Glacier Express

Train route of the Glacier Express
Timetable field :	144
Legend Zermatt St. Niklaus Visp Brig Fiesch Oberwald Canton border Wallis / Uri Andermatt Canton border Uri / Graubünden Disentis / Mustér Chur Thusis Tiefencastel Davos place Filisur St. Moritz

Course of the route

The panorama car that was put into service in 2006 on the Landwasser Viaduct near Filisur

Shortly before the Oberalp pass summit

Glacier Express in front of the Randa landslide area

Loop tunnels and bridges on the Albula route

Railway line in the Vorderrhein Gorge

Two compositions were performed together on the RhB network in the summer.

The Glacier Express is a tourism -oriented express train service on the rail networks of the Rhaetian Railway and the Matterhorn-Gotthard Railway in Switzerland . The narrow-gauge train has been connecting the Engadine town of St. Moritz via Chur , Disentis / Mustér , Andermatt , Brig and Visp with Zermatt on one meter- gauge track since 1930 . He crosses the cantons of Graubünden , Uri and Valais . Individual train runs start or end in Chur or Brig. Since 2006, a pair of trains has also been running between Zermatt and Davos Platz in summer , after through coaches had run via Landquart to Davos in previous years .

The Glacier Express is often referred to as the "slowest express train in the world". In about eight hours the train travels over 291 bridges, through 91 tunnels and over the 2033  m high Oberalp Pass near the source of the Rhine . The Rhine Gorge is crossed further down the Rhine . Between Thusis and St. Moritz, the train, like the Bernina Express , travels the Albula Railway (a UNESCO World Heritage Site ), which passes under the Albula Pass in a vertex tunnel. The Furkapass was also crossed under in a crest tunnel until 1981; the pass was only passable in summer. Year-round operation has been possible since the Furka Base Tunnel was opened in 1982.

In December 2012, the abbreviation used for some time by the railways was GEX as train category in the official timetable defined Switzerland. However, since December 2019, all Swiss panorama trains, including the Glacier Express, have been referred to as Panorama Express (PE).

history

The first Glacier Express set off from Zermatt on June 25, 1930 at 7.30 a.m., carried 70 invited guests and reached St. Moritz after just under eleven hours. Today, trains that cover this distance in a similarly long time by stopping, coupling and uncoupling parts of the train, etc., are often referred to as the “original” Glacier Express. The introduction of the train was made possible by the opening of the Visp – Brig line on June 6, 1930, which made a continuous journey from St. Moritz to Zermatt possible. Four years earlier (on July 4, 1926) the route over the Furka and Oberalp passes had been opened.

The three Swiss railway companies Rhaetian Railway (RhB), Furka-Oberalp-Bahn (FO) and Visp-Zermatt-Bahn (VZ) wanted to use the Glacier Express to build on the tradition of luxury trains, the development of which had been interrupted by the First World War. The saloon car 61 (today 1161) used by the RhB for the maiden voyage was too heavy for daily operation over the rack ramps. Instead, VZ and FO presented their AB4ü, which weighed only 14 t . From the beginning, the trains always carried wagons of the third or, from 1956, the second wagon class . From 1931 (converted) wagons with closed platforms and bellows were used as far as possible. The dining cars put into operation by Mitropa in 1929 and 1930 could only be used on the section of the RhB, i.e. up to and from Disentis. Because until 1942 the FO still operated in steam mode, but the RhB and VZ were already operating electrically. In the 1930s, locomotives were the RhB crocodiles , the FO steam locomotives and the VZ “little crocodiles” . In the war years from 1943 and up to 1946 the Glacier Express had to be stopped because the foreign tourists stayed away. With the resumption of operations in 1947, it was possible to drive electrically throughout and the dining car could pass through to Oberalpsee or Andermatt, where it was switched to the opposite train. From 1961 light steel and light metal wagons were used, from 1968 the train, apart from the dining car, ran entirely with such wagons. The popularity of the Glacier Express meant that double tours became more and more common in the 1970s.

Until 1981 the Glacier Express drove through the Furka summit tunnel at 2162  m above sea level. M. The mountain route from Oberwald to Realp could only be used for about four summer months, the rest of the time, due to the weather, rail traffic was idle. However, this route gave the train its name because you could see the Rhone Glacier ( French : glacier = glacier ) from here.

Year- round operation became possible in 1982 with the opening of the Furka Base Tunnel , but since then passengers have no longer been able to see the Rhone Glacier. The old mountain route is now owned by the Furka mountain route steam train , which it put back into operation in stages and on August 12, 2010, after a 28-year break, ran it again continuously for the first time. Only historical locomotives and wagons are used.

