 In a lot of ways, Zurich is my dream city, fairly quiet, unassuming, near beautiful mountains in nature, and a lot of trains. This fact might be surprising, because like Switzerland it is surprisingly small, with only half a million people or so in the city proper, and around 1.5 million in the greater urban area, about as big as Jacksonville, Florida. Despite that, Zurich has an almost unbelievable public transport network, from funiculars to cable cars, to an extensive network of buses, ferries and trams. Getting around the city is incredibly convenient. As within Tokyo, this is a city to learn all about, to bus transport myths. And there's one part of the network that in my opinion stands above the rest, and that's the incredible Zurich S-Bahn. Let's talk about it. Before we talk about Zurich's S-Bahn, naturally we have to talk about Zurich itself, which, if you're coming from, say, Toronto, you'll arrive at via the very nice Zurich Airport, which is north of the city centre, and served by bus, tram and train, because of course it is. Trains at Zurich Airport run every few minutes, right from the beginning of service, and can take you all over the city, but also all over the country. Now, I mentioned ferries before, which you might be a bit confused by. Isn't Switzerland a landlocked country? How would Zurich have such an extensive ferry network? Well, that would be because Zurich is actually situated at the north end of the roughly 30km long lake of the same name, surrounded by suburbs and villages accessible by boat. To the north is the River Limand, which splits Zurich in two. Fronting onto the river is the true gateway to Zurich, Zurich main station. The city's rail terminus and main transport hub, featuring tracks underneath it that enable many services to run through, even as most tracks leave the station heading west on the surface. Switzerland is a railway nation, and that doesn't just include passenger service, in fact during off-peak times, there's still a slot for a freight train to pass through the central station. Also relevant to discussion of Zurich is the city of Winterthur, which is an important regional center that lies to its northeast, roughly east of the airport, forming another major node in the rail network. Looking at the city's Espa network, things can initially appear very confusing, especially as there are at least 26 different services that serve close to 200 stations. But in reality, things aren't so complicated, as the network is heavily intro-lined, traveling travel from between many points in the region to be as simple as getting on a single train. Now today's video is centering on the Espa, and more specifically the services within the ZVV transit organization, which acts as a unifying agency between the multiple individual train companies that operate services. Speaking of the Espa services, they are fairly frequent, but they aren't universally rapid transit like as the name might suggest. To be clear, trains are fast, and most major corridors have trains which run at least every 15 minutes or so. But a lot of routes do operate lower if still regular frequencies of every 30 minutes or hour. In most cases, higher frequencies are generated by a couple of less frequent services coming together and overlapping on a shared corridor in a predictable way, so that two 30-minute frequency services further out generate a roughly 15-minute service further in, and so on. The trains on the network are also pretty interesting. The majority of them are double-decker, and some are multiple units. Trainers are unpowered coaches, usually pulled by one powerful electric locomotive, for every three coaches, providing close enough performance to an EMU. All railways in Switzerland are electrified, as you may already know. Espa trains are up to 300 meters long, with 12 coaches and boards from low platforms. Not all that unlike those seen on the system like GO Transit. That being said, unlike GO Transit, there is level boarding via platform gap fillers. Trains are also operated by single operators, and doors are entirely automatic. There are no cameras or mirrors, and thus pressure-sensitive doors do all of the work of making sure the train is cleared out of the station. Something quite strange is that as some parts of the rural lines have short platforms, but as the capacity of long trains is still needed in the core during rush hour, some trains are actually lengthened and shortened on every rush hour run. Probably the most unique feature of the trains is that they feature a first-class space, but it's really nothing to write home about. While you won't necessarily see frequencies measured down to the second, like with the MTR or the Paris Metro, what Zürich's trains do have is extreme regularity, and they're scheduled to run like all Swiss trains following a consistent hourly scheduling pattern, which is known as operating on a tact, or in less cool terms, clock-face scheduling. This enables not only very efficient use of the rail infrastructure, but also enables all manner of trains, including intercity ones, to rather seamlessly share the same tracks. Switzerland takes its integrated scheduling to an almost unbelievable level, in that essentially all public transport in the country is scheduled to synchronize and provide very convenient transfers between different services. All of this reduces the need for super high frequencies everywhere that enable less coordinated travel. Since many