Switzerland
Welcome to the Swiss railroads section of the FUNET Railway pictures archive
SZU - Uetlibergbahn
Ütlibergbahn is a fairly strange railroad. It is one of the small private railways of
Switzerland, running a U-shaped track from Zürich city up to the top of the Ütliberg mountain.
It´s one of the steepest normal adhesion railroads in the world with some 70 o/oo steep
rises. SZU Uetlibergbahn runs a tram-like service as part of the Zürich city S-Bahn
network to the top of Ütliberg mountain, almost 900 m above the city centre. Track width is that of a normal railroad, but
the line is electrified in a strange way, with 1200V DC: it was originally planned as a part of the Zürich tram network.
The line was opened for service in 1923.
Be 4/4 (today Be 556) of SZU Uetlibergbahn. The Be 4/4 EMUs were built in 1992. It weighs 43,5 tonnes and has a maximum speed of
70 km/h. They are normally used in pairs. Photo January 1999 by I.Siissalo, ilkka.siissalo(at-sign)iki.fi
(10k)
Uploaded May 24, 1999
The Be 4/4 (today Be 556) of SZU Uetlibergbahn.
Notice the arial which is not at the centre of the roof. This is because the railroad was in
1923 planned to become a part of the tram system and runs on 1200 V DC. From the time when Uetlibergbahn and
Sihltalbahn still formed a common company, they tried to create some synergies and created EMUs which can operate both
on normal 15kV AC and the tram like 1200V DC, but the implementation was strange: the 1200V aerials - and wires - are
placed sizeways off the centre of the roof so that the same roof can simultaneously have both aerials. SZU has also old
dual-purpose Be 8/8 EMU´s that have two aerials and can run both on Uetlibergbahn and their
normal Sihltalbahn, however the newer EMUs shown on these pictures do no longer have this strange feature.
Photo January 1999 by I.Siissalo, ilkka.siissalo(at-sign)iki.fi
(9k)
Uploaded May 24, 1999