Cham-Steinhausen,20.03.2017

Re-laying of short stretch of rail track could lead to great advantages

Fourteen parliamentarians, mainly from Cham and Steinhausen, are calling for the cantonal government to reconsider re-laying railway lines over a stretch between these two municipalities so that direct train services can be re-introduced between them, bringing a wide range of benefits to the region and beyond.
 
Services used to operate on these tracks for over a hundred years between 1864 and 1970 but then the SBB closed it and lines were removed from a 1,300-metre section to the east of the Alpenblick station. At present railway services in the canton are very dependent how much traffic the single-track Zimmerberg tunnel linking Baar with Horgen can cope with.
 
With new tracks laid to connect the line between Cham and Steinhausen, an alternative link to the canton of Zurich would be able to be established, with trains passing north through Knonau, to eventually link up with the Zurich Limmattal economic area in addition to Altstetten, Schlieren and Urdorf, connecting them, too, in the opposite direction, with the Lucerne and Ennetsee economic areas, i.e. the municipalities on the north-western shores of Lake Zug. 
 
Furthermore, services on these new tracks would not only enable the Kollermühle and Städtler Allmend areas to be linked up better, they could help alleviate pressure on the on the Baar-Horgen Oberdorf line, and reduce road congestion in the area, too.
 
One of the parliamentarians proposing the re-instatement of this line, Jean-Luc Mösch of the CVP party, said it would bring great benefit to Steinhausen and Zug-West in general, not least in facilitating rail links for staff and students commuting to and from the new School of IT of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Rotkreuz, too.
 
With the new tracks needed to cover just a  short distance, Mörsch considered that laying them would be not only be quick and easy, but cheap, too. “I realise the land in question is in a nature protection area, but an expert in this field has told me that it could even be upgraded ecologically,” he said.