1892: The Start of Operations for a Steep Grade Railway in Switzerland

June 17, 1892

Two years after construction on it began, the Brienz Rothorn Railway in central Switzerland first went into service. This line connects the municipality of Brienz with the summit of the mountain known as the Brienzer Rothorn (part of the western region of the Alps). The Brienz Rothorn Railway (“Brienz Rothorn Bahn” [BRB] in German) was designed by both engineer Alexander Lindner and building contractor Theo Bertschinger.

Another pivotal figure in the development of BRB was inventor and mechanical engineer Carl Roman Abt. He equipped the line with his innovative Abt double lamella rack system, a type of rail infrastructure that enables a train to travel on precipitous inclines more effectively. A key component of this system involves vertical steel bars (lamellae) installed between the tracks. Matching cog wheels beneath the train interact with those bars sequentially to ensure a smooth and safe ride both up and down the steep grades of a mountain.

BRB is still in operation today. This 4.7-mile (7.6-kilometer)-long line remains unelectrified, in contrast to other Swiss mountain railways. BRB mostly relies instead on having its trains pulled along by steam locomotives. This route’s highest elevation is 7,362 feet (2,244 meters), making the railway the fourth highest in Switzerland. (The accompanying photo taken in 2018 shows passengers getting ready to board BRB trains at the summit of the Brienzer Rothorn.)

Photo Credit: Chris j wood (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Chris_j_wood); licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

For more information on the Brienz Rothorn Railway – Brienz Rothorn Bahn (BRB) in German – please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brienz_Rothorn_Railway

You can view a video about this railway at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb8io7ycHyI

Additional information on mountain railways in Switzerland is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mountain_railways_in_Switzerland