Gornergratbahn
| Gornergratbahn | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Timetable field : | 139 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 9.34 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1000 mm ( meter gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Power system : | 750 V 50 Hz ∆ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maximum slope : | 200 ‰ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minimum radius : | 80 m | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rack system : | Dept | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Zermatt – Gornergrat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Gornergratbahn in Zermatt is an electrically operated rack railway to the Gornergrat in the Monte Rosa region in Switzerland and is the second highest mountain railway in Europe after the Jungfrau Railway . The Gornergrat is a destination that offers a panoramic view of Monte Rosa and Matterhorn and is also a popular winter sports area . The Gornergratbahn is operated by the private Gornergrat Bahn AG (GGB).
history
After the opening of the Visp-Zermatt-Bahn (VZ) in 1891, efforts were made to build an excursion train from Zermatt up into the Monte Rosa massif. The original plan was to continue the Brig-Visp-Zermatt-Bahn to the hamlet of Zum See and from there to run a funicular to the Schafberg and a cogwheel train to the Whymperhütte at the foot of the Matterhorn (see Matterhornbahn ). After the license was granted in 1892, construction work began in 1896 and the first locomotive trips were carried out on November 24, 1897. The official opening of the GGB Gornergrat Railway took place on August 20, 1898.
The Gornergratbahn was built as a narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 1000 mm with the Abt gear system and was electrified with three-phase current from the start . Each track therefore has two overhead lines and the locomotives have two pantographs next to each other. However, this enabled a simple electrical structure in the vehicle, which made it the first electrically operated rack railway in Switzerland. The operating current with a frequency of 40 Hz was supplied by a hydroelectric power station and stepped down from 5400 V to 550 V. In 1930, the vehicles were converted to the three-phase current system with 750 V voltage and a frequency of 50 Hz, which is still in use today, in order to be able to obtain electricity directly from the national grid.
In 1909 the route on the Gornergrat was extended by 310 m to move the terminus closer to the summit. Until 1928, the Gornergrat Railway only ran in summer, now, for the first time, trains also ran in winter, depending on the snow conditions to the Riffelalp or Riffelboden stations . The section on the Riffelbord, which is particularly prone to avalanches, prevented the journey to the summit. In 1939, construction work began there on a 770-meter-long avalanche gallery, which was delayed until 1941 because of the Second World War . Since 1942, if the weather is good, winter operation has now also been possible as far as the Gornergrat terminus. Since the maximum speed of the previous locomotives of 7 km / h was no longer adequate for the increasing winter sports traffic, the first of a new series of railcars was procured in 1947, which cut travel times by half.
In 1997, the Société de chemin de fer du Gornergrat (Gornergrat Railway Company) was renamed Gornergrat-Monte Rosa-Bahnen to refer to the cable cars that were also available on the Gornergrat. After the cable cars were incorporated into Zermatt Bergbahnen AG, the general assembly of April 1, 2005 decided to adopt the name Gornergrat Bahn AG again . In May 2005, BVZ Holding - majority shareholder of Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn - acquired 44.3 percent of the share capital and submitted a takeover offer to the shareholders. As a result, a merger agreement was concluded in September 2005 and the GGB was transferred to a wholly-owned subsidiary of BVZ Holding in October. The previous Gornergrat Bahn AG was liquidated and deleted from the commercial register on October 20, 2005, the aforementioned subsidiary of BVZ Holding (the former Furka-Oberalp-Tours AG) took the name Gornergrat Bahn AG (Gornergrat chemin de fer SA) (Gornergrat railways Ltd) .
Route description
course
The route begins in Zermatt next to the Matterhorn Gotthard Railway station at 1,604 m above sea level and leads with a maximum gradient of 20% over a length of around 9 km up to the Gornergrat at 3,089 m above sea level.
Operating points
- Depot gallery
Immediately after the Getwing bridge in the village of Zermatt, a turn-off leads to the left into the depot tunnel. With a usable length of 234 m, it offers parking space for most of the Gornergratbahn trains. The tunnel is located under the residential buildings in the mountain.
- Legendary (formerly Naturfreundehaus )
In December 2014, the Friends of Nature House, which had been vacant for years, was reopened as a «legendary» holiday home after a renovation by the Reka . The stop, which was previously known as the Naturfreundehaus stop , was put back into operation for guests and served according to a special timetable.
- Findelbach
In Findelbach there is a passing point and two freight tracks with handling facilities.
