The heart of the cross-city link is the second underground through-station, Löwenstrasse. To the west, tracks run across two new bridges to Zürich Altstetten. To the east, the Weinberg tunnel connects the main station with Oerlikon.

• Two new bridges between Zurich’s main station and Altstetten are helping reduce congestion on the tracks to the west of the station: the Kohlendreieck bridge begins at the Langstrasse subway, extending to the Hard bridge, while the Letzigraben bridge spans the tracks from the Hard bridge to Altstetten.
• Just before the main station, the cross-city link’s twin tracks end at the new Löwenstrasse through-station, which is being constructed at a depth of some 16 metres under the main station’s tracks 4 to 9.
• The new Gessnerallee passage way has a number of functions: it serves as a shopping mall as well as a new connection between the Museumstrasse and Löwenstrasse underground stations and the platforms in the main station’s main hall.
• Trains also leave the through-station on two tracks, entering the Weinberg tunnel and heading toward Oerlikon. The tunnel passes under the River Limmat and the Zürichberg mountain, ending some five kilometres later as it approaches Oerlikon.
• In Oerlikon, the rail bed between the tunnel entrance and Oerlikon station is being expanded, in order to create room for two new tracks.

Following some six years of construction, the 9.6-kilometre cross-city link will be completed in a number of phases, opening in mid-2014 and at the end of 2015.