Switzerland By Rail

by Peter Bolderson

For boring old farts? Well, maybe. I discovered that driving around Switzerland can be no fun for the driver. Some tunnels are long and the ordinary roads require concentration. The scenery passes you by.

The possibility of seeing Switzerland by rail intrigued me ever since sitting in a handy café on Montreux station each lunchtime and watching the Montreux Bernese Oberland Panoramic Express come and go. This is a swish metre-gauge train. Talking to an American couple, about to depart, I realised that the Swiss rail system was geared to tourism (as well as providing a superb service to the Swiss).

We were there because of a forced landing high in the Simplon Pass. Flying a grand tour of Europe and heading home from Ascona on Lake Maggiore to Troyes in France, low cloud found us trapped up the valley. Turning back was not an option. In the ensuing debacle, Christine was injured and heli-lifted to Brig in the German speaking Wallis. I wasn’t as bad so got the full treatment from the Swiss police who suspected us of drug-running! The next day we transferred to Montreux; in a French speaking area. It was a week before we were able to return home, care of Big Airways and so had plenty of time for reflection.

 Firstly, a search on Swiss Rail Tours threw up the Railtour Suisse website, www.railtour.ch where I downloaded “Switzerland for FIT’s” (sic). This brochure has a whole range of tours and hotels from which you can mix and match to your heart’s content. When I tried to book directly, I was rebuffed. Railtour Suisse put me in touch with the Switzerland Travel Centre in Zurich which has proved, twice, to be superb. Instead, you can contact the Switzerland Travel Centre in Wardour Street, W1. They will send you a brochure. It’s the standard package holiday offering with flights, etc., and the hotels are different.

SDM provide a Swiss Card, rail and hotel bookings. You can also order concessionary tickets for many excursions. We get flights to Geneva by BA or EasyJet. The Swiss Card gets you from any airport or border to destination and return; also any intermediate travel between resorts, and it’s good for up to 50% off most other travel.

 The railway system is an interesting mix of mainline, metre gauge, metre gauge with selective cogwheel assistance and full cogwheel mountain railways, operated Federal Railways and private companies. Nearly all of it connects either end-to-end or cross-platform. Change of gauge occurs where the going gets too steep and the bends too tight for the larger gauge. Generally the railways follow the valleys and most settlements are in the valleys so one naturally integrates with the other. There is an online timetable and route planner and Swiss Railways have a very informative website with links to all the other railways.

The first year we went to Interlaken and toured the surrounding lakes and mountains by train, schiff and post bus. Our daughter dropped us off at Montreux and we caught the scenic MBO. Travelling in panoramic cars, first class, was a treat. The countryside is changing and beautiful. Firstly we climbed out of the Rhone valley, then through the Bernese Oberland stopping at such places as Gstaad, eventually arriving at Zweisimmen for a change of train. BLS then hustled us swiftly down the Simmental to Spiez on Thunersee and on to Interlaken West. We stayed in the Chalet Oberland, a three star Best Western, although you wouldn’t know it. It was quite traditional and convenient in the centre of town. The main activity in summer is wanderwege in the mountains and the transport system couldn’t be better for facilitating this. The mountain paths are signposted with distances and times.

One circular trip from Interlaken Ost to Grindelwald, Meiringen (Moriarty v Sherlock Holmes!), Brienz and return to Interlaken involved a train, two post buses, a train and a Schiff and it was all perfectly timed.

Another trip takes you to the Top of Europe on the Jungfraujoch at 12,000’, by train. Check weather before ye go! No use if cloudy. From Interlaken Ost you take a train to either Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald (it doesn’t matter which) where you change for Kleine Scheidegg. There, the Jungfrau railway takes over for the final climb mostly in the looping tunnel through the Eiger and the Mönch. The train stops halfway up the Eiger north face, so you can view the world through large windows from an otherwise inaccessible position in the north face. The next stop allows you to view the Eismeer. The top station is a major complex called the Berghaus with shops and restaurants. An ice palace has been cut into the vast snow overhang. The Aletsch glacier rolls away into the distance. You can walk to the Mönch with suitable footwear. The Sphinx stands above on the highest point housing a research station and observatory. A lift levitates you. The whole structure is surrounded by a Faraday cage.

We also visited Thun on Thunersee by schiff; rather a pedestrian trip. The Schiltorn and Piz Gloria (OHMS - Bond) are accessible from Lauterbrunnen although we gave that a miss.

The Interlaken holiday was such a pleasure that the following year we dived in again. This time we planned Geneva - St. Moritz - Glacier Express - Zermatt - Geneva. SDM came up trumps and BA ditto. We took the mainline train from Geneva to Chur via Lausanne, Berne, and Zurich. Reaching Chur after about five hours, we joined the Glacier Express inbound to St. Moritz. This is the last lap of its eastbound journey; a two hour climb and descent including the spectacular Landwasser viaduct and the spiral tunnels of the 7,600’ Albula pass, before arriving in the high Engadine valley.