- Land tunnel
The Landtunnel stop is only served in winter and essentially only by trains traveling downhill. It offers the possibility of a descent if a ski run via Furi and Winkelmatten is not possible.
- Riffelalp
The Riffelalp is the second intermediate station of the Gornergratbahn and the start of a double-track section. It lies at 2211 m above sea level. M. just above the tree line and is the starting point for many hikes to Findeln , Gant , Grünsee near Zermatt , Riffelberg or Gornergrat. The Hotel Riffelalp is located near the Riffelalp station, but could not be connected directly to the route due to the route chosen. The hotel was connected in 1899 via the almost 500 m long Riffelalptram (RiT), an electrically operated "tram". The Riffelalptram was closed in 1961 after the hotel fire. After the opening of the new hotel in 2000, the RiT was rebuilt and reopened in 2001. The wagons no longer receive their electricity from a contact line, but from an accumulator .
- Corrugated floor
The double track ends in the corrugated floor and there is a freight track. The operating point is not used in passenger traffic.
- Riffelberg
Riffelberg is another intermediate station of the Gornergratbahn, at 2582 meters above sea level. The second double-track section up to the terminus and the chairlift to “Gifthittli” begin here. Since December 2006, the Riffelberg has been connected to the Furi ( 1850 m above sea level ) via a gondola lift. At the Riffelberg is the lower end of the Zermatt “toboggan paradise”.
- Rotenboden
Rotenboden is the last station before the Gornergrat and the starting point of the path to the Monte Rosa hut . In winter one of the four igloo villages in Switzerland stands here. The chairlift to “Gifthittli” leads past Rotenboden to almost the Gornergrat. This is also the start of the Zermatt "tobogganing paradise".
Rolling stock
The vehicles used offer a total of 3634 seats and standing places with a transport capacity of 2400 people per hour.
Energy recovery
The railway uses environmentally friendly energy recovery by means of recuperation braking . When traveling uphill, the asynchronous motor runs undersynchronously and drives the vehicle; when traveling downhill, it runs oversynchronously and thus brakes the vehicle. Thanks to this simple traction technology, the Gornergratbahn has been feeding the energy back into the network when it descended in August 1898. The new power converter vehicles also feed the energy back into the grid when the vehicle goes downhill. The older vehicles switch the asynchronous traction motor directly to the three-phase system 725 V / 50 Hz via the main switch and traction contactor.
Locomotives
-
He 2/2 1–5, later 3001–3003 (1898, 1902, 1930)
- 3002 decommissioned in 2007, placed in the traffic circle near Stalden VS (Killerhofbrücke) since May 23, 2007
- 4 scrapped in 1966
- 5 scrapped in 1963 after an accident
- → The machines 3001–3003 were added to the MGBahn-Historic fleet.
Passenger railcars
- Bhe 2/4 3011-3022 (1947, 1952, 1954, 1959, 1961)
- 3011 scrapped in 2009
- 3012 scrapped in 2007
- 3013 scrapped in 2007
- 3014 retired in 2007
- 3015 rebuilt in 2004 in Dhe 2/4 3015
- 3016 scrapped in 2008
- 3017 converted into a company car with material for rerailing and a device for spraying the contact line ( glycerine to prevent ice formation on the contact wire)
- 3018 scrapped in 2006
- → The railcars 3019–3022 were added to the MGBahn-Historic fleet.
- Bhe 4/8 3041–3044 (1965, 1975) 2001–2003 modernized and provided with multiple controls
- Bhe 4/4 3061-3062 (1981)
- Associated control car type Bt 3071–3072
- in the summer half of the year mostly used without a control car for the transport of freight cars
- Bhe 4/8 3051–3054 (1993) 2012–2015 modernized and upgraded for double traction with Bhe 4/6
- Bhe 4/6 3081-3084 (2006)
- Five new double multiple units are to be put into operation for around 46 million francs by 2021. With the new cars, the 20-minute intervals can be introduced on the Gornergrat.
