Breathtaking Bernina Express: An extraordinary train experience in Switzerland (9/9)

The Bernina Railway is a single track metre gauge railway line forming part of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB). It links the spa resort of St. Moritz, in the Canton of Grisons/Graubünden, Switzerland, with the town of Tirano, located right next to the Swiss border in Italy, via the 2253metres/7600feet high Bernina Pass. It also ranks as the highest adhesion railway in the Alps, and - with inclines of up to 7% - as one of the steepest adhesion railways in the world.

On 7 July 2008, the Bernina Railway and the Albula Railway, which also forms part of the RhB, were recorded in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, under the name Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes. The whole site is regarded as a cross border joint Swiss-Italian heritage area.

The most famous trains operating on the Bernina Railway are known as the Bernina Express. The Bernina Express is an express train connecting Chur in Switzerland with Poschiavo and Tirano in Italy, by crossing the Swiss Alps from north to south. The trip on the Bernina Express through this World Heritage Site is a 4 hour railway journey across 196 bridges, through 55 tunnels and across the Bernina Pass on the highest point at 2,253 metres in altitude. The line followed by Switzerland's Bernina Express is a masterpiece of engineering works. Its combination with the surrounding landscape is what constitutes its recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

This video shows a part of the train's descending to Pontresina, with the spectacular view on the Morteratsch Glacier, which is the is the largest glacier by area in the Bernina Range of the Bündner Alps in Switzerland. The Rhaetian Railway Station Morteratsch used to be situated directly at the ice front of the glacier. The ice front has receded over 1,800 m (5,900 ft) in the meantime, and cannot be seen from the station today.

http://www.rhb.ch/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernina_Express
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernina_Railway

Links to all nine videos of the "Breathtaking Bernina Express" series (1-9):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cuMSrSgtXc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAJace5c2yE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4kOfVqA2jc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjOiDSv3qy8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAn-jL2ZbNo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd3YkICS2Gk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XojVD_DqCwk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-9vSeXrWMU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QJR3Uwdm34

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