Winterthur railway station
Winterthur is Switzerland's fifth busiest station, and is a major node between Switzerland's largest railway nucleus in Zürich and places in Eastern Switzerland (such as St. Gallen and Schaffhausen), as well as Germany (Munich), and Austria (Vorarlberg). The station is served by trains on Zürich's suburban S-Bahn network, as well as by regional and intercity trains, with most through passenger trains making a stop. It is also connected with Zürich's airport railway station Zürich Flughafen, which can be reached in about 15 minutes about every 8 minutes. Zürich Hauptbahnhof can be reached with up to 16 direct connections per hour and the fastest connection takes only 22 minutes (S12). The station has 9 standard gauge platforms (numbered 1-9).
Zürich Hardbrücke railway station
The station sits in the approach to Zürich Hauptbahnhof station, on the Zürich–Baden line near its junction with the Käferberg tunnel variant of the Zürich–Winterthur line, and to the north of the through tracks that carry long distance passenger and freight trains. It lies below the Hardbrücke, a road bridge that crosses the rail tracks and forms an important north-south connection within the city. The station has two side platforms and a central island platform served by four tracks, with the two inner tracks on the line to via the Käferberg Tunnel, and the two outer tracks on the line to . The line to Oerlikon is at a higher level, and thus the platforms are not all at the same level.