The Bernina Express on the circular viaduct at Brusio. |
26 December 2010 Canada-Switzerland Connection's On Track Switzerland - The second hand on the railway station's clock clicked toward noon. My wife, Suzanne, and I started to count, "five, four, three, two, one", and laughed as we noticed the illusion of the station's platform moving slowly backward.
The train's smooth acceleration pushed us back into our comfortable chairs. Only metres away, a blur of trees in autumn's bright reds, oranges, and yellows flashed by in a kaleidoscope of foliage. In the distance, sharp Alpine pinnacles gleamed under a fresh dusting of snow. Glasses of wine in hand, we enjoyed the mountainous landscape through our rail car's huge picture windows as the Swiss Rail train sped along to its next destination, precisely on schedule.
At about the same time that Canada was developing a national railway, the Swiss, a confederation of individually governed cantons, also saw the importance of a network of rapid, reliable, transportation to link their diverse country. Both countries faced great engineering challenges in building their railways, their geographies are jigsaw puzzles with some pieces separated by immense mountain ranges. The idea of public-private partnerships to fund expensive projects might seem new, but Canada (with the Canadian Pacific Railway) and Switzerland's cantons (with a number of private companies) embraced the concept more than a century ago.
Elaborate bridges and tunnels gradually connected economically important agricultural regions, towns, and villages across Switzerland. The innovation of a rack-and-pinion "cogwheel" drive in the 1870s allowed trains to ascend the world's steepest grades right over the Alps, and are still in use today. The result is a modern rail network that offers both impressive efficiency and overwhelmingly beautiful sightseeing.
Swiss Rail passes gave us access not only to some 20,000 kilometres of bus, boat, and train routes throughout Switzerland, but to almost all forms of public transportation in major cities, discounts on most aerial cable cars, mountain trains, and city tours.
The city of Basel was the site of the first railway station in Switzerland. This hub city, straddling the Rhine River and abutting the German and French borders, is nowadays home to three separate rail stations serving the Swiss, German, and European rail systems.
Our lodgings in Basel were just a few steps from the Swiss rail station. We could watch thousands of commuters from the suburbs stream out of the station into a procession of waiting articulated buses and electric streetcars, the whole system synchronized to the arrival of packed trains. Basel's public transportation system is very easy to navigate and, with our rail passes in hand, we hopped on and off trams and buses at will.
Our rail passes also allowed us to stick our noses into a couple of Basel's 40 fascinating, and often delightfully unusual, museums.
Leaving Basel for St. Moritz, our train eased out of the station precisely on schedule at 8:33 a.m. The trip to St. Moritz via Zurich took us from the northwest of Switzerland to its southeast corner in about five hours.
Still new to the system, we were a bit worried about having to change trains in the town of Chur, the timetable allowed us only five minutes there.
For the most part, this route was flat, following several river valleys and running along the shorelines of two lakes: Zurichsee and Walensee. We noticed anglers fishing from small powerboats, and beyond, tidy houses nestled among lush pastures dotted with grazing sheep and cattle.
Wooded hills, tinged in gold and red, climbed into thick mist. With only short stops along the way, our train pulled into Chur right on time. We didn't need to worry after all. The train to St. Moritz left from the other side of the same platform.
Suddenly, we were really in the mountains. Rugged slopes rose sharply from U-shaped valley floors. Green fields and woods surrounded small villages that perched precariously on high out croppings. The sun came out, and we spotted lofty peaks far above the tree line. White-knuckle views over the edges of the 90-metre high, stone-arched Solis Viaduct (the Solisbrüche) and elegant Landwasser Viaduct were heart-stopping.
Just outside of St. Moritz, we marvelled at another engineering masterpiece along the route. The towns of Bergun and Preda are only five kilometres apart, but there is a vertical rise of 400 metres between them. The actual track length is almost 13 kilometres: a series of looping tunnels, bridges, and vertigo-inducing viaducts allows conventional trains to conquer the steep gradient.
While checking into our hotel in the centre of glamorous St. Moritz, the helpful concierge encouraged us to take advantage of the brilliant sunshine.
"Just catch a No. 6 bus to the Corvatsch aerial tram," he said.
Less than an hour after arriving in St. Moritz, we were walking around the Corvatsch Bergstation near the summit of Piz Corvatsch. At 3,303 metres, it felt like the top of the world. Far below, we could see St. Moritz and the four lakes of the Engadin Valley within the steep-sided confines of jagged, snow-streaked peaks.
We took an enjoyable trip the next day from St. Moritz almost directly south to Tirano, Italy, aboard the Rhaetian Railway's Bernina Express. Awarded UNESCO World Heritage status in 2008, the Express celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010. The entire route measures about 120 kilometres.
It must climb to 2,250 metres to cross the glacier-draped Alps, through the pass at Ozpizio Bernina, before plunging to only 400 metres above sea level at Tirano. Just north of Tirano, Brusio's unique, 107-metre-long circular viaduct employs the same technique as a loop tunnel to decease the steep gradient. Some 55 tunnels and almost 200 viaducts make the overall route, with an average grade of seven percent, passable.
