Badische Hauptbahn
In May 1845 a new committee was formed under the leadership of the Zürich industrialist Martin Escher. The planned line would now keep to the south bank of the Limmat, which it would only cross at Turgi. Finally, it was planned to cross the Rhine between Koblenz and Waldshut (then in the nation of Baden) to connect with the planned Baden Mainline between Basel and Konstanz. With an assurance that Alois Negrelli would be direct the engineering and that a branch line would be later built from Baden to Lenzburg and Aarau, the Aargau parliament approved the project in July 1845. The first stage of construction would be the section from Zürich to Baden. Negrelli relocated of the station in Baden to the north side of town, requiring the construction of the 80-meter-long Schlossberg tunnel. Gustav Albert Wegmann designed the Zürich railway station, while Ferdinand Stadler designed the Baden station. At the end of 1845 the Nordbahn company was founded with a share capital of 20 million francs, in the spring of 1846 construction work started. The route for the most part was easy, although there were small landslides between Neuenhof and Baden. The greatest challenge was the construction of the Schlossberg tunnel, where prisoners were initially used for this work, later unskilled workers were also used there. There were three fatalities in a blasting accident and an additional six workers died of typhoid. The tunnel was broken through on 14 April 1847.