Our train preparing to climb the Gotthard Pass route on the William Tell Express. Photo by Jim Wrinn.
ON BOARD THE ICE TRAIN – I am doing something that seems totally wrong as I type this blog post in praise of Swiss railroads. I am doing it from a seat in the first class section on board a German ICE train that has just left the depot in Basel, Switzerland, crossed the border, and paused at the German station before zipping right up to sustained operation at 91 mph. Doesn’t seem right, does it?
When I last left you last week had we started a European rail tour with the first four days in Switzerland; we’d taken a ride on board the steepest cog railway in the world at Mount Pilatus (48 percent at its most amazing) and visited what is arguably the best transportation museum in the world in Luzern (scroll back in our blog lists to see separate thoughts on both of those). Then it was time to hit the main lines.
From the cab, we see new construction on the Gotthard base tunnel. Photo by Jim Wrinn.
Driver Loosli Cyrill operates the train across the Gotthard Pass route. Photo by Jim Wrinn.
On Friday morning, I spent time out on the platforms at Luzern, a busy station with trains coming and going from every part of the country. This is prime train watching with trains in and out every few minutes. There are special locomotive paint schemes (mostly advertising) that keep you guessing, older locomotives mixed among the new, and the SBB even originates a special train Tuesday-Sunday that visits the popular Kambly biscuit factory. Train watching, a universal activity, is alive and well here. I met a father and his young son, Chris and Josiah, on the platform who’d come to watch the action. Certainly, there are the tracks of tears on the platform here from American visitors who can only stand and watch train after train come and go and weep that we don’t have a similarly quantity and quality of passenger service in North America. A few amazing facts about Switzerland and its railroads: In a country that’s roughly the size of Massachusetts and New Jersey combined, you can get from one end to the other – say from the Italian border to the French border through some of the most rugged mountains in the world – in less than 4 hours. Service is frequent and so good that 1 in 8 residents in this country of 8 million take a train each day. Yes, you read that right – 1 million passengers per day, or about 365 million per year! (Amtrak, in contrast, carried 31.6 million passengers in fiscal 2013 in a nation of 314 million.) Many Swiss residents don’t even own a car. Can you blame them?
So much for those sobering facts. Let’s get back to the journey.
One of several passenger trains we met on the trip across Gotthard Pass. Photo by Jim Wrinn.
An odd occurrence on the Gotthard Pass line: one main line goes through the mountain in a tunnel while the other goes around it. Photo by Jim Wrinn.
After my morning of train watching in Luzern, my host for the day, SBB’s charter manager Peter Pfeiffer, and I boarded the William Tell Express to journey across fabled Gotthard Pass to Bellinzona, Switzerland. This may be one of the only rail journeys that begins with a scenic ride on board a steam boat from Luzern to Fuelen, where the train picks up the journey. Peter was a great and arranged a cab ride in one of the railroad’s older electrics, built in the 1960s. These are true classics, with an embossed Swiss emblem on the nose, spoked wheels, and a distinctive homemade look. Our driver, that’s European speak for locomotive engineer, Loosli Cyrcill, gave us a front row view of the twisting, looping route across the Alps. We met train after train on the mountain, marveled at the spiral tunnels that took us up and over our own tracks, and delighted in the tall stone arch bridges on this route. The highlight of course, is the famous tunnel at the summit that is 15 miles long. It’s being supplemented with much lower a base tunnel almost 30 miles long. The new tunnel is complete, and track work is underway with a completion date of June 2016 and an in service date, following testing, the following December. The heavy volume of freight moving across the Alps and express trains will take the base tunnel, while locals and trains for tourists will stick to the current route.
On Saturday, I took an express train from Bellinzona at 9:36 a.m. back across the Gotthard, munched on a farmer’s salad coming into Luzern, and arrived at 12:55 p.m. in Basel, a city that is on the border with both France and Germany. Because of this, trains from all three countries converge here, and the station is an endlessly fascinating mix of passenger trains and an occasional freight moves. While here, I took in the city’s amazing history, marveled at the beautiful churches and bustling downtown, drank from the artistic fountains that are everywhere, and did it all using the city’s excellent tram system (which I also used to reach a great restaurant on the banks of the Rhine River). I capped it all off with a few night photos at the station (European railways are less fanatical about enthusiasts on the platform, and as long as you stay out of the way, they’re happy to tolerate your presence, I’ve found).
An electric climbs the Gotthard from the Italian side with a freight, a sight soon to become rare. Photo by Jim Wrinn.
As is usual in Switzerland, the trains are fast, clean, modern, and without fail, on time. If there’s any redemption for writing this update from a German train, it is this: The ICE train that took me into Germany left 2 minutes late, a delay the Swiss would never endure.
We’ll be at InnoTrans, the world’s largest railroad technology show, starting Monday, and we’ll also take time to enjoy preserved narrow gauge steam this week and try to hit a railfan hot spot or two in the nation’s capital. Be sure to check back here for reports on those subjects. Until next time, keep on training, and auf wiedersehen!
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