The Glacier Express's route through Switzerland

The Glacier Express is an express train which connects the two major mountain resorts of St. Moritz and Zermatt in the Swiss Alps using different railroad lines, belonging to the two cooperating companies of Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn and RhB (Rhätische Bahn). It is not an "express" in the sense of being a high-speed train but rather in the sense that it provides a one-seat ride for a long duration travel. In fact it has the reputation of being the slowest express train in the world. As St. Moritz and Zermatt are home to two well-known mountains, the Glacier Express is also said to travel from Piz Bernina to Matterhorn.

The trip on the Glacier Express is a 7½ hour railway journey across 291 bridges, through 91 tunnels and across the Oberalp Pass on the highest point at 2,033 m (6,670 ft) in altitude. The entire line is metre gauge (narrow gauge railway), and large portions of it use a rack-and-pinion system both for ascending steep grades and to control the descent of the train on the back side of those grades.

A few scenes of the documentary film The Alps were shot inside the train in 2006.

The Albula Line on the Glacier Express route was declared a World Heritage Site in 2008.

[edit] Itinerary

St. Moritz Station

Glacier Express in the Albula Valley

Glacier Express on the Landwasser Viaduct

Glacier Express in the Rhine Gorge

Glacier Express above Andermatt

[edit] Albula line

Shorltly after leaving the St. Moritz station (1,775 m/5,820 ft) in Graubünden, the train passes Samedan and Bever on the high Engadin plateau. There it continues in the Val Bever before entering in the Albula Tunnel at 1,815 m (5,950 ft) under the Albula Pass. After the tunnel the train passes Preda, the first village in the Albula valley and continues toward Bergün. Between these two villages the train has to go through many spirals because of the high difference of altitude within a short distance (400 m/1,300 ft for 5 km/3.1 mi). After another spiral the train reaches Filisur at the end of the valley at (1,032 m/3,390 ft). From there the train passes on the Landwasser Viaduct, the most emblematic landmark of the railway line and continues toward Thusis (720 m/2,400 ft) where it reaches the Posterior Rhine and follows it to the city of Chur (585 m/1,920 ft).

[edit] Oberalp section

From Chur the train follows back the course of the Rhine through the gorge of Ruinaulta and climbs slowly the valley toward Ilanz (698 m/2,290 ft), Disentis/Mustér (1,142 m/3,750 ft) and Sedrun (1,404 m/4,610 ft). From Sedrun the line becomes steeper to finally reach its summit, the Oberalp Pass at 2,033 m (6,670 ft). From there the train enters in the Canton of Uri in Central Switzerland and continues down to Andermatt (1,447 m/4,750 ft).

[edit] Furka line

From Andermatt the train goes forward in the Urserental valley passing the villages of Hospental (1,452 m/4,760 ft) and Realp (1,538 metres/5,050 feet). From there the train enters the Furka Tunnel, leaving the old railway line which climbs the Furka Pass (operated today by the Furka Heritage Railway), to emerge in Oberwald (1,368 m/4,490 ft) in the Goms Valley, in the Canton of Valais. The train then continues toward the city of Brig following the course of the Rhone and pass along the villages of Ulrichen (1,346 m/4,420 ft), Münster-Geschinen (1,359 m/4,460 ft) and Fiesch (1,049 m/3,440 ft), before going through another spiral.

[edit] Mattertal line

From Brig (678 m/2,220 ft) the train continues to Visp (651 m/2,140 ft), then enters the valley of Mattertal and goes up, passing the villages of Stalden (799 m/2,620 ft), St. Niklaus (1,127 m/3,700 ft) and Randa (1,408 m/4,620 ft), where a spectacular debris avalanche completely disconnected the railway and road in 1991. Täsch (1,450 m/4,800 ft) is an important station as it is the end of the open road, therefore a terminal for motorists. After a steeper section the train finally arrive in Zermatt at 1,616 m (5,300 ft), after nearly 8 hours of travel.

[edit] See also

• Swiss Pass
• Table of turn tunnels

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Glacier-Express

• Glacier Express official website
• Glacier Express A personal trip on the Glacier Express with photographs

Coordinates: 46°39′37″N 8°40′13″E / 46.66028°N 8.67028°E / 46.66028; 8.67028