Traila Visits the Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn for In-Depth Rolling Stock Analysis

January 2024

The Traila team visited the renowned Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn (SZU) for an in-depth tour of their maintenance depot, guided by the SZU rolling stock team. The visit provided valuable insights into the operational challenges and solutions associated with the Uetliberg line.

Known for having the steepest gradient of any standard gauge adhesion railway in Europe, the Uetliberg line traverses dense urban areas and sharp curves. Understanding how SZU handles these unique challenges will not only allow us to mitigate many of the operational issues SZU faces. It will also help us better address slope stability issues, one of our key areas of focus in active steering. We are committed to refining our technologies in such extreme conditions and environments to ensure that our solutions are robust, safe, reliable and versatile.

We sincerely thank Raphael Wettstein, Remo Schnetzer, Jan Mader, Thomas Hunziker, Marc Apoloni and the entire SZU team for their generous hospitality and sharing of their expertise. This collaboration underscores our shared commitment to advancing urban mobility solutions.