Why Switzerland built a 2-kilometer-long train

(CNN) — High within the Swiss Alps, St Moritz made its title as a place for pushing the boundaries of winter sport. By the time it hosted the second Winter Olympics Games in 1928 its fame as a playground for rich adventurers was already properly established.

On Saturday, the area continued its lengthy custom of increasing the bounds of what’s doable with an epic world report try — not on snow or ice, however on rails.

To rejoice the 175th anniversary of Switzerland’s first railway, the nation’s rail trade got here collectively to run the world’s longest-ever passenger train — 100 vehicles, 2,990 tonnes and nearly two kilometres lengthy.

Formed of 25 new “Capricorn” electrical trains the record-breaking 1,906-meter train took nearly an hour to cowl round 25 kilometers (about 15 miles) over the spectacular UNESCO World Heritage Albula Line from Preda to Alvaneu in jap Switzerland.

Like the legendary Cresta Run toboggan monitor, the Albula Line is legendary for its infinite swooping curves and steep descents. A world-renowned masterpiece of civil engineering, the 62-kilometer line between Thusis and St Moritz took simply 5 years to construct regardless of requiring 55 bridges and 39 tunnels.

Prior to its completion in July 1904, guests confronted a dangerous 14-hour journey over tough tracks in horse-drawn carriages or sledges.

Centerpiece of the road is the 5,866-meter-long Albula Tunnel, which runs deep beneath the watershed between the Rhine and Danube rivers.

Spirals, hovering viaducts and tunnels

Following a part of the route taken by the world-famous Glacier Express since 1930, the world report try took within the spectacular Landwasser Viaduct and the extraordinary spirals that secured the road’s worldwide heritage standing.

In lower than 25 kilometers, the train plummeted from 1,788 meters above sea degree at Preda to 999.3 meters at Alvaneu, utilizing a succession of spirals, hovering viaducts and tunnels.

The report try was organized by the Rhaetische Bahn (Rhaetian Railway, or RhB), supported by Swiss train-builder Stadler, and is probably much more astonishing for happening on a slender gauge railway.

Unlike most Swiss and European railways, which use the “standard” gauge between the rails of 1.435 meters (4 ft 8.5 inches), RhB rails are only one meter aside.

Combine this with a route with notoriously tight curves, steep gradients, 22 tunnels and 48 bridges over deep valleys and the challenges develop into apparent.

Previous holders of the world’s longest passenger train report — Belgium and, earlier than that, the Netherlands — used commonplace gauge railways by means of flat landscapes to their benefit.

However, preparations started months forward of the RhB occasion, together with take a look at runs to make sure the distinctive train may very well be operated safely.

“We all know the Albula Line very well, every change of gradient, every incline,” stated lead driver Andreas Kramer, 46, forward of the large day. “It goes without saying that we’re going through the process again and again.”

He added: “We need to be 100% synchronized, every second. Everyone has to keep their speed and other systems under control at all times.”

An preliminary take a look at run led to failure earlier than the train had even moved when it was found that the emergency brake system couldn’t be activated and the seven drivers couldn’t talk with one another by way of radio or cellphone within the many tunnels.

Kramer, assisted by six different drivers and 21 technicians as an alternative used a momentary discipline phone system arrange by the Swiss Civil Protection group to keep up communications because the train ran at as much as 35 km/h by means of numerous tunnels and deep valleys.

Specially modified software program and an intercom between the seven drivers allowed the 25 trains to work in concord. Any mismatch in acceleration or deceleration through the journey would have exerted unacceptably high forces on tracks and energy provides, creating a main security problem.

RhB Director Renato Fasciati stated: “Switzerland is a railway country like no other. This year, we are celebrating 175 years of Swiss railways. With this world record attempt, RhB and its partners wanted to play their part in achieving a pioneering feat that had never been seen before.”

Party ambiance

On the lengthy descent, velocity was managed by regenerative braking, much like that used on some electrical vehicles, which fed present again into the 11,000-volt overhead energy provide strains.

However, with so many trains in the identical part of line, there was concern that they may feed an excessive amount of present again into the system, overloading each trains and native energy grids. To keep away from this, the highest velocity of the train was restricted to 35 km/h and software program needed to be modified to limit the facility being fed again.

Additional security management cables additionally needed to be fitted all through the train to help the usual mechanical and pneumatic connections between trains.