Whilst waiting for departure at Chur, an American family discovered that a child had left its T shirt on the mainline train. Wanting to recover it, they asked the conductor how long before departure. “In twenty seconds,” was the emphatic reply and we did! That’s Swiss punctuality for you. Christine still chuckles over it.

 St. Moritz is at 6,000’ so you can expect it to be 12°C colder than sea level. The four star Hotel Soldanella had been booked and turned out to be well positioned. www.hotel-soldanella.ch This appears to be the HQ of the St. M bobsleigh club, since it is full of memorabilia. We were made welcome and given a superb room with a view of the lake “since we were staying three nights”. The hotel lent us free passes for uphill transport so we took the funicular to Corviglia and cable car up to Piz Nair at 10,000’. Walking down the mountain occupied most of the day. Many noisy German ramblers had the same idea but the mountain is big enough to lose them. A Heidi trail of alpine species has been established near Chanterella, but we couldn’t find the Heidi Hütte. The resort is geared to winter sports; however, we found sufficient mountain restaurants open and we ate-in in the evening to avoid chasing around the town. The mountains are good pasture, divided by electric fences and given to cows in summer. Their milk is as good as Jersey. How they are milked each day is intriguing and defeated my guesswork.

One highlight was to be the 7½ hour journey from St. Moritz to Zermatt by Glacier Express. This is another panoramic train for tourists and includes a dining car redolent of the Orient Express. Two railway companies share its operation:- Rhaetian to Disentis and Matterhorn-Gotthard Bahn to Zermatt. We retraced our journey to Chur and reversed out west to follow the Rhine valley to the Oberalp pass at 6,700’. This route becomes increasingly spectacular as you progress, especially with the wine flowing and major domo performing in the dining car. West of Disentis, the rack is engaged more often and the train slows consequentially. We descended to Andermatt before climbing towards the Furkapass. Glaciers may seen to left and right but when passing the Rhone, the most spectacular of all, the train is buried in the 15 km Furka tunnel, built about fifteen years ago. Previously the railway climbed to about 7,000’ before passing through a summit tunnel. From here to Visp the train follows the equally spectacular Rhone valley in the Valley of the Goms! The last hour or so takes you up the Vispatal to Zermatt past a massive rockfall where a whole side of the mountain spread itself out. Hotel Sarazena was opposite the MGB station and next to the Gornergratt railway station. www.hotel-sarazena This turned out to be a three-star garni-hotel, whatever that is but I guess it meant no evening meal because there wasn’t one. No matter, plenty of places around town.

Zermatt is quite different from St. Moritz. Still a ski resort, but it’s louder, more racy and open. Only electric vehicles are allowed in town so ¾ scale milk floats rush around quietly in the guise of delivery vans and taxis. The churchyard has a section for climbers who perished on the Matterhorn (some anonymous) until about 1950 and then, no more! The Gornergratt railway goes to its summit at 3089 metres, about 10,000’ with spectacular views of the Matterhorn all the way up. Again, the mountains are signposted. We descended about 5,000’ in six hours, which was about twice the signposted times, but Christine has had MS for over twenty-five years so our progress was quite remarkable really. Gornergletcher on our left and the Grenzgletcher rounding Monte Rosa further over, we found the scenery inspiring. Lower down we encountered the Riffelsee, a picturesque lake high in the mountains. It reminded me of Glaslyn on Snowdon! The weather was kind for us but this mountain is not one to be caught on. Fortunately, there are plenty of stations to head for if the weather deteriorates. Zermatt is surrounded almost 360° by glaciers. The Klein Matterhorn sommerski paradise was open.

 Retracing our route to Brig on the Glacier Express highlighted one of those Swiss characteristics. “Do you have reservations on this train”, asked the conductor. “No,” sez I. “Oh you must. This is the Glacier Express!” was his response. “But we are only going to Brig. It’s the same as any other train. No panoramic cars, same speed.” “That will be 9 francs each please.”

It appears that you can’t leave Zermatt before 11.10 (earliest time of a non-Glacier Express) without reserving a seat. This little cameo illustrates why Switzerland is one of the more expensive countries. Our mainline train from Brig to Geneva took three hours. As far as I could see, all trains continue from Gare Cornavin to Geneva airport. In addition there are French trains, including TGV, direct to Lyon and Paris.

Throughout the holiday, we found all trains were spick and span. No matter how old they may be, they looked fairly new. Stations are clean and litter free. Their cafés are comfortable places to be. Clearly, the Swiss take pride in their infrastructure and invest. We saw extensive new railway building going on in the Rhone valley, probably including a new alpine base tunnel. If you want to see where you are going and would like to leave the car at home for a change, this is a practical proposition

First published in VISA issue 59 (February 2005)