European Railroad Discussion > Switzerland last week

Some shots from my four day visit to Switzerland,. I stayed in Luzern for three nights and Basel for the last night, flying from Bristol in England to Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg. It's the only airport I know where after passport control there are two exits - one to France, the other to Switzerland.

The weather for November was pretty good, cold and bright. I had a Swiss Rail Pass which gives unlimited travel on public transport across the country. Arriving in downtown Basel about 2 p.m on Monday 11th  I spent the next couple of hours at Basel Bad Bhf before catching a train to Luzern. The following morning I headed down the Gottard line to Flüelen, a pretty town at the bottom of Lake Luzern. 

1: This is the Treno Gottardo from Zurich to Locarno, which follows the old route up and over, rather than through the Gottard Base Tunnel. These Südostbahn Stadler EMUs (RABe 526) are very superior units.
2: Freight traffic on the Gottardbahn is very heavy, mainly intermodal trains between Germany and Italy. This northbound is headed by a Siemens Vectron, SBB Cargo class 193
3: The blue signs with yellow arrows are part of the ETCS - European Train Control System - which has replaced fixed signals on this stretch of the Gottardbahn



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/24 12:37 by 86235.

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4: After a couple of hours in Flüelen I returned to Luzern by way of Arth-Goldau and then caught the Zentralbahn to Stans and Engleberg to ride behind one of the Zbahn's HGe 101 electric locomotives. This is the 14:10 from Luzern arriving in Engleberg
5: The Zentralbahn is obviously looking forward winter, this brand new Unimog snow clearance vehicle was standing ready.
6: Back at Arth-Goldau as the sun was setting, a Trenitalia ETR610 Pendolino unit on the 15:03 Basel to Milano Centrale next to a SOB RABe 526 on a Zurich to Locarno Treno Gottardo.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/24 09:14 by 86235.

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7: The following day I headed over to the other main transalpine route through Switzerland - the Berne Lotschberg Simplon railway. At Reichenbach im Kandertal, on the northern slope of the Lotschberg route a pair of BLS Vectrons (BLS Re 475) on a northbound intermodal for LKW Walter.
8: SBB operate an hourly intercity over the BLS connecting Brig with Zurich/Romanshorn and Basle. They are loco hauled with these Re 460s.
9: At Mülenen, a 25 minute walk from Reichenbach, a southbound intermodal behind a pair of Traxx class 186 leased by Railpool to the BLS



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/24 05:09 by 86235.

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10: A pair of BLS locos heading south, light engine
11: The gradients on the BLS are very obvious
12: on Thursday 14th I headed back to the Gottardbahn after an abortive visit to Landquart, near Chur. This was my train from Luzern to Zurich, am RABe 502 from Bombardier. Not the most succesful unit on SBB, their introduction was very protracted.

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13: There's a decent location at the bottom of Arth Goldau yard. The creme de la creme of SBB's intercity multiple units are these 250kph Stadler built RABe 501s, this is on a Milano Centrale to Zurich service
14: With an SBB Re420 as power, a mail train heading down the Gottardbahn
15: And finally, back to Engleberg for a last look this year at an ZBahn HGe 101



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/24 05:10 by 86235.

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Wonderful images , THANKS for sharing them with us !!

Outstanding images !!!

Marvelous!!!

I traveled the original Gotthard route in 1960 in both directions at night!  I remember passing through the tunnels that I later learned were spiral.  
jb

86235 Wrote:
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> 11: The gradients on the BLS are very obvious

The sign on the far left indicates that the grade
becomes 2.5% down for the next 168 meters.
These signs are attached to the cantenary poles
indicating every little change in gradient.

Outstanding photos from Switzerland - a country I visited as a teen in 1980, but have only fuzzy snapshots of the trains as a memory.  I do recall the shrill whistles of trains passing our hotels.

Rich

SOO6617 Wrote:
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> 86235 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> The sign on the far left indicates that the grade
> becomes 2.5% down for the next 168 meters.
> These signs are attached to the cantenary poles
> indicating every little change in gradient.

Ahhh, 2.5 I was wondering what 25 meant. Thanks.

