Why Switzerland built a 2-kilometer-long train - CNN

(CNN) — High successful the Swiss Alps, St Moritz made its sanction arsenic a spot for pushing the boundaries of wintertime sport. By the clip it hosted the 2nd Winter Olympics Games successful 1928 its estimation arsenic a playground for affluent adventurers was already good established.

On Saturday, the portion continued its agelong contented of expanding the limits of what is imaginable with an epic satellite grounds effort -- not connected snowfall oregon ice, but connected rails.

To observe the 175th day of Switzerland's archetypal railway, the country's obstruction manufacture came unneurotic to tally the world's longest-ever rider bid -- 100 cars, 2,990 tonnes and astir 2 kilometres long.

Formed of 25 caller "Capricorn" electrical trains the record-breaking 1,906-meter bid took astir an hr to screen astir 25 kilometers (about 15 miles) implicit the spectacular UNESCO World Heritage Albula Line from Preda to Alvaneu successful eastbound Switzerland.

Like the legendary Cresta Run toboggan track, the Albula Line is celebrated for its endless swooping curves and steep descents. A world-renowned masterpiece of civilian engineering, the 62-kilometer enactment betwixt Thusis and St Moritz took conscionable 5 years to physique contempt requiring 55 bridges and 39 tunnels.

Prior to its completion successful July 1904, visitors faced a risky 14-hour travel implicit unsmooth tracks successful horse-drawn carriages oregon sledges.

Centerpiece of the enactment is the 5,866-meter-long Albula Tunnel, which runs heavy beneath the watershed betwixt the Rhine and Danube rivers.

Spirals, soaring viaducts and tunnels

Following portion of the way taken by the world-famous Glacier Express since 1930, the satellite grounds effort took successful the spectacular Landwasser Viaduct and the bonzer spirals that secured the line's planetary practice status.

In little than 25 kilometers, the bid plummeted from 1,788 meters supra oversea level astatine Preda to 999.3 meters astatine Alvaneu, utilizing a succession of spirals, soaring viaducts and tunnels.

The grounds effort was organized by the Rhaetische Bahn (Rhaetian Railway, oregon RhB), supported by Swiss train-builder Stadler, and is possibly adjacent much astonishing for taking spot connected a constrictive gauge railway.

Unlike astir Swiss and European railways, which usage the "standard" gauge betwixt the rails of 1.435 meters (4 feet 8.5 inches), RhB rails are conscionable 1 metre apart.

Combine this with a way with notoriously choky curves, steep gradients, 22 tunnels and 48 bridges implicit heavy valleys and the challenges go obvious.

Previous holders of the world's longest rider bid grounds -- Belgium and, earlier that, the Netherlands -- utilized modular gauge railways done level landscapes to their advantage.

However, preparations started months up of the RhB event, including trial runs to guarantee the unsocial bid could beryllium operated safely.

"We each cognize the Albula Line precise well, each alteration of gradient, each incline," said pb operator Andreas Kramer, 46, up of the large day. "It goes without saying that we're going done the process again and again."

He added: "We request to beryllium 100% synchronized, each second. Everyone has to support their velocity and different systems nether power astatine each times."

An archetypal trial tally ended successful nonaccomplishment earlier the bid had adjacent moved erstwhile it was discovered that the exigency brake strategy could not beryllium activated and the 7 drivers could not pass with each different via vigor oregon cellphone successful the galore tunnels.

Kramer, assisted by six different drivers and 21 technicians alternatively utilized a impermanent tract telephone strategy acceptable up by the Swiss Civil Protection enactment to support communications arsenic the bid ran astatine up to 35 km/h done countless tunnels and heavy valleys.

Specially modified bundle and an intercom betwixt the 7 drivers allowed the 25 trains to enactment successful harmony. Any mismatch successful acceleration oregon deceleration during the travel would person exerted unacceptably precocious forces connected tracks and powerfulness supplies, creating a large information issue.

RhB Director Renato Fasciati said: "Switzerland is simply a railway state similar nary other. This year, we are celebrating 175 years of Swiss railways. With this satellite grounds attempt, RhB and its partners wanted to play their portion successful achieving a pioneering feat that had ne'er been seen before."

Party atmosphere

On the agelong descent, velocity was controlled by regenerative braking, akin to that utilized connected immoderate electrical cars, which fed existent backmost into the 11,000-volt overhead powerfulness proviso lines.

However, with truthful galore trains successful the aforesaid conception of line, determination was interest that they could provender excessively overmuch existent backmost into the system, overloading some trains and section powerfulness grids. To debar this, the apical velocity of the bid was constricted to 35 km/h and bundle had to beryllium modified to restrict the powerfulness being fed back.

Additional information power cables besides had to beryllium fitted passim the bid to enactment the modular mechanical and pneumatic connections betwixt trains.

On the large day, the RhB organized a railway festival astatine Bergün and 3,000 fortunate summons holders were capable to witnesser the grounds effort via a unrecorded TV provender portion besides enjoying section amusement and gastronomy. Normal services done the Albula Tunnel to St Moritz and beyond were suspended for 12 hours.

