Rhaetian Railway

Swiss Rail is known by many for its proverbial punctuality. Having travelled a bit by train in Switzerland, though, to me another feature is the most striking one: It's reach. Swiss trains climb most mountain chains to reach even small rural valleys and remote towns in the backwaters.

Where in most countries trains and public transport in general are a travel option for the less affluent, Swiss Rail to this day seems to be the national mode of travel for all strata of society. Just check out how many Swiss own a GA (General Abonnement), a full year rail pass, costing 3800 CHF in 2nd class.

In a country so infatuated with railways I think the inclusion of the single most iconic railway of the country is a worthwhile addition.

How to Visit

I have to concur with previous reviewers' statements: It's a bit hard to appreciate the site from the train window. While you get nice views of the scenery, you don't see much of the engineering feats. However, you can hop on and off the train and hike from one station to another. There is yet another Swiss heritage trail running from Thussis to Tirano that you can join at any station.

I only covered a small portion of it at Filisur but it included the famed Landwasser Viaduct. If you have some time (I didn't) I would probably hike from the Viaduct to Bergün where the Albula Train Museum …

In Sept 2016 we spent a few hours driving the c125kms from Tirano to Thusis across the Bernina and Albula Passes, stopping along the way to see various aspects of the Rhaetian Railway. My general impression was that the Bernina section provided the better “scenery” and the Albula section the more interesting/accessible “railway engineering”. Overall the site passes through some fine, albeit “typical”, Alpine scenery and in some parts contains some interesting, even spectacular, (if not “unique”) railway engineering. Its boundaries, OUV, and even its title, also provide interesting examples of the subtleties and compromises involved in defining a “World Heritage Site”. I explore these below.

The Bernina section commences in what we felt was the disappointing town of Tirano. The metre gauge RhB station sports a UNESCO plaque but is totally without architectural interest. A few very modern trains sat at the modern platforms and the town was full of tourists milling around or having lunch between Rhaetian trains. It turns out that the 3kms section between here and the Swiss border was only added to the nomination during its later development after Italy, never a country to miss a chance of getting another WHS, made “diplomatic” contact with Switzerland to get the section added! (See - http://www.provinea.it/index.php?sezione=candidatura_ferrovia )

For a few kms the line runs along the road itself. The Nomination File makes much of this “It is rare for European railways to run on roads through towns like the Bernina Railway does. Overseas, this …

I visited this WHS in June 2014. After spending quite a lot of money to visit other Swiss WHS and mostly because on the day it wasn't sunny, I decided to visit the main train stations and scenic points of the Albula and Bernina passes by car. Considering the many tunnels involved, I think that this approach let me see much more than what I would have seen on the train and I could read the different information boards and take photos at leisure instead of seeing the sites for some split seconds on the Bernina Express. The main railway sights are Rothenbrunnen, the Solisviaduct, Pontresina, Morteratsch, Lago Bianco in Ospizio Bernina, Valposchiavo, the "round viaduct" of Brusio and the Landwasserviaduct. The latter was definitely my favourite and the true highlight of my road trip through mountain passes. From the Filisur train station, there's a short hike to a panoramic point over the Landwasserviaduct and a longer hike beneath it with a number of information boards along both ways. In the future I might be tempted to take the Glacier Express instead of the Bernina Express which costs around 100 euros for the return trip from Chur to Tirano.

After having visited Mustair, I drove across another mountain pass: the narrow and winding Albula pass. I wondered if it follows the same stretch as the railway line. I saw some tracks and stations, but none of the remarkable engineering works.

I had to try riding a train on this railway of course. So I parked my car in Thusis, and bought a return ticket to St. Moritz. This covers the designated part of the Albula line. I travelled in the regular regional express train, which leaves every hour for the 1.5-hour stretch. The plus side of this train is that the windows can be opened, so you can get better photos. If you know what to take photos of, that is.

I had printed the Albula part of the nomination dossier and tried to follow the route on paper while I was on the train. But to be honest - the objects mentioned are difficult to see from the train. At first, the only things I noticed were the numerous tunnels. One sits in the dark for almost half of the time! The icon of this line is the Landwasser Viaduct, and fortunately, it was announced by the conductor when we were almost there. So I could get a good look at it and take some photos.

The remaining technical highlights en route I found difficult to appreciate from the train. So I was a bit disappointed with the "experience" in general.

This is really a fantastic site not only for WH collectors, but for anyone who enjoys travelling by train and admiring scenic landscapes. After visiting the WH-listed convent at Müstair, I got on the Bernina line at Pontresina (from Müstair, take the bus to Zernez and continue by train) and took a southbound train to Tirano, just across the border in Italy. Tirano is quite a pretty town, with a famous pilgrimage church and the unique sight of a train passing right through the streets and squares. The next day, I took the same route back and continued until St. Moritz, where I changed into the Albula Train to Chur (the WH part only stretches to Thusis, but trains continue without the need to change). The lines were inscribed as a masterpiece of engineering, and rightly so. There is an endless line of bridges, tunnels, and viaducts, and the Bernina line is one of the steepest railway lines in the world, and one of the few that crosses the Alps not through a tunnel, but goes over a pass (at Ospizio Bernina, which is the highest point of the line at 2,250 metres). Technical features aside, the lines pass through a sequence of varied and beautiful landscapes (including a glacial lake that was still covered with ice in late May) and through German-, Romansh- and Italian-speaking regions, which makes for interesting linguistic diversity. Technically speaking, the Rhaetian Railway is a network covering all railway lines in the Canton of Grisons …

My journey from Milan to Chur took place on a perfect clear day. Starting out early from Milan Centrale the train skirted the east shore of Lake Como and then entered the terraced, vine clad Val Tellina which led to Tirano on the Swiss border.

Here I left the Italian station and walked next door to the Swiss one. People were queueing here to take the expensive Bernina Express, but I took the empty regional train, better because it is cheaper and the windows open for taking photographs.

After travelling through the streets of Tirano the train crossed the border and started the scenic climb around spirals, over bridges, through tunnels and across viaducts to reach the Bernina Pass. At this altitude the scenery was of mountains, glaciers, lakes, streams and a carpet of wild flowers.

Descending to Thusis the line then levelled out and the Sardona peaks came into view as we approached Chur.

We started our journey with Bernina Express from Davos so we missed the famous Landwasser viaduct near the town of Filisur. But there were still a lot to see. Between Davos and Filisur the best views were at the Wiesen station. Between Filisur and Bergün the train passed many tunnels and when you're out of the tunnels you can watch the scenery of the valley.

After Bergün the train comes to Albula viaduct. The rails make many spirals in the tunnels and you will lost coordination and wonder which side of the valley you will come out next. After Preda the train goes in to the long Albula tunnel.

The train comes out of the tunnel in the village of Spinas and passes the towns of Bever and Samedan and then comes in to the Bernina valley. At Morteratsch station you can see the Morteratsch glacier - but only if there is good weather and gladly we had that. After that the train starts to climb to the Bernina Pass. At Ospizio Bernina station the railway is on its highest peak. Next to the station is the amazingly blue Lago Bianco.

After the train leaves the Lago Bianco behind you can see the magnificent view of Palü glacier. From Alp Grüm station is the perfect view to the glacier and to the Palü lake. The tunnels along the way made photographing hard, though!

After many turns the train reaches Poschiavo valley. Views from the slopes to …