Until 1981, the Glacier Express consisted of through coaches St. Moritz – Zermatt and Chur – Zermatt and back, which were only run as a separate train in the FO area. From 1982 the express experienced a massive increase in passengers; more trains or coaches were run. In 1993, a composition made entirely from panorama cars was used for the first time . This train only carried the first class of car .

After the procurement of further panorama cars, several train units with panorama cars in first and second class could be offered from 2006. Lunch is served in the new car at the seat. In the newer cars, the passengers are informed about interesting route details via headphones in six different languages ​​(German, English, French, Japanese, Chinese and Italian).

On July 23, 2010 there was an accident between the Lax and Fiesch Feriendorf stations as a result of excessive speed in which three cars on the Glacier Express derailed; two of the cars overturned. One traveler died and 42 people were injured, twelve of them seriously.
→ Main article: Fiesch railway accident

In the summer of 2008, the operating concept was again slightly adjusted. Trains or groups of wagons only from / to Chur no longer existed. In the morning a train with eleven panorama cars and a dining car left St. Moritz. In Disentis the train was divided and six carriages each went on to Zermatt as a separate train. Another six panorama cars followed from St. Moritz on the normal express train to Chur. There they were coupled with the four panorama cars and, if necessary, other conventional cars for group travelers who had come as a separate train from Davos via Filisur to Chur. This train was also divided in Disentis and ran as two trains to Zermatt. If necessary, a group of wagons, possibly with a dining car, ran as a through car in scheduled trains from St. Moritz to Disentis, from where it was the fifth train to go to Zermatt. In the opposite direction, the whole thing basically worked the same, but the other way around. The full range was run from mid-June to the end of September. All 42 panorama cars were then on the move, a reserve was not available. Only the St. Moritz trains ran from mid-May to mid-October. From the timetable change in December to mid-May, the winter concept was in effect with only one train per direction.

Two pairs of trains have been running in winter since 2009. With the number of panorama coaches increased to 50, three pairs of trains can be offered between Zermatt and St. Moritz with meals on site in summer; a fourth pair of trains between Zermatt and Davos (for the first time continuously to Zermatt) has a classic dining car. Operations have remained almost the same as in 2008. The basic unit of the Glacier Express consists of six cars:

• a first-class panorama car with wheelchair-accessible toilet (Api)
• a first-class panorama car (Ap)
• a kitchen / bar panorama car (WRp) or a classic dining car (WR)
• three second-class panorama cars (Bp)

The difference between first and second class is the number of seats per row. In the second class there are two seats (2 + 2), while in the first class there are two seats and a single seat in a row (2 + 1). The basic unit on the Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn network is a train pulled by an HGe 4/4 . On the Rhaetian Railway network , two basic units operate coupled in a train or the basic unit is given to a cycle train. Only the Davos trains ran to / from Chur with one basic unit.

This means that four trains (902, 904, 906, 908) left Zermatt one after the other between 9:00 a.m. and 10:13 a.m. In Disentis, trains 902 and 904 as well as 906 and 908 were coupled together. In Chur, 902 and 904 were separated again; 904 was attached to the RegioExpress RE 1149 and drove with it to St. Moritz (arrival 16:58). 902 left shortly afterwards for Davos (arrival 16:48). The trains 906 and 908 drove coupled together via Chur to St. Moritz (arrival 17:42). In the opposite direction, the process was exactly the opposite. Trains 905 and 907 coupled together ran from St. Moritz to Disentis, 909 with RE 1132 to Chur and with train 911 to Disentis. The four trains arrived in Zermatt between 16:52 and 18:31. The pair of trains 904/909 only ran from June to September, the Davos pair of trains 902/911 from mid-May to the end of September, the other two pairs of trains from mid-May to the end of October.

From summer 2012 the travel times have been changed slightly. The departure from Zermatt was scheduled for 8:52 am to 9:59 am, the arrival in St. Moritz at 4:58 pm and 6:10 pm. Departure from St. Moritz was 09:15 and 10:02, arrival in Zermatt between 17:00 and 18:32.

Despite the high demand at times, the four pairs of trains could not be used sufficiently. That is why the Davos train ran for the last time in 2013. Since 2014, three trains have been running in both directions every hour, between Chur and St. Moritz always as a group of through carriages in one RE. This made some of the Breda wagons redundant. The modern WR 3815 retained the brake gear from the RhB dining car; it serves as a reserve if one of the six service cars fails.

