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Today, 30 August 2019, the official inauguration of the first section of the Limmattalbahn in Zurich’s metropolitan area took place. On Monday 2 September 2019 regular service of the VBZ tram line 2 over the 3 new kilometers between Farbhof and Schlieren Geissweid will start.
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The first section of Limattalbahn
The new section is only the first part of 13.4 km of new track which will serve a number of suburban areas in Western Zurich. The Limmattalbahn will continue beyond Schlieren via Dietikon to Killwangen-Spreitenbach SBB station. In Dietikon it will connect to the existing Bremgarten-Dietikon-Bahn which forms part of Zurich’s S-Bahn network as route S17. On the other end, there will also be a new rail connection between Farbhof and Altstetten station.
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Separate operation and own vehicles
Limmattalbahn AG is owned by the cantons Zurich and Aargau and will operate the new line 20 between Altstetten Bahnhof and Killwangen-Spreitenbach SBB, after the finalization of the construction works scheduled for December 2022. VBZ line 2 will continue to share the track until Schlieren Geissweid.
8 new seven-module bi-directional tramways will be supplied by Stadler Rail by 2021. They are 45 m long, 2,.40 m wide and have capacity for up to 276 passengers of which 104 seated. They are part of a joint order together with Baselland Transport AG (BLT) which procures another 10 vehicles for the re-gauged Waldenburgerbahn. The investment cost for the Limmattal vehicles is 43 mn SFr – with a total investment for the project of approximately 755 Mio. SFr.
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The Renaissance of Limmattalbahn?
There was already a meter-gauge tramway serving the Limmattal before: It ran between Zurich Letzigraben via Altstetten and Schlieren to Dietikon, with two branches to Unterengstringen and Weiningen. The so-called Limmattal tram was integrated into the city tram operation and was converted to diesel bus operation beyond Schlieren in 1931. The Farbhof-Schlieren section closed in 1956 and was served by trolleybuses until 28 August 2017. Trolleybus operation ceased in order to be converted to back to tram operation.
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