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Rhaetian Railway (RhB) – Prototype and H0m Model Railroading

Rhätische Bahn - Facts and Figures

      During vacations in the Engadin in the autumn of 1996, I first saw, rode and admired this railway, and I wanted to learn more about it. Interest became fascination, fascination became a passion, and today, some of my friends say that passion has become an obsession …

      The RhB network is an engineering masterpiece in its entirety. Furthermore, it is characterized by a harmony between the railway and the landscape that is hardly found anywhere else. RhB trains never seem out of place; thanks to the thoughtful roadway arrangement the trains blend in perfectly with their surroundings.

      I only want to give you some basic information on this page; details are found on the pages about the various lines that constitute the RhB network. I hope that this will give you an idea about this railroad system and the peculiar fascination that it holds.

      The RhB is Switzerland's second largest railway after the SBB, the Swiss Federal Railways. Most of the network was built between 1889 and 1913. WW I put an end to ambitious plans for further expansion, especially towards Austria and Italy. For more than 80 years, nothing was changed in the RhB network except for some minor corrections.

      This situation was changed with the opening of the Vereina tunnel on November 19, 1999. The Vereina line added another 21,5 km to the network which now has three new tunnels: Sasslatsch II (277 m), Zugwaldtunnel (2,172 m), and, of course, the “millennium building,” the Vereina tunnel. Its length of 19,042 m makes it the longest 1000 mm gauge tunnel in the world.

      The RhB network now has a total length of nearly 400 km, and each of them is worth a visit! There are (without the Vereina line) no less than 115 tunnels and galleries (in total, 39 km) and 485 bridges (in total, 12 km).

      The famous Bernina line (St. Moritz–Tirano), which has a total length of 61 km, has a gradient of 70‰ over a distance of 27 km – without cogwheels – which makes it one of the world's steepest adhesion railways.

Names like Bernina-Express and Glacier-Express (“The slowest Express Train in the World”) have made the RhB a well-known name far beyond the borders of Switzerland. Drawing from an RhB brochure; Copyright © Rhätische Bahn

Some of the buildings on the RhB network are famous all over the world among railroad enthusiasts:

	The Landwasser viaduct near Filisur on the Albula line is 65 m high, 130 m long and has a 100 m curve radius. It leads directly into a tunnel built into solid rock.       Left: The Landwasser viaduct seen from the road between Alvaneu and Filisur.       Below: The late afternoon sun illuminates the last cars of the Glacier-Express that has just left the tunnel on its way to Chur.

The circular viaduct near Brusio on the Bernina line – a kind of overground spiral tunnel – was necessary to handle the vertical 20 m distance to the valley ground with manageable gradients. Picture from an RhB brochure; Copyright © Rhätische Bahn

Copyright © 1997–2008 and responsible for contents: Christoph Ozdoba.
First version January 1, 1997, last edited February 17, 2008.

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