Zurich Airport railway station

Zurich Airport railway station (German: Bahnhof Zürich Flughafen) is a railway station serving Zurich Airport in Switzerland. The station is located underneath the Airport Centre, the main ground-side passenger terminal of the airport, which is in the canton of Zurich and the municipality of Kloten.^[3][4] It is located within fare zone 121 of the Zürcher Verkehrsverbund (ZVV).^[5]

Zürich Flughafen
The underground platforms at the station in 2006
General information
Location	Kloten Switzerland
Coordinates	47°27′1.375″N 8°33′44.521″E
Elevation	413 m (1,355 ft)
Owned by	Swiss Federal Railways
Line(s)	Zurich–Winterthur line
Distance	9.6 km (6.0 mi) from Zürich Hauptbahnhof
Platforms	2 island platforms
Tracks	4
Train operators	Swiss Federal Railways
Connections
Tram	VBZ / VBG 10 12
Bus	PostAuto  510   520   521   524   530   531  VBG 731 732 733 734 735 736 739 759 765 768
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Other information
IATA code	ZRH
Fare zone	121 (ZVV)[1]
History
Opened	1980 (45 years ago) (1980)
Passengers
2023	48'200 per weekday[2] (SBB)
Rank	14 out of 1'159
Services
Preceding station SBB CFF FFS Following station Zürich HB Terminus EuroCity Winterthur towards München Hbf Zürich Oerlikon towards Geneva Airport IC 1 Winterthur towards St. Gallen Zürich HB towards Lausanne IC 5 Winterthur towards St. Gallen or Rorschach Zürich HB towards Brig IC 8 Winterthur towards Romanshorn Zürich HB towards Interlaken Ost IC 81 Zürich Oerlikon towards Zürich HB IR 13 Winterthur towards Sargans Zürich Oerlikon towards Basel SBB IR 36 Terminus Zürich HB towards Lucerne IR 75 Winterthur towards Konstanz Preceding station Zurich S-Bahn Following station Zürich Oerlikon towards Ziegelbrücke S2 Terminus Zürich Oerlikon towards Herrliberg-Feldmeilen S16 Zürich Oerlikon towards Zug S24 Bassersdorf towards Thayngen or Weinfelden
Location Zürich Flughafen/Airport Location in Switzerland Show map of Switzerland Zürich Flughafen/Airport Zürich Flughafen/Airport (Canton of Zurich) Show map of Canton of Zurich

History

When Zurich Airport first opened in 1948, the nearest railway was the single-track line from Oerlikon to Effretikon, forming a loop off the original main line of the Zurich to Winterthur line. This line passed through Kloten Balsberg and Kloten stations, which are respectively 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) and 2.1 kilometres (1.3 mi) from the airport terminal. In 1980 and in order to improve access to the airport, a new main line was constructed between Oerlikon and Effretikon. The new line passed under the airport terminal, and the airport railway station was opened. Originally the station was planned to be served only by intercity trains, but it is now served by a mixture of long distance and suburban trains.^[6][7]

The previous line from Oerlikon through Kloten Balsberg and Kloten to Bassersdorf was retained, and is used by suburban trains that do not call at the airport and freight trains. The section from Bassersdorf to Effretikon was abandoned, and trains off the Kloten line now join the new line for this section of their journey. Other suburban trains use the original main line through Dietlikon.^[6][8]

Layout and facilities

Train

The station is situated on the airport railway line between Oerlikon and Effretikon, which forms one variant of the Zurich to Winterthur main line. The station, which is entirely underground, has two island platforms serving four tracks, each with a length of 400 metres (1,300 ft). The platforms are linked to the Airport Centre, which contains the station ticket office, by escalators and lifts. The Airport Centre also contains several floors of retail and catering facilities, as well as access, via check-in and security, to the Airside Center and gate lounges.^[4][9]

Summary of track (Gleis) usage:^[10]

• Track 1: EuroCity, , , towards Winterthur; S2 towards Zürich HB.
• Track 2: , , S24 towards Winterthur.
• Track 3: , , , , , S16 towards Zürich HB.
• Track 4: , , S24 towards Zürich HB.

Bus and tram

The airport terminal complex also includes a bus station, served by regional bus lines (PostAuto, VBG), and a station on the Glattal light rail system, served by VBZ/VBG lines 10 and 12, which connect to the Zurich tram network. These can be accessed from the station via the Airport Centre.^[4][11][12]

Lines with selected stops

Line 10: (Löwenplatz^[a] –) Bahnhofplatz/HB – Central – ETH/Universitätsspital – Seilbahn Rigiblick – Milchbuck – Sternen Oerlikon – Bhf. Oerlikon Ost – Glattpark – Bhf. Glattbrugg – Bhf. Balsberg – Zurich Airport (Zurich )

Line 12: Stettbach – Glatt – Bhf. Wallisellen – Glattpark – Bhf. Glattbrugg – Bhf. Balsberg – Zurich Airport (Zurich )

1. Only boarding as this stop lies on the turning loop of the line. Bahnhofplatz/HB is the terminus in the opposite direction

Operation

See also: Public transport in Zurich

The station is served by approximately 300 trains per day, formed of a mixture of EuroCity (EC) InterCity (IC) and InterRegio (IR) trains, serving cities throughout Switzerland (and some in Austria and Germany), as well as Zurich S-Bahn trains on lines S2, S16 and S24. All trains in southern direction call at Zürich Hauptbahnhof, the city's main railway station, with, for most of the day, some 13 trains per hour (tph) taking between 9 and 13 minutes for the journey.^[8] Some trains also serve other stations in Zurich.

The airport station is also linked to Konstanz, just over the border in Germany, by an hourly Swiss InterRegio train. Several daily EuroCity trains call at the airport station en route from Zürich Hauptbahnhof to Bregenz (Austria), and several German cities as far as Munich (runs as EuroCity-Express/ECE in Germany).

Services

As of the December 2023 timetable change,^[update] the following services stop at Zurich Airport:^[10]

• EuroCity (EC): service every two hours between Zürich HB and München Hbf, via Bregenz (runs as ECE 88 in Germany).
• InterCity:
  • / : half-hourly service between Geneva Airport or Lausanne and St. Gallen; hourly service to Rorschach.
  • / : hourly service between Spiez and Romanshorn; service every two hours from Spiez to Brig and Interlaken Ost.
• InterRegio:
  • : hourly service between Zürich HB and Sargans.
  • : hourly service to Basel SBB, via Zürich HB.
  • : hourly service between Lucerne and Konstanz.
• Zurich S-Bahn:
  • S2: half-hourly service to Ziegelbrücke, via Zürich HB.
  • S16: half-hourly service to Herrliberg-Feldmeilen, via Zürich HB.
  • S24: half-hourly service between Zug (via Zürich HB) and Winterthur; trains continue from Winterthur to Thayngen or Weinfelden.

Gallery

• 
  Wall art in the station
• 
  Double-deck S-Bahn (left) and InterRegio (right) trains in the station
• 
  A train to Basel in the station
• 
  The Airport Centre at-grade level, one level above the station's offices and ticketing machines, and two levels above the tracks

See also

• Trains portal
• Architecture portal
• Switzerland portal

• History of rail transport in Switzerland
• Rail transport in Switzerland
• ZVV