Control car
- Bt 3071-3072 (1981)
- suitable for Bhe 4/4 3061–3062
Goods and service vehicles
- Dhe 2/4 3015 (remodeling 2004), ex Bhe 2/4 3015 (1954)
- Xhe 2/4 3017 (modification 2008), ex Bhe 2/4 3017 (1959)
- Kklm 3601, Kkl 3611 (low side car)
- (the tipping wagons Fd 3784-85 went to MGB in 2004, new 2784-85)
- Hk-v 3801 (boxcar, drawn)
- Uh-v 3891 (water tank truck)
- X 3911 (contact line assembly vehicle)
- X 3912 (crane truck)
- Xrote 3931 (snow blower)
- Xrote 3932 (snow blower)
- Xrote 3933 (snow blower, 2018)
photos
He 2/2 3002 as a spinning top decoration in Stalden VS
He 2/2 3003 Zermatt
Bhe 4/4 3061 with control car 3072 between Gornergrat and Rotenboden
Bhe 2/4 3020 at the Gornergrat mountain station
Two Bhe 4/6 are on the way down the valley above Riffelberg
Two Bhe 4/8 meet above Riffelberg
Bhe 4/8 in the old paint scheme at the Riffelboden service station
Bhe 4/8 in a new color scheme between Rotenboden and Gornergrat
Bhe 4/8 on the descent
End of double track on corrugated floor
Gornergratbahn with the Matterhorn in the background
Beh 4/8 3041-3044
Beh 4/8 3051-3054
SLM data sheet for Bhe 4/8 3051–3054
Movie
- Television program Eisenbahn-Romantik , episode 333: The Gornergratbahn , Südwestrundfunk , May 9, 1999
Web links
- Gornergratbahn on the ETHorama platform
- Gornergrat Bahn AG website
- BVZ / GGB Zermatt Bahn / Gornergrat Bahn on the website bahngalerie.de, including photos of the Gornergratbahn
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Ronald Gohl: On steep rails in the mountains. All cog railways in the Alps. With hiking and tour suggestions . Bechtermünz Verlag, 1996, ISBN 3-86047-303-4 , p. 90-101 .
- ^ A b Brian Hollingsworth, Arthur Cook: The manual of the locomotives . Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1996, ISBN 3-86047-138-4 , chap. Modern locomotives , HGe 2/2 No. 1–4 , p. 220-221 .
- ↑ Lökeli-Journal No. 2/96. (PDF; 7.65 MB) In: huerz.ch. Retrieved February 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Legendary Reka holiday home in Zermatt. In: 1815.ch. December 14, 2014, accessed February 8, 2017 .
- ↑ The legendary holiday home timetable. (PDF; 101 kB) In: Reka. Archived from the original on February 11, 2017 ; accessed on February 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Factsheet Gornergratbahn - legendary stop. (PDF; 227 kB) In: Reka. Retrieved January 21, 2019 .
- ↑ The Gornergratbahn ( Memento from August 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ GGB He 2/2 No. 3001 to 3003 , page on the locomotives He 2/2 3001–3003 on the MGBahn-Historic website
- ↑ GGB Bhe 2/4 No. 3019 to 3022 , page on the railcars Bhe 2/4 3019–3022 on the MGBahn-Historic website
- ↑ Zermatt: 46 million francs for new rolling stock for the Gornergrat Bahn In: Radio Rottu from March 14, 2018
Existing routes: Jungfrau Railway 1898 | Gornergratbahn 1898 | Chemin de Fer de la Rhune 1914/24 | Corcovado mountain railway 1910
Lines that were later re-electrified: Veltlinbahn | Ferrovia Alta Valtellina | Mont Cenis Railway | Trento burner | Bolzano – Merano | Firenze-Bologna | TEL Tram Lugano 1896–1910 | StEB Stansstad – Engelberg 1898–1964 | BTB Burgdorf – Thun Railway 1899–1933 | SSS / SStB Schwyzer trams 1900–1914 | SBB / BBC three-phase operation Brig – Iselle 1906–1930 | Great Northern Old Cascade Tunnel 1909–1927 | RhW Tram Rheineck 1909–1958 | RENFE Gérgal – Santa Fe-Alhama 1911–1966 | SBB Sion – Brig 1919–1927 | EB Hasle-Rüegsau – Langnau 1919–1932
Earlier three-phase electrifications : Riffelalptram 1898–1960 | Hotel tram Évian-les-Bains 1898–1908 | Wöllersdorf military track 1902–1911 | BrMB Brunnen-Morschach Railway 1905–1969 | CFHMP Luchon – Superbagnières de Luchon 1912–1966 | Mühleggbahn 1950–1975 | RAG cog railway opencast mine Gruhlwerk 1927–1949
Test operations: Three-phase test operation from Siemens & Halske | Ganz test track on Óbuda Island | Three-phase test operation Brig – Iselle
Coordinates: 46 ° 1 '25 " N , 7 ° 44' 59" E ; CH1903: 624,090 / 96944