I see no graffiti on either locomotives or stock in your pictures.
Is it just not a thing in Switzerland, or perhaps the companies are concerned to keep up their image?

Great shots Nick - espec like #8 pan shot!

This is what would be doing if I was there too...

Excellent series, Nick. Your luck was good. During a trip back in October freight traffic was not as heavy for myself and a friend traveling with me on either the Gotthard or BLS routes..

And we could not get to Arth-Goldau from the southern Gotthard Line, or to the entire track segment from Fluelen to Arth-Goldau, due to a major rockfall which closed the A4 highway (we were driving), the only north-south route other than the Gotthard Line itself along the eastern edge of Lake Luzern between Fluelen and Brunnen The highway was closed for a full week. As we were going further east into Austria, the long detour around the lake all the way to Luzern and back eastward was far too long for the available time. We instead took the Klausenpass route (an absolutely spectacular but white-knuckle mountain drive) to Glarus and then eastward into Austria.

So thanks for the shots at Arth-Goldau. Nicely done, all. Hope your trip was as good as ours was. Your images suggest that it was.

By the way, the airport at Geneva also has dual access and dual customs points for both France and Switzerland like the one you mentioned. I went through GVA last year. Walk down the jetway to a T-intersection, and go to the right for France, and to the left for Switzerland. There's even a separate baggage carousel at that point to claim bags if your are going into France, as the main baggage claim area in the terminal in on the Swiss side. And if you rent a car there, you even designate "Swiss side" or "French side" in making the reservation - there are rental desks for both. All because the airport is right on the border in Switzerland - just barely. As you are landing, there is a fence maybe about 75 yards off the north side of the single main runway. That's the French border, right there at the fence. Quite an interesting arrangement, as at the airport you transited.

MC



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/24 20:30 by ironmtn.

Great set of photos, Nick. Looks a great trip.

Thanks everyone, it was a very good few days away, I was certainly lucky with the weather.

ironmtn Wrote:
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> And we could not get to Arth-Goldau from the
> southern Gotthard Line, or to the entire track
> segment from Fluelen to Arth-Goldau, due to a
> major rockfall which closed the A4 highway (we
> were driving), the only north-south route other
> than the Gotthard Line itself along the eastern
> edge of Lake Luzern between Fluelen and Brunnen
> The highway was closed for a full week.

The Zentralbahn's Brunig Line to Interlaken is still closed as a consequence of the summer's floods, reopens next week.

> By the way, the airport at Geneva also has dual
> access and dual customs points for both France and
> Switzerland like the one you mentioned. I went
> through GVA last year. Walk down the jetway to a
> T-intersection, and go to the right for France,
> and to the left for Switzerland. There's even a
> separate baggage carousel at that point to claim
> bags if your are going into France, as the main
> baggage claim area in the terminal in on the Swiss
> side. And if you rent a car there, you even
> designate "Swiss side" or "French side" in making
> the reservation - there are rental desks for both.
> All because the airport is right on the border in
> Switzerland - just barely. As you are landing,
> there is a fence maybe about 75 yards off the
> north side of the single main runway. That's the
> French border, right there at the fence. Quite an
> interesting arrangement, as at the airport you
> transited.
>
> MC

Ahh, not flown to Geneva but it figures being so close to France. I think the Basel / Mulhouse airport is actually in France, the road from the Swiss side is fenced.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/24 03:00 by 86235.

86235 Wrote:
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> Ahhh, 2.5 I was wondering what 25 meant. Thanks.

The Europeans quote the gradients in pro mille
(per thousand) rather than percent (per hundred).
 

Farningham Wrote:
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> I see no graffiti on either locomotives or stock
> in your pictures.
> Is it just not a thing in Switzerland, or perhaps
> the companies are concerned to keep up their
> image?

Swiss passenger rolling stock is kept pretty
clean of graffiti, I you see any with graffiti it is
generally retired stock awaiting scrapping or
it was defaced recently and they haven't had
an opportunity to remove it. Freight cars on
the other hand can be covered particularly
sliding wall vans.