Falling snow the following morning marked the official start of St. Moritz's winter season as we boarded the famed Glacier Express to Zermatt. Since the opening of the Furka Tunnel in 1982, this express route is open year-round and, snow or not, the train leaves exactly on time. The Glacier Express (touted as the "world's slowest express train") takes over seven hours to reach Zermatt. It is renowned for its comfort, with on-board service in the old tradition of luxurious train travel. Complimentary earphones let us hear informative commentary (in a choice of six languages) about the sights along our way.
Vast stands of Larix decidua, golden-needled larch trees, sparkled under a dusting of snow like icing sugar below the towering, rocky peaks. We backtracked north from St. Moritz, with a short jog east into Chur before heading west. Rather than turning the train around, the engineers ingeniously replaced the engine at the other end of the train.
We ate a three-course lunch, prepared on-board, in the rugged majesty of the 14 kilometre Rhine Gorge, "Switzerland's Grand Canyon." The gorge squeezes the Rhine into a turbulent, turquoise torrent, its steep cliffs soar straight up over 100 metres.
At Disentis, our locomotive was exchanged for one with a cogwheel drive. Now, conventional locomotives rely on friction between the smooth rail and drive-wheels for traction on light grades. For really steep grades, though, trains need a "rack-and-pinion" system. The "rack" is a toothed rail running parallel to (and between) the tracks. A steel-toothed, geared "pinion," or cogwheel, is then electrically lowered onto the rack as needed to handle grades up to 18 percent along this route. Whenever our train encountered really steep sections, we could feel (and hear) a low rumble as the cogwheel engaged.
At Oberalpass, our train reached an amazing altitude of 2,033 meters before descending into the upper Rhone Valley. Near Zermatt, we noticed horizontal avalanche deflectors high on many mountain slopes. By the village of Randa, a massive fan of debris marks the site of a 1991 landslide that took out the road and rail line. As in Canada, nature poses powerful challenges to the national rail system.
From the charming, pedestrian-only town of Zermatt, we took another cogwheel train, run by the Gornergrat Bahn, "The Matterhorn Railway", up to the 3,089 metre high Gornergrat ridge. It had been overcast in Zermatt, but as we climbed through a break in the clouds, everyone in our car burst into cheers when the prismatic bulk of the Matterhorn suddenly appeared. Although 29 other peaks exceeding 4,000 metres surround Zermatt, the Matterhorn, 4,478-metres high, stands in splendid isolation. Suzanne, enjoying a heavenly view of the Matterhorn from a patio chair above the Gornergrat rail station, said that she had achieved a state of Zen-matt.
The next leg of our tour whisked us north from Zermatt through the town of Visp westward into the broad Rhone valley, lush with vast vineyards and orchards. The town of Martigny, in a predominantly French-speaking region where four valleys intersect, has been a crossroads of transportation since ancient times. Abundant, well-preserved Celtic and Roman ruins in the heart of Martigny include a haunting stretch of Roman road. The world-renowned Pierre Gianadda Foundation's museum houses a fine exhibit of Gallo-Roman artifacts excavated within Martigny.
We rode the Mont Blanc Express, a vintage train with only a couple of cars, for a short run from Martigny to an alpine zoo at Les Marecottes where native species live in natural environments. I had the thrill of riding up front with the engineer, a train enthusiast's dream.
Travelling from Martigny through Montreux to Luzern, we boarded the Golden Pass Classic train. In the spirit of the legendary Orient Express, our vintage rail car featured walnut panelling with seats upholstered in green brocade. The route took us through a landscape that was archetypically Swiss, and far too beautiful to ever be cliche: soaring peaks, ski hills, green pastures dotted with cows wearing enormous bells, and alpine chalets perched whimsically everywhere.
The 2,132-metre Pilatus Kulm overlooks the lakeside city of Luzern, with 360-degree views of the mountainous landscape. Pilatus has long been popular with visitors who hiked, rode up on pack animals, or were even carried in sedan chairs. In 1888, engineer Eduard Locher, using a steam-powered locomotive employing his own innovative, horizontal cogwheel-drive, conquered the route's stiff 48 percent grades, the world's steepest, and brought the first railway passengers to the summit. The trains have been electrically powered since 1937, and lovingly maintained, some of the units are over 70-years-old. Because the entire ascent is so steep, the rail cars' passenger seats are angled like steps on a staircase. I was thrilled when the engineer, Beat Odermatt, asked me to join him in the control compartment at the front of the train.
During our visit to Switzerland, a giant drilling machine broke through the 57 kilometre long Gotthard Base Tunnel, which has been under construction since 1996. When fully operational in 2017, it will allow a high-speed train to travel from Milan to Zurich in less than three hours. We're already looking forward to that train trip, even more painless training in Switzerland.
If You Go:
For information about train travel and multi-day train passes in Europe, as well as Switzerland, visit the Rail Europe website at: www.railEurope.ca or call toll-free: 1-888-361-7245.
The official website for the Swiss National Tourism Office is: www.mySwitzerland.com.
Starting in 2011, Edelweiss Air will offer twice-weekly direct, non-stop flights from Vancouver to Zurich: www.edelweissAir.ch.
Davidy Wei. 
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