The Bernina line — a UNESCO railway through the Engadine
Built between 1898 and 1910 across the Bernina pass at 2,253 m, the metre-gauge Rhaetian Railway line from Chur to Tirano is one of two railway lines in the world inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
The Bernina line is the southern of the two principal lines of the Rhätische Bahn (RhB), the metre-gauge railway of the canton of Graubünden. It runs 122 km from Chur (585 m) through Saint Moritz, over the Bernina pass at Ospizio Bernina (2,253 m — the highest open-air railway crossing in Europe), and descends to Tirano in northern Italy (429 m). Together with the Albula line (Thusis–St Moritz, 62 km), the Bernina line was inscribed in 2008 on the UNESCO World Heritage list as the "Rhaetian Railway in the Albula/Bernina Cultural Landscape" — one of only three railways in the world to receive World Heritage status.
The engineering
The Bernina line was constructed between July 1906 and July 1910 by the Bernina-Bahn Gesellschaft (BB), an independent company founded in 1904 specifically to build the route. The chief engineer was Adolf Loop; the principal contractor was the Italian construction firm Brusio. The line was electrified from opening — a notable first for an alpine railway in 1910, requiring the construction of dedicated hydroelectric facilities at Brusio and Robbia. The BB was acquired by the Rhätische Bahn in 1944 and the line has operated as part of the RhB network since.
The line's engineering distinction is its gradient profile. Climbing from Pontresina (1,774 m) to Ospizio Bernina (2,253 m) — 479 m of altitude in 10.4 km — requires sustained gradients of 7%, the maximum permissible for adhesion-only working without rack assistance. The descent from Alp Grüm (2,091 m) to Tirano (429 m) — 1,662 m of altitude in 40 km — is the longest sustained adhesion descent in any standard-gauge or metre-gauge railway in the world. The line uses no racks, no cable haulage, and no rack-assistance: every metre of gradient is climbed or descended on flange-rail adhesion alone.
The principal structures
- Landwasser Viaduct. (On the connecting Albula line.) Six arches, 65 m height, with a 7-m radius curve and a tunnel mouth at the southern end. The most-photographed railway structure in Switzerland.
- Albula Tunnel. (Albula line.) 5,866 m long, 1,820 m altitude at the southern portal — one of the highest railway tunnels in the Alps.
- Ospizio Bernina station. 2,253 m. The highest open-air railway station in Switzerland; the line crosses the watershed between the Black Sea (north) and the Adriatic (south) at this point.
- Alp Grüm. 2,091 m. The first descent station on the Italian side, with a panoramic view over the Palü glacier.
- Brusio circular viaduct. 110 m diameter, 7% gradient, 360-degree loop — the most engineered feature of the descent. The train loops around itself to lose altitude without exceeding the maximum gradient.
The Bernina Express service
The principal scheduled passenger service on the line is the Bernina Express — a long-distance tourist train operated by RhB with panoramic carriages. The service runs from Chur to Tirano (4h 30m) with onward bus connection to Lugano (3h 30m, Bernina Express Bus). Schedule: typically three departures daily from Chur (08:17, 09:17, 13:17) between mid-May and late October; reduced frequency in winter.
The Bernina Express carriages have larger panoramic windows than the standard regional service but the route, the schedule, and the views are identical. For readers on a budget, the standard regional train (RhB Regionalzug) traverses the line at the same speed, with smaller windows, at approximately 60% of the Bernina Express fare. The journal does not recommend one over the other; both read the line.
Seat selection
Seat selection is consequential. For the principal views:
- Chur → Tirano, right side (in direction of travel). The right side offers: Albula valley views (km 30–50), Lake Sils and Lake Silvaplana (km 75–80), the Bernina pass eastern face (km 100), and the Brusio circular viaduct (km 115).
- Tirano → Chur, left side (in direction of travel). Same views, opposite direction.
- Side photography. The Bernina massif (Piz Bernina, 4,049 m — the only 4,000-m peak in the eastern Alps) is visible from the line on the south side between Pontresina and Ospizio Bernina; this is the right side travelling south.
The reader's working day
A full reading of the line as a one-day return is feasible from St Moritz. Recommended sequence:
- St Moritz 09:14 → Tirano 11:32 (Bernina Express southbound).
- Lunch in Tirano (the line crosses the international border; passports are advised though not always checked).
- Tirano 14:24 → St Moritz 17:00 (Bernina Express northbound).
Alternatively, the line forms part of the standard Glacier Express + Bernina combination — a four-day circuit from Zermatt to Tirano via St Moritz that traverses both UNESCO-listed RhB lines. For the reader who wants the full cartographic experience of the eastern Alps, this is the route.
The Bernina line is the world's most legible mountain railway. Every gradient is honest; every viaduct is geometrically considered; every metre of altitude is earned on flange-adhesion alone. The line is a cartographic argument.
Last ride: October 2025, full Chur-Tirano southbound, Bernina Express, right-side window seat.