photo: Archives/Railway
The Glacier is often referred to as the slowest express in the world. The train connects major mountain resorts from east to west in the southern half of the Swiss-Alpine region on the border with Italy and is operated by two companies. The first is the Rheta Railways, the largest private railway company in Switzerland. The other company is the Matterhorn & Gotthard Bahn. It has been in operation since 1930. This year it celebrated its 90th birthday.
The train ride on this line takes approximately 7.5 hours. At the same time, the train passes through 91 tunnels and crosses 291 bridges. The top of the route is the passage through the Oberalppass. It lies at an altitude of 2033 meters above the sea level.
The train passes through beautiful alpine nature and provides beautiful views of the countryside. A special feature are sightseeing wagons, which have a glass roof. Passengers can enjoy truly extraordinary panoramic views of the countryside.
However, this beautiful track was not without any accidents. On October 23rd, 2010, three sightseeing wagons were derailed on the line between Zermatt and St. Moritz in the section between the villages of Lax and Fiesche. One person died on the spot and another 40 were injured.
The investigation revealed that the accident was caused by the driver. He drove 55 km / hour on the section where the speed limit was 35 km / hour. Therefore the last wagon was derailed at this speed by centrifugal force, which tore down the previous two wagons.
Tags