On the large day, the RhB organized a railway pageant at Bergün and 3,000 fortunate ticket holders had been in a position to witness the report try by way of a reside TV feed whereas additionally having fun with native leisure and gastronomy. Normal providers by means of the Albula Tunnel to St Moritz and past had been suspended for 12 hours.

Three satellite tv for pc uplinks, 19 cameras in drones and helicopters, on the train and alongside the monitor filmed the train, offering a distinctive report of this once-in-a-lifetime occasion. This alone was a main problem in a distant, mountainous area with restricted cell telecoms protection.

A railway nation

For a small nation with a mountainous panorama which, at first look, appears unsuited to railways, Switzerland punches properly above its weight within the trade.

Necessity has lengthy made it a pioneer in electrical, mechanical and civil engineering and its know-how and experience are exported everywhere in the world.

With good purpose, the Swiss are the world’s most enthusiastic rail customers, touring a median of 2,450 kilometers yearly by train — a quarter of their total annual whole. In widespread with different European nations, mobility has exploded in latest a long time — the typical annual distance travelled by automobile and public transport has doubled within the final 50 years.

They traveled 19.7 billion passenger kilometers by rail in 2019, the final “normal” 12 months earlier than the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021 this fell to 12.5 billion passenger kilometers however as Switzerland celebrates 175 years since its first railway opened between Zürich and Baden, ridership is properly on the best way again to pre-pandemic ranges.

So high are the expectations of public transport customers in Switzerland that even a small delay is a supply of quiet dissatisfaction. And not with out good purpose; many journeys in and round Switzerland’s largest cities are multi-modal, reliant on slick connections between trains, trams, buses and even boats at well-organized interchanges.

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

Adding the 70-plus “private” commonplace and slender gauge railways, a lot of that are additionally partly or totally in public possession, takes that community to round 5,300 kilometers, the densest rail community on the earth.

Decades of long-term funding have created a core community of intensively used major strains linking all of the nation’s main cities. Feeding into this are high-frequency S-Bahn (metropolis rail) techniques across the largest cities plus regional and native railway strains, tramways and mountain railways, a lot of which offer a essential link to the surface world for rural and upland communities.

Despite huge funding over the past 4 a long time, by means of long-term enlargement packages similar to “Bahn 2000.” Switzerland’s railways have gotten a sufferer of their very own success. While SBB’s total punctuality nonetheless seems to be spectacular to outsiders, there may be concern about deteriorating efficiency, rising prices and its potential to fund essential upkeep and main initiatives after the devastating monetary losses of 2020-21.

Disruption continues to be comparatively uncommon on the SBB community, however reliability has decreased in recent times as a results of congestion, employees shortages and poor punctuality of trains arriving from neighboring nations.

Strategic place

Sitting on the coronary heart of western Europe, between the economic powerhouses of Germany, France and northern Italy, Switzerland additionally performs a key strategic function within the wider European financial system — because it has because the Middle Ages.

For centuries, the Alps offered a formidable barrier to vacationers and commerce throughout this a part of Europe however over the past 20 years, billions of Swiss Francs have been invested to construct the prolonged Gotthard and Loetschberg Base Tunnels deep below the Alps.

While different nations argue and dither over public transport spending, in June 2022 the Swiss Federal Council opened consultations on its subsequent program of long-term rail funding. Perspektive Bahn 2050 is a detailed set of proposals with a clear deal with creating quick and medium-distance passenger providers to advertise a shift away from vehicles.

Enhancement of the prevailing community to create additional capability is to be prioritized over extra main infrastructure initiatives. Transport Minister Simonetta Sommaruga says: “It’s not a question of saving a few minutes on a trunk route such as Zürich-Bern. Rail is already unbeatable on routes like that. It is rather about expansion where rail has been left behind.”

Expected to be handed into legislation by 2026, the plan’s aims embrace growing annual public transport utilization from 26 billion passenger-kilometers to 38 billionn passenger-kilometers by 2050, growing rail’s share of the passenger and freight markets “significantly” and making certain that rail providers are much more intently built-in with different transport modes to supply larger mobility for all.

Critics typically cite Switzerland’s smaller inhabitants and comparatively quick distances when evaluating it to nations such because the UK and Germany, claiming that it will be not possible to create comparable built-in public transport networks in bigger nations.

It’s true that the Swiss have built one thing ideally suited to their geography, tradition and inhabitants density, however regardless of the arguments elsewhere, the RhB’s unimaginable achievement on October 29 is a vastly spectacular demonstration of Switzerland’s world-class capabilities within the discipline of railway know-how.