswil
Building of the Rapperswil railway station, bus terminal to the left
Location	Untere Bahnhofstrasse CH-8640 Rapperswil
Coordinates	47°13′29.66″N 8°48′59.35″E / 47.2249056°N 8.8164861°E
Owned by	SBB-CFF-FFS
Line(s)	Lake Zürich right-bank line Wallisellen–Uster–Rapperswil line Rapperswil–Pfäffikon line Rapperswil–Ziegelbrücke line
Platforms	6
Tracks	7
Connections	VZO bus routes
History
Opened	1859
Rebuilt	1895 and 2008
Services
Preceding station   Swiss rail network   Following station Pfäffikon SZ   InterRegio Voralpen Express   Schmerikon Jona   Zürich S-Bahn S5 service   Pfäffikon SZ Kempraten   Zürich S-Bahn S7 service   Terminus Jona   Zürich S-Bahn S15 service   Terminus Terminus   Zürich S-Bahn S40 service   Hurden Terminus   St. Gallen S-Bahn S6 service   Blumenau

The renewed building as seen from towards Seedamm

Rapperswil is a railway station located in the city of Rapperswil in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen. The station is situated on the north shore of Lake Zürich at the northern of the Seedamm which separates the Obersee (upper Lake Zürich) from the main body of the lake.

Because the Seedamm carries both rail and road connections from the south shore of the lake, and because Rapperswil is the meeting point of three separate line from the northern side of the lake, the station is a major nodal point on the local rail network. The first railway opened in 1859.

History

Rapperswil harbour, Schloss and Altstadt, the first station buildings to the right (~ 1867)

In early 1859 the first steam train ran from Rapperswil – as a hub of railway lines from Rapperswil to Rüti and from Rapperswil to Schmerikon. Turntables and cranes were used to move cargo to/from the vessels at the harbour situated at nearby Fischmarktplatz.

In 1875 the Lake Zürich left bank line (Linksufige Zürichseebahn) from Zürich Hauptbahnhof to Ziegelbrücke opened along the south shore of the lake. In railway terms, this was linked to Rapperswil in 1878, when the Gotthardbahn established the line across the Seedamm. The Rapperswil shore of Lake Zürich had to wait until 1895 for the opening of the Lake Zürich right bank line (Rechtsufrige Zürichseebahn).

The famous Orient Express stopped in Rapperswil on its way from Varna to Zürich, Basel, Paris and Calais.

Since 1877 Rapperswil has been a major hub of what is now the Südostbahn (SOB), with a large depot. The current station building in Renaissance Revival architecture style was built in 1894/95, planned by architect Karl August Hiller, underlining the growing importance of tourism. The railway station's infrastructure, including the bus terminal and the station building, were renewed in 2007/8,^[1] and the rail tracks and the infrastructure by June/July 2016.^[2]

Operation

Railway station area, Schloss Rapperswil and St. John's Church to the right, Seedamm and railway station building in the background (to the left)

Lines and services

Rapperswil railway station is an important junction station, where the Südostbahn (SOB) line across the Seedamm meets with the Lake Zürich right bank line, the Wallisellen to Rapperswil via Uster line and the Rapperswil to Ziegelbrücke line.^[3]

Rapperswil is served by lines S5, S7, S15 and S40 of the Zürich S-Bahn. Connections from Zürich via either the right bank line (S7) or Uster line (S5/15) are very frequent, and the ride takes only 36 minutes. The S40 provides a local link to Pfäffikon and Einsiedeln.^[3]

Rapperswil is a calling point of the Voralpen Express, an InterRegio train operated by the SOB and providing an hourly direct link between St. Gallen and Lucerne. Rapperswil is also the terminus of the hourly St. Gallen S-Bahn service S6 that operates south-east to Schwanden via Ziegelbrücke.^[4]

Buses provided by the Verkehrsbetriebe Zürichsee und Oberland (VZO) link the station to the upper northern shore of Lake Zürich and the Zürcher Oberland, and also operate the city's own Stadtbus Rapperswil-Jona. Rapperswil harbour is adjacent to the station, and lake shipping services of the Zürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft connect with trains, providing alternative, if rather slower, routes to Zürich and other lakeside towns.

Depot

Rapperswil is also an important depot for the rolling stock of the Zürich S-Bahn. Due to the station's hub status, one of the few SBB-CFF-FFS firefighting and rescue trains (LRZ) is based in Rapperswil.

Literature

• Werner Stutz: Bahnhöfe der Schweiz von den Anfängen bis zum Ersten Weltkrieg. Orell Füssli, Zürich 1983. ISBN 3-280-01405-0.

References

1. Rapperswil railway station on bahnonline.ch
2. Kristina Ivancic; Pascal Büsser (2016-06-26). "Bahnhof Rapperswil: Die Bauarbeiter leisten Knochenarbeit am Gleis" (in German). Limmattaler Zeitung. Retrieved 2016-06-30.
3. "S-Bahn trains, buses and boats" (PDF). ZVV. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
4. "S-Bahn St.Gallen Map" (PDF). S-Bahn. Retrieved 2014-07-10.

External links

• Rapperswil station on Swiss Federal Railway's website