New world record: Switzerland has the longest passenger train

E15 minutes later than planned, the train starts moving in the Albula tunnel. It’s not a “little train”, as the bright red compositions of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) are often called here, but a colossus. It is 1.91 kilometers long, weighs 2290 tons and rolls down a mountain route of almost 25 kilometers in the Swiss canton of Graubünden over 48 bridges and through 22 tunnels. Only 150 passengers sit in it, in the sixth of 25 coupled Capricorn multiple units. You have been chosen to take part in a world record attempt this Saturday. When the monster train arrives almost 800 meters lower in Alvaneu, it will have replaced the 1.7-kilometer train that rolled from Ghent to Ostend in 1991 as the longest passenger train in the world.

The passengers cheer as the record-breaking train gently rolls on. So gently that they don’t even notice what an unusual train they’re sitting in. But when he sees daylight at the tunnel portal in Preda, they all crowd towards the windows, some of which can even be opened. They don’t just do this because of the Graubünden autumn, which shows its best side with the combination of bright sunshine and yellow-colored pine and larch forests. The special effect in the mountain landscape is that a view to the right sweeps down the Zugspitze along the valley while several viaducts and tunnels further up another part of the train meanders through the serpentines. If the passenger didn’t know what he was sitting in, he would probably think it was another train.

“Awareness for the Rhaetian Railway”

It is demanding to get such a long composition safely down the valley. Not only RhB boss Renato Fasciati says before the descent that he is excited “like the morning before a ski marathon”. Because the seven engine drivers must not all brake at the same time. The immense energy that is returned to the catenary downhill through so-called recuperation would cause an overvoltage. “Then we’ll just stop,” an RhB specialist prepares the passengers for this apparently worst-case scenario. But attempting the world record uphill was never an option. At a time when the Swiss state government is calling for energy savings, it would also be a devastating political signal. Instead, those responsible praise the train as “the longest power plant in the world”.

A little over half an hour after departure, the train pulls into Bergün after a final long right-hand bend. Almost all passengers leave the train in the 500-inhabitant town, which advertises itself as a “Bahndorf”, and walk to the festival site. Three quarters of an hour later, the news comes from Alvaneu that the world record attempt has become a world record. RhB boss Fasciati receives a certificate from the Guinness Book of Records for the “longest narrow gauge passenger train” and appears in front of the press.

Fasciati makes no secret of what the campaign primarily aims to do: “Awareness of the Rhaetian Railway”. In response to a question from a Chinese representative, he said he would be happy if the Chinese went on vacation to Switzerland again. At the same time, he emphasizes that after difficult years with Corona and the Russian war, he is striving for more sustainable tourism. The RhB invented the so-called “Alpin Cruise” with the Graubünden hotel industry. During this four to eight-day “rail cruise”, the guests stay in three places, i.e. in Chur, St. Moritz and Davos. It should be an alternative to scurrying through with the classics “Glacier Express” and “Bernina Express” and also stimulate tourism in the off-season.

How do the people of Graubünden feel about the high-profile short journey on the long train? A long-time resident in the center of Bergün finds it “tip-top”. The regional newspaper “Südostschweiz” is less impressed. She comments in her Saturday edition: “Such actions do not promote a sustainable image, but at most promote existing clichés”. At the same time, Graubünden is an industrial canton with an international reputation that must be taken very seriously. The Chur-based newspaper warns that what is needed is less fascinating but useless world records and more real achievements.

However, the action arouses great enthusiasm among the numerous onlookers, who line the spectacular route in the morning to get the best spots on meadows, rocks and in forest clearings. Some passengers envy them because they obviously have the best view of the train winding through the Albula Valley. It’s just a pity that a small group of the selected VIPs on the normal train back to Chur find it necessary to make fun of the “buffer kissers”, some of whom have traveled from very far away, and who take pictures out of the open window even at dusk. After all, authentic rail enthusiasm is also a location factor for the proud rail country of Switzerland.