Gotthard Panorama Express
The Gotthard Panorama Express is a pair of trains in the tourist offer of the Swiss Federal Railways via the Gotthard Railway , which is offered together with the shipping company of Lake Lucerne .
history
After the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel had freed up numerous timetable routes on the historic mountain route of the Gotthard Railway and passenger traffic had largely been shifted to the base tunnel, the opportunity and demand arose to travel the scenic mountain route with a train, which is mainly used for tourism. The 1st class type Apm61Pano panorama carriages previously carried by the InterRegio trains (IR) on the Gotthard Railway were freed up as the use of the base tunnel means that they do not have to drive through the landscape. The offer was created in 2017.
offer
The Gotthard Panorama Express takes up the concept of other panorama trains in Switzerland, such as the Glacier Express or the Bernina Express . In addition to the train journey, the “Gotthard Panorama Express” product also includes shipping on Lake Lucerne . The previous product “Wilhelm Tell Express” relied on a similar concept. However, no separate train was used, but the travelers were transported with regular interregios.
The train carries three air-conditioned 1st class panorama cars and two non-air- conditioned 2nd class photo cars of the type Bpm51 . The latter have translation windows that can be opened , which enables photographers to take mirror-free images. Regardless of this, since 2019 the train can only be used with 1st class tickets. A dining car is not carried, as a restaurant is available on the boat trip. However, snacks and drinks from the minibar are available on board . Tour guides accompany the journey on the train. During the journey, loudspeaker announcements explain the construction of the railway line and sights on the edge of the line to the passengers . This is also shown audiovisually when passing through the vertex tunnel .
The Gotthard Panorama Express operates as a Panorama Express (PE) that requires a reservation , until 2019 the Interregio train category , outside of the regular timetable, in the morning from Lugano to Arth-Goldau ( train number 3092) and back in the afternoon (train number 3093). Intermediate stops are Bellinzona , Airolo , Göschenen and Flüelen , the last-mentioned station is where you change to and from the ship.
In 2017, more than 12,000 passengers used the train, twice as many as with the previous product “Wilhelm Tell Express”. A third of them were Swiss, another third tourists from Europe - the largest group here are Germans - and another third came from outside Europe, mostly from the USA and Australia .
The offer includes the journey by boat and train from Lucerne to Bellinzona / Lugano or vice versa. It is also possible to book just one train route. To do this, guests need a valid ticket for the relevant route and the mandatory surcharge for seat reservations. The Gotthard Panorama Express runs daily in the summer months from mid-April to mid-October, except on Mondays. The trip can be extended to two days with an overnight stay in Lucerne or Lugano.
Alternatively, the journey from Lugano can be combined with a bus trip to Tirano and from there back to Switzerland with the “Bernina Express”.
literature
- Jörg Ostwald, Dragan Nunic: Gotthard Panorama Express - an initial assessment. In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , 12/2017, p. 610 f.