New Light Rail for Limmat Valley
The Limmat Valley is already stretched to the limit in terms of its traffic burden. With the goal of expanding the transport capacity of the high growth region to the north-west of the city of Zurich, the company Limmattalbahn AG is constructing a new light rail line over a total length of 13.4 kilometres by 2022. Basler & Hofmann is making a key contribution in the area of road construction and railway engineering.
Expertise involved
Rail and light rail , Railway technology , Bridges , Track design , Geotechnical engineering , Risk analysis and safety management , Roads and highwaysClient
Limmattalbahn AG, Walo Bertschinger AG/Carlo Vanoli AG
Building below groundwater level and clever planning of points
The new light rail will connect local communities along the line Zurich-Altstetten, Dietikon and Killwangen. From 2022, double-ended trains will run every 15 minutes on the line, which will serve 27 station stops, on a metre gauge double track. Basler & Hofmann has been involved since the start of the project with experts in road construction and railway engineering. One particularly challenging aspect is the implementation of a new pedestrian underpass at Dietikon station, which needs to be constructed not only below groundwater level, but also while train services are still running.
In the railway engineering part of the project, Basler & Hofmann is working under the mandate of the general contractor on the entire length of track – from project planning to implementation. The special aspects of the railway engineering part of the project include the design and construction of the points, which need to meet the requirements of three different wheel sets in different segments of the track: those of the urban tram system, those of the Limmat Valley Railway and those of the Bremgarten-Dietikon Railway.
Project coordination is a challenge
A light rail vehicle project as extensive as the Limmat Valley Railway affects not only the numerous parties involved in the project, but also various third parties and third-party projects – and therefore represents a real challenge in terms of coordination. The experts from Basler & Hofmann have continuously contributed their experiences of project coordination and communication from previous large-scale projects to ensure that the project can be implemented as planned.
Our services
General management of railway engineering with leadership within an engineering consortium for the overall line and the new railway depot from pre-project to commissioning, including track design and the preparation of a risk assessment and safety report. Handling of the road construction part of the project within an engineering consortium, from the pre-project to the detailed planning project for the sub-projects 2 and 3. Development of the submission project up to commissioning of the road construction/underground construction including local construction management for the batches 1, 3 and 5 (two of the batches are developed within an engineering consortium).
