The Albula Railway connects Thusis (697 m) with the famous ski resort St. Moritz. The railway is one of the most spectacular meter-gauge railway lines in the world and is part of the UNESCO World Heritage. She is from the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) operated.
background
Until 1890, the southeast was the Switzerland extremely poorly developed by railways. The Gotthard Railway attracted transit traffic, so that in Grisons there was practically no worthwhile demand for railways. After the opening of the Landquart-Davos-Bahn, that changed quickly. The Rhaetian Railway (RhB) was established in 1895, and two years later the people of Graubünden decided in a poll to make the RhB a state railway. This created the prerequisites for the rapid construction of further routes. A connection to the health resort had priority St. Moritz to the network.
After this Thusis of Chur from was connected, the construction of the Albula Railway began in 1898. Since the route was to be designed as a pure friction track, extensive engineering structures had to be created. The slope of the valley between Bergün and Preda was particularly problematic at 1:13, because the maximum gradient of the route should be 1:28. In order to cope with the enormous difference in altitude with a valley length of 6 km, an artificial length development to 12 km was necessary. The famous God, Platz, Rugnux, Toua and Zuondra spiral tunnels as well as countless bridges mastered this task by turning the route up like a screw. The construction of the 660 m long Rugnux spiral tunnel in particular caused problems, because the 4 ° Celsius cold mountain water made the work of the half-frozen miners difficult.
Behind Preda The 5,866 meter long Albula Tunnel, the heart of the route, was built under the watershed between Rhine and Inn through. With an apex of 1,820 meters, the Albula Tunnel is the highest Alpine breakthrough Switzerland.
The opening of the Albula Railway was celebrated on July 10, 1904.
Here we go
A tourist trip on the Albula Railway is best undertaken with one of the two RhB flagship trains, the Bernina Express or that Glacier Express.
Behind Thusis the route enters the valley of the Albula one and already passes numerous bridges and tunnels here. Behind the train station Solos becomes the foaming Albula on the 86 meter high Solis Bridge crossed. Between Tiefencastel and Filisur the train then drives over the 35 meter high and 137 meter long Schmittentobel Viaductuntil he is about to Filisur reached the landmark of the railway: the 65 meter high Landwasser Viaduct, which leads in a quarter circle of only 100 meters radius directly into the gorge of a huge rock face. At the station Filisur (1,083 m) the similarly spectacular stretch of Davos to the Albula Railway. Between Filisur and Bergün The train already overcomes 292 meters and drives through the first spiral tunnel. Bergün offers interesting railroad history: On the one hand, the nature trail ends here Predaon the other hand, there is a locomotive monument with an RhBcrocodile. Immediately after leaving the station, the train rises above 35 per mil. The route now overcomes itself several times, with breathtaking views. After crossing the Albula Tunnel, the train arrives at Bever the route out Scuol-Tarasp.In Samedan the route branches off again Pontresina from which the Bernina Express will also enter and then to the Bernina Pass to climb. The Glacier Express, on the other hand, goes to the end point of the Albula Railway, St. Moritz.
