RhB’s Bernina Express train, with panoramic carriages enhance passengers’ joy in the landscape, would be the most favored train of most railfans because of the technically exciting ride and as well for sightseers for the stunning Alpine peaks, villages, thrilling twists and startling precipices.

Emerging from the 5.8 km/3.6 mi Albula Tunnel, the highest (1,903 m/6,242 ft) principal tunnel through the Alps and the most expensive and difficult engineering work of the RhB, the Glacier Express train arrives in the Upper Engadin Valley with an average altitude of 1,700 m/5,500 ft, clear skies and dry, light breezes.

Engadin architecture is so unique and bright that it sets the region off from the rest of Switzerland more distinctly than if you had crossed a frontier. The houses are white and thick-walled, with small, irregularly spaced windows widening outward. Their most distinctive feature is their “sgraffito.” Masons covered rough, gray plaster with coats of white limewash and then artfully scraped away the wash to bring out charming gray scrolls, interesting geometries, and fascinating embroideries.

St. Moritz (1,800 m/5,939 ft) is the eastern terminus of the Glacier Express and the northern terminus of the Bernina Express. The original St. Moritz train station of 1904 was modernized in 1927 and has been periodically expanded since. Most recently, it underwent a major modernization in preparation for the Alpine World Ski Championships of 2003.

St. Moritz likes to think of itself as “Top of the World,” not for elevation but for quality and prestige. In addition to aerial cableways (23 in winter; 7 in summer), a two-stage funicular rises from St. Moritz to Corviglia. The 1.2-meter-gauge first section to Chantarella carries 436 m/1,430 ft and the 1.44-meter-gauge second section continues 1,616 m/5,300 ft to an elevation of 2,489 m/8,164 ft.

Shortly after departing St. Moritz and high above the timberline, Bernina Express trains reach the summit at Bernina Hospiz (2,256 m/7,403 ft), where winter lasts seven months. They have climbed 1,821 m/5,973 ft by simple adhesion—even more than any Swiss rack railroad—and reached the highest station in Switzerland served by adhesion railway.

Alp Grüm Station (2,090 m/6,858 ft) is a popular jumping-off place for Alpine hiking and an amazing place for lunch. Lake Poschiavo is 1,290 m/4,231 ft below and only 11 km/6.8 mi away. Descending follows a route that required surveyors to perform near miracles. To reach Poschiavo, trains must descend 1,230 m/4,034 ft in a horizontal distance of only 7.6 km/4.7 mi. Engineers solved this problem by designing a series of cautious, cascading cuts, circular tunnels, sharp zigzags and astonishing loops.

First, trains descend to the right in a semicircle, wheels screeching, below Alp Grüm Station to the 254 m/833 ft Palu Tunnel, in which they make a three-quarter turn and emerge down the mountain. For a second time they pass below Alp Grüm into the 289 m/948 Stabline Tunnel, emerging on the back slope of Alp Grüm before doubling back through the 227 m/745 ft Pila Tunnel and returning below the terrace for a third time.

In less than 10 minutes, the restaurant at Alp Grüm stands 387.8 m/1,305 ft above Cavaglia (1,793 m/5,533 ft).

After passing Brusio, trains make one of the world’s most amazing loops across a raised, corkscrew stone viaduct having a radius of only 50 m/164 ft. Nearby highway traffic comes to a standstill while drivers and passengers watch the descent.

Then trains continue effortlessly down the valley, across a steel bridge over the pressure pipes of the Brusio power station (which generates electricity powering the line) to the Italian frontier. Passengers collect their Bernina Express certificates and walk a few steps into Tirano, Italy, to board the Bernina Express Bus to Lugano, in Switzerland’s Canton Ticino, where the unique 1890 funicular consisting of two half-sections rises to the summit of Monte San Salvatore (912 m/3,000 ft), two meter-gauge funiculars in series climb to the summit of Monte Brè (923 m/3,030 ft), and a short (220 m/722 ft) meter-gauge funicular descends from the federal railway’s Lugano Station to the city.

Albula/Bernina UNESCO world heritage site
The Rhaetian Railway of Albula/Bernina constitutes an outstanding technical, architectural and environmental ensemble and was therefore accredited as a UNESCO heritage site in July 2008. The Albula railway was completed in 1903, the Bernina railway in 1910. The layout of the line and the engineering structures built of locally quarried stone mark the zenith of the classic era of railway building. More info

Interesting Sights
The RhB offers visitors the dream of a footplate adventure accompanied by an expert daily over the Albula Line between Chur and St. Moritz or over the Bernina Line between St. Moritz and Tirano. Reservations are mandatory. Contact RhB Rail Service, 7130 Ilanz, tel. 081 288 43 40, or email ilanz@rhb.ch.

Trains descend to the Lower Engadin Valley having an average elevation of 1,400 m/4,500 ft via the Vereina Tunnel, RhB’s longest tunnel and also the longest narrow-gauge tunnel in Europe, at 9,060 km/5.62 mi. It is also RhB’s newest (November 19, 1999). Between Klosters and Susch/Lavin the Vereina Line added 22 km/13 mi of track to the RhB network and became the rail gateway to the Lower Engadin region with Zernez, Scuol/Schuls, and the Swiss National Park. Two trains per hour make the 19 min crossing via the passing loop in the middle of the tunnel.

Find out more about historic trains from the Swiss Federal Railway Heritage Foundation.