Railway station to receive a new platform roof

Cham railway station has had two continuous railway tracks since 1987, and the central platform has been in place since 1991.The SBB is now having its roof completely overhauled. But water from the temporary roof can occasionally leak onto the platform.

The central platform at Cham railway station was built as part of the double-track extension from Zug to Cham. The realisation of this project began in 1987 and, four years later, the station subway in the direction of the Villette Park was also opened. At the moment, however, the central platform at Cham station, which was built in 1991, is once again a building site.

The leaking central platform roof will soon be fixed again
As SBB spokeswoman Sabrina Schellenberg explained, the existing wooden structure and the waterproofing of the centre platform roof in Cham station are in a poor condition. The SBB is therefore replacing the roof. The work on this began in February 2024, and the renovated roof is expected to be completed in July.

The enclosure of the roof is a precautionary measure, as trains will continue to run from Zug via Cham in the direction of Lucerne during the construction work. The contact wire for the trains is therefore still energised. The SBB thereby emphasises that the roof work will not result in any train cancellations. The total cost: CHF 900,000.

The SBB has had a replacement roof positioned over the centre platform to provide some protection against rain and the burning sun. There is one small problem, however: a part of the temporary roof construction has a large number of small holes. This means that if the rain is a little heavier, it will drip through the roof on the central platform.

The platform roof above tracks 2 and 3 at Cham railway station is being renovated at a cost of around CHF 1 million
Cham railway station: The temporary platform roof over tracks 2 and 3 at Cham station is not completely watertight            Photos: Stefan Kaiser/Zuger Zeitung

Cham's railway stations have a long history
Once the roof work in Cham has been completed, no further maintenance work is planned at Cham railway station for the time being. It’s interesting to note that Cham station has some historic parts. The original station building on the Zurich - Affoltern-am-Albis – Cham - Lucerne line from the 1860s was dismantled by the then operators, the Nordostbahn, in 1893, and was rebuilt in Bäch (Zurich-Chur SBB line) in 1900.

It was replaced in the 1890s by the current station building, which still serves Cham railway station today. The Cham bus station is also the oldest of its kind in the canton of Zug, while the signal box at Cham station is also a reminder of another era. It was first used in 1906 and has long been a relic from another railway era.