riders will know when their train comes, say 45 past the hour every hour and simply arrive as necessary. This is only possible because of the very high on-time performance and consistency of the train service. Oh, and naturally, as with other S-Bonds such as the Berlin S-Bond, there is 24-hour weekend service on a number of lines. If you want a better idea of what it's actually like to ride the S-Bond and Swiss trains more broadly, you should check out not just bike's recent video on the topic. Now, we actually want to see the structure of the Zurich S-Bond, so let's start looking at the main corridors, starting with the various routes running west from Zurich main station, which has a crazy tangle of above-ground approach tracks to its west that allow trains to head south, west, and north in multiple directions. The routes heading south run west out of the main station before making a broad southern turn that loops them around central Zurich and then has them running along the western shore of Lake Zurich. These routes include the S-2, S-8, S-24, and S-25, as well as intercity and inter-regio trains, which in almost all cases do not require reservations, essentially acting as super express services that in many cases are seen as interchangeable as long-distance S-Bond express services. Along the shore, the services start to split apart. S-24 diverges to the southwest to travel along the mountains, which ham in Lake Zurich. S-8 terminates roughly at the south end of the lake, while S-2 and S-25 continue east and south respectively. It should be noted that S-2 runs an express service pattern, while S-25 runs a super express, stopping at fewer and fewer stations enabling higher speeds. Interestingly enough, the inter-regio services on the same corridor actually stop more frequently than the S-25. As it turns out, there are actually two more routes that operate west out of Zurich main station and then to the south, in the form of the S-4 and S-10. These two routes are operated by SCU, and use space under the main station originally designated for the never-built Zurich U-Bond, the decision that sets Zurich down its extensive S-Bond construction path. Zurich's transport network indeed has a wide range of operators, but the beauty of the Verkerstverbund model is that they all function in a unified way to the user. S-4 and S-10 are quite unique due to the way they were electrified until recently, and because of that, I have a dedicated video mostly talking about S-10, which operates unique single-deck trains as a mountain railway after leaving the built-up urban area around Zurich. S-4 by comparison is fairly similar to other Zurich S-Bond lines, despite its isolation from them, and runs inland parallel to the lines along the west shore of Lake Zurich following the River Seal. Looking at the routes running to the west of the main station, we have S-5, S-11, S-12, S-14, S-19, and S-42, which all travel on the south side of the rail corridor west of the station to the shoulder station of Alsteaden, before starting to break apart. S-5 and S-14 diverge to the southwest without a flyover, onto an initially single-track corridor that only widens back to two tracks after about three kilometers, despite the S-5 and S-14s combine four trains per hour per direction, which is part of why you should be deeply skeptical if your local railway tells you it needs a fully double-track line to operate a basic frequent service. These lines then continue along the western slopes of the mountains, which the lines west of Lake Zurich run on the other side of. S-14 terminates roughly half of the way down the line, while S-5 runs all the way south to meet the southern terminus of S-24. From Alsteaden, the S-11 and S-12 both travel west, with the S-11 continuing in that general direction and the S-12 turning to the northwest to terminate, both alongside intercity trains. There are also the S-19 and S-42 routes, which follow along but extend S-12 and S-11 to the north and southwest respectively, with express trains, which run on S-19 to Dietikon all the time, and on other segments during peak hours. Now, there is also the S-17 route, which runs from Dietikon station through the city of Dietikon, and then along mountainous roads to the southwest. The route is probably best described as a narrow gauge into urban mountain railway, and like the S-10, it's quite different from other S-Bahn lines. While the service does operate a high, consistent frequency, its small single-level trains also operate on streets and adjacent to mountain roads for a portion of the route. Next comes the routes that travel mostly northwest from Zurich main station. These routes run along the northern part of the rail corridor west of the station to Hardbook, another major western shoulder station. Before diverging north on a flyover, that takes trains through this portion of the city on a tall elevated viaduct before crossing the Limat and entering a tunnel. Trains then surface due north of the city center in the district of Erlikon, where a major station collects many of the routes heading north from the city center. From here, routes diverge in various directions. S-6 turns to the west and acts much to the S-12 as S-5 does to S-24, paralleling the western routes to the north and connecting to S-12 near its terminus. S-15 and S-9 continue roughly northwest, with S-15 diverging into the countryside to the west and terminating a few kilometers east of the S-19 route. S-9 