Forchbahn

Forch railway (S18)
Overview
Type	Light rail
System	Zürich S-Bahn
Status	Operational
Locale	Canton of Zürich, Switzerland
Termini	Zürich Stadelhofen station Esslingen
Stations	20
Services	1
Operation
Opened	1912
Owner	Forchbahn AG
Operator(s)	Forchbahn AG
Depot(s)	Forch
Technical
Line length	13 km (8.1 mi) (railway) 3 km (1.9 mi) (tramway)
Number of tracks	Single and double track
Track gauge	Metre (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)
Electrification	600/1200 V DC Overhead line
Route diagram VBZ from Bellevue Zürich Stadelhofen Zürich Kreuzplatz VBZ to Römerhof Zürich Hegibachplatz Zürich Balgrist 0.00 Zürich Rehalp 1.08 Waldburg 1.48 Spital Zollikerberg 1.99 Zollikerberg 3.45 Waltikon Zumiker Tunnel (1758 m) 4.25 Zumikon 5.02 Maiacher 5.59 Neue Forch 6.40 Forch Forchtunnel (282 m) 7.41 Scheuren 9.00 Neuhaus bei Hinteregg 10.09 Hinteregg 10.75 Egg 11.48 Langwies ZH 12.20 Emmat 13.06 Esslingen

The Forch railway (German: Forchbahn, FB or Frieda) is a local railway line in the Swiss canton of Zürich. It is owned and operated by the Forchbahn AG, and is branded as line S18 of the Zürich S-Bahn. The standard Zürcher Verkehrsverbund (ZVV) zonal fare tariffs apply to the line.

The line opened in 1912 and links the towns of Esslingen and Forch to Rehalp, an outer suburb of the city of Zürich. From Rehalp, trains continue over the Zürich tram system to a terminus outside Zürich Stadelhofen railway station in central Zürich.

The line is built to metre gauge (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in gauge). Between Esslingen and Rehalp the line has a length of some 13 km (8.1 mi), with the continuation over the Zürich tram system adding an extra 3 km (1.9 mi) of route.

The Forch railway line opened on November 27, 1912, with the trip taking 67 minutes. As built, the line from the Zürich city boundary to Esslingen was a single track tramway, largely mixed in with road traffic. At Esslingen, the Forch line connected with the Uster-Oetwil line and, indirectly via that, with the Wetzikon-Meilen line. These two metre gauge tramway lines had both closed by 1950.

In 1950 it was proposed that the line should be replaced by buses, and a two-week test bus operation was undertaken with moderate success. The conclusion of the experiment was that retaining the line was the best solution provided that the line could be separated from the street and modernized. In the following decade separation of rail and road traffic was increased. New bogie rolling stock was acquired, similar to two cars built for the line in the late 1940s.

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