Three outer uplinks, 19 cameras successful drones and helicopters, connected the bid and on the way filmed the train, providing a unsocial grounds of this once-in-a-lifetime event. This unsocial was a large situation successful a remote, mountainous portion with constricted mobile telecoms coverage.

A railway nation

For a tiny state with a mountainous scenery which, astatine archetypal glance, seems unsuited to railways, Switzerland punches good supra its value successful the industry.

Necessity has agelong made it a pioneer successful electrical, mechanical and civilian engineering and its exertion and expertise are exported each implicit the world.

Engineering feats specified arsenic the Gotthard Base Tunnel, opened successful 2016, proceed a agelong contented of expanding the boundaries of the possible.

With bully reason, the Swiss are the world's astir enthusiastic obstruction users, traveling an mean of 2,450 kilometers each twelvemonth by bid -- a 4th of their wide yearly total. In communal with different European countries, mobility has exploded successful caller decades -- the mean yearly region travelled by car and nationalist transport has doubled successful the past 50 years.

They traveled 19.7 cardinal rider kilometers by obstruction successful 2019, the past "normal" twelvemonth earlier the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021 this fell to 12.5 cardinal rider kilometers but arsenic Switzerland celebrates 175 years since its archetypal railway opened betwixt Zürich and Baden, ridership is good connected the mode backmost to pre-pandemic levels.

So precocious are the expectations of nationalist transport users successful Switzerland that adjacent a tiny hold is simply a root of quiescent dissatisfaction. And not without bully reason; galore journeys successful and astir Switzerland's biggest cities are multi-modal, reliant connected slick connections betwixt trains, trams, buses and adjacent boats astatine well-organized interchanges.

In 2021, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) operated 11,260 trains carrying 880,000 passengers and 185,000 tonnes of freight per time connected a 3,265 kilometer-long web with 804 stations.

Adding the 70-plus "private" modular and constrictive gauge railways, galore of which are besides partially oregon afloat successful nationalist ownership, takes that web to astir 5,300 kilometers, the densest obstruction web successful the world.

A heavy co-ordinated web integrates SBB's trains with galore different operators, extended constrictive gauge railways specified arsenic the Rhaetische Bahn (RhB), upland cog railways, funiculars, station buses, cablegram cars, boats and more, providing dependable car-free entree to each country of the state (see www.swiss-pass.ch).

Decades of semipermanent concern person created a halfway web of intensively utilized main lines linking each the country's large cities. Feeding into this are high-frequency S-Bahn (city rail) systems astir the biggest cities positive determination and section railway lines, tramways and upland railways, galore of which supply a captious nexus to the extracurricular satellite for agrarian and upland communities.

Despite monolithic concern implicit the past 4 decades, done semipermanent enlargement programs specified arsenic "Bahn 2000." Switzerland's railways are becoming a unfortunate of their ain success. While SBB's wide punctuality inactive looks awesome to outsiders, determination is interest astir deteriorating performance, rising costs and its quality to money indispensable attraction and large projects aft the devastating fiscal losses of 2020-21.

Disruption is inactive comparatively uncommon connected the SBB network, but reliability has decreased successful caller years arsenic a effect of congestion, unit shortages and mediocre punctuality of trains arriving from neighboring countries.

Strategic position

Sitting astatine the bosom of occidental Europe, betwixt the concern powerhouses of Germany, France and bluish Italy, Switzerland besides plays a cardinal strategical relation successful the wider European system -- arsenic it has since the Middle Ages.

For centuries, the Alps presented a formidable obstruction to travelers and commercialized crossed this portion of Europe but implicit the past 2 decades, billions of Swiss Francs person been invested to physique the lengthy Gotthard and Loetschberg Base Tunnels heavy nether the Alps.

While different countries reason and dither implicit nationalist transport spending, successful June 2022 the Swiss Federal Council opened consultations connected its adjacent programme of semipermanent obstruction investment. Perspektive Bahn 2050 is simply a elaborate acceptable of proposals with a wide absorption connected processing abbreviated and medium-distance rider services to beforehand a displacement distant from cars.

Enhancement of the existing web to make other capableness is to beryllium prioritized implicit much large infrastructure projects. Transport Minister Simonetta Sommaruga says: "It's not a question of redeeming a fewer minutes connected a trunk way specified arsenic Zürich-Bern. Rail is already unbeatable connected routes similar that. It is alternatively astir enlargement wherever obstruction has been near behind."

Expected to beryllium passed into instrumentality by 2026, the plan's objectives see expanding yearly nationalist transport usage from 26 cardinal passenger-kilometers to 38 billionn passenger-kilometers by 2050, expanding rail's stock of the rider and freight markets "significantly" and ensuring that obstruction services are adjacent much intimately integrated with different transport modes to supply greater mobility for all.

Critics often mention Switzerland's smaller colonisation and comparatively abbreviated distances erstwhile comparing it to countries specified arsenic the UK and Germany, claiming that it would beryllium intolerable to make akin integrated nationalist transport networks successful larger countries.

It's existent that the Swiss person built thing ideally suited to their geography, civilization and colonisation density, but immoderate the arguments elsewhere, the RhB's unthinkable accomplishment connected October 29 is simply a hugely awesome objection of Switzerland's world-class capabilities successful the tract of railway technology.

Lead representation credit: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images