travels much further alongside intercity services around Zurich airport and then all the way north into southern Germany. That's right, international transit. S-16 travels less far than the other routes from Erlikon, only continuing north through the airport, while S-7 continues north but diverges northeast to cut around the airport before heading southeast to the town of Ephretikon and then do north to Winterthur where it terminates. Much as with the routes to the west of Zurich, there are limited commuter-focused services which replicate parts of the S-9 and S-6, known as S-3 and S-21 respectively. I mentioned S-24 before, but as it turns out, it actually operates out of Zurich main station towards the west to two different destinations, running in from one, stopping, and then heading back out to the other. Not unlike the Tobu Urban Park Line in Tokyo. Continuing onwards, the line continues from the south of the rail corridor onto a long sweeping flyover which takes it alongside some national rail trains to the north, parallel to, but east of the other routes we just discussed to Erlikon. From here, the S-24 runs through Zurich airport and then recombines to travel along with the S-7 route to Winterthur which it passes through. Immediately thereafter, the route splits into two branches, with one traveling to north to a connection with S-9, which it terminates just beyond and another traveling northeast alongside intercity trains. This shows the power of the Zurich S-Bong, with long trains traveling all across the entire region on a regular basis. Now that we've addressed the services traveling west out of Zurich main station, let's look at those traveling in other directions. As it turns out, the S-2 and S-8 services from the west shore of Lake Zurich and the S-14 and S-19 services from the west run through Zurich main and then north to Erlikon alongside intercity trains. S-2 runs to the airport and terminates, while S-8, S-14 and S-19 turn east and travel to Wally-Selin. From here, S-8 and S-19 run parallel to S-7 to itself, which they then connect with at Ephredekon, before S-8 continues to terminate at Winterthur, and S-19 continues as a peak only service to the southeast. S-14 turns southeast sooner, passing over the direct line from Winterthur to Zurich before terminating. Now that direct line is accessed from another through running line at Zurich main station, which sees all services traveling east stopping at Stadelhofen, a major station in east central Zurich that's free build was designed by famous architect Santiago Calatrava. The station currently has three platforms and tracks, which are curved and hemmed in very tightly by the surrounding hillside and development, but there are plans to expand the station with a fourth track and platform given how busy it is, and as it places a bottleneck on the network. From Stadelhofen to the southeast is the railway along the east shore of Lake Zurich, which carries the S-6, S-7 as an express, and S-16 routes from the west of Zurich main station, as well as the peak only S-20 service which starts at Hardbrook. S-16 turns back at Herliberg, beyond which the corridor narrows to one track for some distance, despite carrying so many services, including the aforementioned express. S-6 turns back shortly thereafter, while S-20 does near the southern end of the lake. S-7 terminates at the main station of Rappersville, a municipality at the eastern side of the end of Lake Zurich. From Rappersville, you also have the S-40 service, which continues to Fafikon, where S-8 terminates at its southern end, and beyond to run alongside the S-13 service, which it terminates alongside, on the west shore of Lake Zurich line at Fadensville. As you can see, the term S-Bahn is kind of abused in Zurich's rail system, as I think it's pretty hard to consider these services S-Bahn as they don't use a city center tunnel or even interact with central Zurich, much less lines like the S-17, but I digress. Also departing from Stadlhofen to the southeast is the S-18 route, which is quite similar to the S-17 in terms of rolling stock and which uses the Zurich tram network, which is meter gauge, unlike the standard gauge S-Bahn network, to access the city terminal. The S-18 runs every 20 minutes and is essentially the way the S-10 was meant to be, thus its use of DC power and the resulting shenanigans. S-18 runs parallel to the previously mentioned railways along the eastern shore of Lake Zurich, roughly three quarters of the way to its southern end. The rest of the lines from Stadlhofen turn roughly northeast and then travel onto three main corridors via a long tunnel. S-5, S-9 and S-15 from the southwest and northwest turn northeast, first to run parallel to S-14, with S-9 terminating along it and running as a local, and S-5 and S-15 running express, before continuing past the point where S-14 splits off to the east and then turning west to travel to Rappersville, which S-15 terminates at, while S-5 continues to Favicon. S-3 travels as a regular service further to the northeast to Ephreticon before turning southeast alongside S-19, which it continues beyond to loop back southwest and then terminate at the branch point of S-14 from S-5 and S-15. Finally, S-11, S-12 and S-23 travel all the way to Winterter, where S-23 are limited peak only service terminates. This route, which does not require trains to travel north to the airport before traveling to Winterter, is the fastest route