History Albula Railway

nostalgic train near preda

up until 1890, south east of switzerland extremely poorly served railways. alpine transit traffic drawn gotthard railway, construction of transcontinental railways in graubünden appeared not economically viable. success of landquart-davos-bahn (ld) led turning point. in 1895, ld changed name rhaetian railway (rhb). 2 years later, people of graubünden decided, in referendum, rhb come under state ownership. these 2 changes created suitable conditions rapid construction of further rhb lines, intended open large parts of canton.

in 1890, davos hotelier willem-jan holsboer proposed construction of rail link chur via davos, , through tunnel under scaletta pass, st moritz, , onwards via maloja pass, chiavenna in italy. holsboer later had abandon planned scalettabahn, in favour of route through become albula tunnel. in 1895, zurich railway pioneer adolf guyer-zeller presented idea of engadine-orient-railway, have connected chur, via thusis , engadine, , on fuorn pass, vinschgau , trieste. zeller planned proposed route standard gauge line. have passed under albula alps through 12 km long tunnel mouth of val tisch inn valley below bever. ofenbergbahn, engadine-orient-railway have cut connection through val müstair. on 30 june 1898 federal assembly in bern decided on construction of albula railway. federal assembly thereby decided against standard gauge transit railway, , contemplated railway on julier pass.

in 1896, there 20 km of standard gauge railway line in graubünden - , 90 km of narrow gauge railways. (incidentally, length of standard gauge line has remained unchanged day, apart construction of new industrial spur line chur domat / ems.) priority given construction of rail connection spa @ st moritz, @ time 14-hour stage coach ride distant chur, terminus of standard gauge line.

the rhb station @ tiefencastel

after thusis reached chur, construction of albula railway began on 15 october 1898. unlike bernina railway, opened ten years later, , operated in electrified form right start, albula railway still steam railway @ conception. moreover, (and again unlike bernina railway), intended universally available, particularly transport of goods. steam locomotives of time still not particularly powerful, , in order permit highest possible speeds, maximum gradients restricted 3.5%, , minimum curve radius generously defined. thus, albula railway, in interests of maximising effectiveness, did not test technical bounds of adhesion railway. however, such architectural style required variety of engineering structures. so, example, viaducts exclusively solidly constructed. problematical ascent of valley between bergün/bravuogn , preda, where, in distance of 5 km crow flies, difference in altitude of on 400 m needed overcome. stay within maximum gradient parameters, project supervisor, friedrich hennings, devised intricate alignment, lengthened line s formation 12 km. 2 curved tunnels, 3 spiral tunnels, , number of bridges overcame engineering problem, winding track around thread of screw. on part of line, construction of 660 m long rugnux spiral tunnels in particular led problems, because 4 °c cold mountain water hampered activities of workers.

slope diagram of albula railway

beyond preda emerged centrepiece of line, 5866 m long albula tunnel, passes under watershed between rhine , danube few kilometres west of albula pass. maximum elevation of 1,820 m (5,970 ft) above sea level, tunnel is, after furka tunnel, second highest alpine tunnel in switzerland. creation of tunnel hampered unusual problems caused outflowing water, , these led bankruptcy of building contractor. total of 1,316 people involved in construction of albula tunnel. overall, there 16 fatal accidents involving workers. @ 03:00 hours on 29 may 1902, breakthrough of 2 tunnel leads achieved, @ point 3,030.5 m (9,943 ft) north portal, , 2,835 m (9,301 ft), south portal.

goods train between tiefencastel , surava

on 1 july 1903, opening of section between thusis , celerina celebrated. rhb , st moritz municipality still yet reach agreement on site of st. moritz station, inauguration of 3 km long remaining section had delayed 10 july 1904.

shortages of coal during world war prompted rhb grapple task of electrification. on 20 april 1919, first section of line electrified, link between bever , filisur, energised 11 kv 16 2/3 hz alternating current system used on engadine line. on 15 october 1919, extension thusis followed.

since 1930, glacier express has followed route of albula railway. bernina express added after world war ii. both of these trains have since operated spearheads of rhaetian railway s legendary reputation railway company amongst rail fans around world.

since line equipped block safety system in 1969, remote monitoring of train traffic @ stations on line has been possible. in 2005, rail control center in landquart assumed former tasks of remote monitoring station @ filisur.

the bever substation modernised in 1973. successive extensions passing loops @ stations has lengthened them on 260 m (850 ft), equivalent of express train 13 carriages. since end of 1990s, rhb has installed 3 short double track sections - @ thusis, @ filisur , below preda - make hourly train crossings flow more smoothly. remaining parts of line single track before, , still largely in original configuration 1904.