Opening of the Gornergrat railway
- When
- 1896–1898
- Where
- Zermatt; Gornergrat
- Episodes
- 2
The Gornergrat railway opened in August 1898, connecting Zermatt to the Gornergrat peak in Switzerland. Construction began in 1896, following earlier rail links to Visp. The line was electrified from its inception, establishing it as the first electric rack railway in Switzerland.
Episodes
- Construction Start
Work on the railway began in 1896, following the earlier connection of Zermatt to Visp by the Visp-Zermatt-Bahn.
- Opening
The line opened on August 20, 1898, becoming the first electric rack railway built in Switzerland.
Background and detail
Background. The Gornergrat Railway is a mountain rack railway in the Swiss canton of Valais. It links the resort village of Zermatt, situated at 1,604 meters above sea level, to the summit of the Gornergrat. Work on the railway started in 1896, five years after the Visp-Zermatt-Bahn had linked Zermatt to Visp and the Rhone Valley.
Opening. The line opened on August 20, 1898, and was electrified from the start. It was the first electric rack railway to be built in Switzerland. The Gornergrat railway station is situated at an altitude of 3,089 meters, making it the second highest railway in Europe after the Jungfrau and the highest open-air railway of the continent.
Route. The railway serves the Gornergrat peak via a 29-minute ride from Zermatt. The route passes through Riffelalp, Rotenboden, and Riffelberg, with limited stops at Findelbach and Landtunnel just above Zermatt. The station's high altitude distinguishes it as a significant engineering achievement in European rail history.
People involved
- Gornergrat Railway Ltd · Operator
Sources
- Gornergrat Railway Wikipedia, revision of 2025-07-15
- Zermatt Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-18
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.