between the urban centers, despite not being used by intercity trains. East of Winterter, S-11 splits into two, with one branch traveling north and another south, continuing further as a limited peak only service. Each branch receives one train per hour, alternating from the rest of the line, which runs half hourly. S-12 also splits into two branches, with one traveling to the north alongside the respective S-24 branch and another traveling east. S-26 begins at Winterter, and then travels southeast alongside the southern branch of S-11, looping all the way around to connect up with S-5 and S-15 near Wrappersville. S-29 augments the S-11 north branch, but travels further. S-30 travels to the northeast alongside the southern S-24 branch. S-33 travels straight north alongside the S-12 and S-24 branches, while S-35 travels due east alongside the southern S-12 branch. There's also the S-41 service, which runs west from Winterter, north of Zurich Airport to a station along S-9, and from this same station the S-36 service begins, and runs roughly west alongside the Rhine River to the northern terminus of the limited S-19 service. Despite the fact that they don't travel through the city centre, S-41 is half hourly, while S-36 is hourly. As colossal as it already is, there are some changes coming to the Zurich S-Bahn, though they are mostly evolutionary rather than revolutionary. For one, locomotive hull trains are being transitioned out in favour of EMUs, and most services already do use EMUs. At the same time, double-decker trains, which are used so widely, may increasingly give way to single-level trains, which can operate higher frequencies and feature more doors, under a project known as S-Bahn 2G. Probably the biggest single new project coming to the city beyond the expansion of Stadlhofen is the new Zurich to Winterter corridor, which is enabled by the Brüttner Tunnel, which will bypass the less direct line via Ephretikon, while also adding more capacity and enabling reroutes of trains east of the airport and Zurich main station. Now, speaking of tunnels in Zurich main station, there is a storied past here, and a ton of changes has happened in roughly the last 50 years. Originally, or at least historically, the main station, as a west-facing terminus, did not have great connections or capacity for trains travelling from the north, east or southeast along the eastern chore of the lake, which at the time had to travel through Stadlhofen, and then in a giant loop to reach Zurich main from the west. Zurich main was only connected to Erlikon by a single two-track route via the Vipkingen tunnel. That existing tunnel to Erlikon has since been augmented by two more, the Kafferberg tunnel, which allows trains heading out of Zurich main to the west to access Erlikon west of the existing tunnel opened in 1969. The Weinberg tunnel, which includes new platforms under Zurich main, was completed in 2014, and adds a third route to the east of the two existing tunnels, that finally allowed trains travelling east into Zurich main to travel north without reversing. These three different tunnels form the entire southern approach to Erlikon station, which is quite impressive, especially as the Weinberg tunnel's tracks split to straddle those from the original tunnel. Zurich main is also accessed by the SCU lines by a tunnel which was opened in 1990, extending them from Selnau, the previous surface terminus, which was replaced by a new underground through station on the new tunnel. Probably the most consequential tunnel added to Zurich also came in 1990, with the Zurichberg tunnel, a 5km new underground line which rerouted the northern connection at Stadlhofen to new through running platforms under Zurich main, and added a new link to the south which ran under the hills northeast of the city, providing a more direct route to Winterthur, as well as to the corridor used by S5, 9, 14 and 15. Interestingly as well, the platforms added as part of this project are actually dynamically allocated, so trains don't always use the same ones. This is relatively uncommon on such high capacity rail systems. The final tunnel I need to mention is the Zimmerberg base tunnel, which you might be confused about. Aren't base tunnels all in the middle of nowhere and mountain passes? Well no because base tunnels cut under mountains, and in this case in 2003 a new link was opened that enables express services to bypass much of the line on the west shore of Lake Zurich, with a nearly 10km tunnel, which is set to be extended even further south in the future, turning it into a true base tunnel cutting under mountains. This is actually enabled without shutting down the existing tunnel, as there's an underground flyover inside the current link, which allows the flyover end to be extended without disrupting the express services such as S25 that currently use the tunnel. Now, the tunnel is a lot of fun to look at, because its north portal in particular is completely unassuming. That being said, as is typical with the minimalist Swiss approach to infrastructure, parts of it feel a little underbuilt, most notably its southern end at Tavio, where the two tracks from the tunnel merge into the two under Lakeshore line without any flyovers. So that's the rail network of Zurich, an impressive network with more services than you expect and a lot of tunnels. Make sure to leave a comment below on what transit system I should explain next, and as always, thanks for watching.