Zürich Seebach railway station
Trains on the S6 provide a half-hourly connection to Zürich Hauptbahnhof station, taking 12 minutes for the journey via the southern connector and Oerlikon station. In the opposite direction, S6 trains continue to Baden station, taking 28 minutes for the journey. The station also sees significant through freight traffic, most of which takes the Furttal line in order to avoid passing through central Zürich, using the northern connector onto or off the Zürich–Winterthur line.
History of rail transport in Switzerland
In the late 1960s, the SFR developed a proposal for a new east-west trunkline (German: "Haupttransversale", NHT). This was considered by the "Swiss Transport Commission" (German: "Schweizerischen Gesamtverkehrskommission", GVK). In 1977, after almost six years work, the GVK submitted a 400-page report, which recommended the construction of a new railway between Geneva and Lake Constance and between Basel and Olten. On these routes, a total of 120 kilometres of new line would allow operation of trains at up to 200 kilometres per hour, similar to the French TGVs. A Federal Government committee supported SFR's proposal but considered that investment should be initially concentrated on the sections of route between Basel, Olten and Bern. This proposal was widely seen as too narrow in its benefits and in mid 1984 the SFR established an expert group under the name Rail 2000 to develop a broader approach. This group developed a plan to improve rail transport throughout Switzerland based on the approach of co-ordinated regular interval trains. The federal parliament voted to approve "Rail 2000" in May 1986. In particular, it granted CHF 5.4 billion for the Mattstetten–Rothrist new line between Olten and Bern and for a connection from near Herzogenbuchsee to Solothurn. This was endorsed by a referendum in 1987 with a majority of 57.0%.