Ski by train: the mountain railways of the Alps

About Ski by train: the mountain railways of the Alps

By the ULTIMATE Ski Resorts Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Long before the first ski lifts, the railways carried visitors into the high Alps, and many of the great resorts still have the train at their heart. Arrive by rail in Zermatt, Wengen, St Moritz or St Anton and you step out of the carriage with the mountains all around you: here is the story of four mountain railways, and how to ski by train.

Zermatt and the Gornergrat

The railway reached Zermatt on 18 July 1891, climbing 44 kilometres from Visp, partly on rack. At first it ran only in summer; only in the winter of 1933–34, once avalanche shelters had been built, could trains run all year. Today the line belongs to the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn, and as Zermatt is closed to ordinary cars, the train is still the way most visitors arrive.

From the station square, the Gornergrat Bahn sets off for the summit station at 3,089 metres. Opened on 20 August 1898, it was the first electric rack railway in Switzerland, and in winter it is also a ski lift, with pistes running down beside the track and the Matterhorn rising across the valley.

On the Gornergrat, the train climbs above the pistes with the Matterhorn filling the window.

Wengen and the Jungfrau

There are no ordinary roads to Wengen: the village is reached by the Wengernalp Railway, opened on 20 June 1893, the longest continuous rack railway in the world, about 19 kilometres from Lauterbrunnen over Kleine Scheidegg, at 2,061 metres, and down to Grindelwald. Like the Zermatt line, it ran only in summer at first; now its green-and-yellow trains carry skiers up through the snow all winter. At Kleine Scheidegg, the Jungfrau Railway, completed in 1912, climbs inside the Eiger to the Jungfraujoch at 3,454 metres.

St Moritz and the Glacier Express

The Rhaetian Railway’s Albula line reached St Moritz on 10 July 1904, after a short delay over where to put the station. Its 61 kilometres from Thusis run through 39 tunnels and over 55 bridges, among them the Landwasser Viaduct, and since 2008, with the Bernina line, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since 1930, the Glacier Express has linked St Moritz with Zermatt, a journey of about eight hours over the Oberalp Pass at 2,033 metres, by way of Andermatt.

St Anton and the Arlberg

In Austria, the Arlberg railway was completed on 21 September 1884, with a tunnel some ten kilometres long under the pass, its highest point at about 1,311 metres. St Anton has its station on the line at the foot of the pass; for the 2001 World Ski Championships it was moved out of the village centre to the south side of the valley. Between St Anton and Landeck, the line crosses the Trisanna bridge, 87 metres high.

Our advice

Our advice: take the train all the way if you can. Zermatt, Wengen, St Moritz and St Anton all have stations within walking distance of, or a short ride from, the lifts, and the journey itself is half the pleasure. Book the Glacier Express well ahead in winter, check the winter timetables before you travel, and keep a clear morning for the Gornergrat, when the light on the Matterhorn is at its best.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Ski by train: the mountain railways of the Alps before you go.