About this journey

Dietikon station, whose site dates to 1847 when the Swiss Northern Railway opened one of Switzerland's earliest lines, is where the metre-gauge Wohlen–Dietikon railway meets the main network. From here, trains share 0.8 km of street space with road traffic before the line climbs into its own right of way heading west.

The route has two distinct origins stitched together. The western section between Wohlen and Bremgarten follows a relatively flat alignment — maximum gradient 1.5%, minimum curve radius 300 m — because it traces a former standard-gauge branch first opened on 1 September 1876 by the Aargauische Südbahn. The eastern section, from Bremgarten West to Dietikon, was built as an electric roadside tramway, planned in 1895 and opened on 30 April 1902, crossing the Mutschellen pass at 553 m altitude on U-shaped curves with gradients of up to 5.6%. The two halves were joined for through running on 8 February 1912. Just west of Bremgarten West, the line crosses the Reuss on a 156-metre-long bridge. The AVA ABe 4/8 units operating the service today entered service from 2010; in June 2018 the operator became Aargau Verkehr AG following a merger. Services form part of the Zürich S-Bahn as line S17, making this compact cross-cantonal route part of one of Europe's most integrated urban rail networks.