125 years of Gornergrat
Experience. Wonder. Marvel. What could be more obvious than to build a railway on the famous and popular viewing mountain? Completed in 1898, the Gornergrat was the first electric rack railway in Switzerland, and third in the world. Having said that, the Chemin de fer de Salève (France 1892) and the Barmer Bergbahn (Germany 1894) were both dismantled in 1937 & 1959, making the Gornergrat the oldest existing electric rack railway in the world Gornergrat Railway – 125 years of fascination The walk from Zermatt to Hotel Riffelhaus (built in 1854) took around 1½ hours - although it took Mark Twain much longer in his amusing book of his ascent! Palanquin bearers estimated about 4 hours and other options were by horse or mule. The opening of the Gornergrat Railway meant that people could travel by train to over 3000m² in altitude for the first time in Europe, replacing the Brienzer Rothorn Railway which previously held the record in Switzerland at 2252m². From 20th August 1898 to today