Today's operation

For the 2018 season, the operating concept was again significantly redesigned, some adjustments did not take effect until 2019. In addition to six-car trains, there are now also five-car trains and the separate management of the train over the entire route is becoming the norm. Earlier and later connections are offered to enable journeys from Chur, Andermatt and Brig. Individual compositions make a return trip on the same day.

From March to October, an Excellence Class carriage was carried on the pair of trains 902/903 between Zermatt and St. Moritz from March to October . For this, the coaches Bp 2538 (RhB) and 4068 (MGB) were converted and renamed as Aps 1321 and 4046. 20 new seats at tables for two and a bar were installed. At the end with a bar, the bellows transition was omitted, as the car is always lined up at one end of the set. The surcharge of 420 francs on the 1st class ticket includes a menu and other gastronomic services. From the outside, the cars can be recognized by additional golden diagonal stripes.

route

The Glacier Express crosses two major watersheds in Europe between the catchment areas of the western Mediterranean ( Rhone ), the Atlantic ( Rhine ) and the Black Sea ( Danube ), and ends not far from the watershed to the Adriatic Sea crossed by the Bernina Railway . The entire journey from St. Moritz to Zermatt takes 8 hours.

It overcomes four large ascents and descents between alpine regions and the Rhine or Rhone valley, the heights of the places traveled in Zermatt are 1,604  m above sea level. M. , in Visp 658  m above sea level. M. , in the Furka base tunnel 1564  m above sea level. M. (old Furka summit tunnel 2160  m above sea level ), in Andermatt 1447  m above sea level. M. , on the Oberalppass 2033  m above sea level. M. , in Chur 585  m above sea level. M. , in the Albula tunnel 1820  m above sea level. M. , in Samedan 1721  m above sea level. M. and in St. Moritz 1775  m above sea level. M.

literature

• Robert Bösch (photos), Iso Camartin, Paul Caminada (texts): Glacier Express. The world of the Glacier Express. AS Verlag , Zurich 2008, ISBN 3-909111-12-2 . (German-English edition)
• Paul Caminada, Peter Pfeiffer (ed.): The Glacier Express. Desertina Verlag, 1985, ISBN 3-85637-058-7 .
• Klaus Fader: Glacier Express. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-440-07799-3 .
• Ronald Gohl: The Glacier Express. Around the slowest express train in the world. Geramond, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-932785-92-4 .
• Georg Schwach: The discovery of slowness. In: Railway history. 25 (December 2007 / January 2008), pp. 52–59. [Critical remarks on the truthfulness of texts for marketing the train]
• Hans Schweers: Glacier Express. The slowest express train in the world. Schweers and Wall, Aachen 1991, ISBN 3-921679-63-X .
• Reto Steiner (Ed.): Glacier Express - From St. Moritz to Zermatt. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-88255-731-2 .

Web links

Commons : Glacier Express  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Glacier Express website
• Glacier Express on the official Graubünden Ferien website
• Route on OpenStreetMap

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Glacier Express via Filisur to Davos, in: Schweizer Eisenbahn-Revue 10/2005, Minirex, Lucerne, ISSN  1022-7113
2. ↑ see «Train characteristics» in [1]
3. ^ Louis-Henri Leyvraz: Memories of the electrification and expansion of the Brig-Visp-Zermatt Railway in the years 1929–1943. In: Swiss Railway Review 7–8 / 1991, Minirex, Lucerne, ISSN  1022-7113 , pages 226–247.
4. ↑ Federal Office of Transport: Rolling Stock Directory 1939 . The following were set up for steam and electrical operation: VZ AB4ü 101–103 (1931), C4 34–35, BCFZ4 51–52; FO AB4 54–55, BC4ü 151, BC4 153 and 155, C4ü 260, C4 256 and 259. The As 61 of the RhB was, next to the ABC4ü 604–607, still shown with a brake gear. There are no photos, apart from the maiden voyage, showing this two-tone car on the FO or the VZ.
5. ↑ Railway line in Valais can be used again ; NZZ from July 25, 2010
6. ↑ Exclusive travel in a class of its own - the Excellence Class on the Glacier Express sets new standards , bahnonline.ch, 23 November 2018
7. ↑ Excellence Class: The most popular seats in Switzerland , glacierexpress.ch
8. ^ Glacier Express from St. Moritz to Zermatt. Elevation profile. In: website. angelos-reisen.at, accessed on May 21, 2020 .