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2.b.5 History of the Rhaetian Railway

The origins of the Rhaetian Railway go back to 1888, when the “Landquart- Narrow- Gauge Railway Company” was established in Davos. The foundation of this enterprise had been preceded by years of arguments about whether a rail transport system for Graubünden should take the form of standard-gauge transit lines or narrow-gauge valley lines. The nar- row-gauge railway between Landquart and Davos was opened in 1889/90. After a further six years or so of heated discussions, the remaining lines making up the network of the Rhaetian Railway were finally put into service within just 18 years (between 1896 and 1914). This period also saw the inauguration of the three legally autonomous lines in the Mesocco, (Bernina line) and Schanfigg valleys, which were later to be incorporated into the Rhaetian Railway network. Today, the Rhaetian Railway offers a wide range of passenger and freight services, including high-capacity car transport facilities on the Vereina line since 1999.

Transit or valley lines? Graubünden’s unceasing efforts to secure a The history of the Rhaetian Railway is inti- link to the international railway system had mately linked with the special topographical dire consequences in the sense that vital re- features of Graubünden, ’s larg- sources were tied up over the long term. Not est canton. Graubünden had always managed only was a great deal of time and money in- to turn its central position in the heart of the vested in projects like the Splügen, Septimer, Alps to its advantage. With the emergence Greina and Lukmanier lines, none of which of the railway as a new means of transport in came to fruition; the fact is that this preoc- the 1840s, the question of the canton’s impor- cupation with the idea of a great alternative tance for transport policy was seen in an en- alpine transit route through Graubünden also tirely new light. Enormous efforts were made delayed the development of a rail network to ensure that the new European alpine rail built around so-called valley lines within the transit routes would not bypass the territory of canton. Most major European railway lines Graubünden – but to no avail. The completion were laid out with a “normal” width, or of the Brenner line (1876) – and even more so gauge, of 1435 mm, the curve radius was sel- the opening of the lines through the Gotthard dom less than 190 m und the maximum gra- (1882) and the Arlberg (1884) – had direct dient was 25 ‰ (Semmeringbahn) or 27 ‰ economic repercussions in Graubünden, par- (Gotthardbahn). By their very nature, such ticularly in the traditional transit valleys such routing parameters were badly suited to the as and (Splügen Pass and construction of a comprehensive rail network San Bernardino route) and Oberhalbstein (Jul- in a mountainous canton; on the Bernina line, ier route, cf. 2.b.3). In just 20 years (from 1880 for example, the minimum radius is 45 m to 1900), the population of these valleys de- and there are many sections with a gradient clined by almost 14 %, whereas Switzerland’s of 70 ‰. But anyone in Graubünden who fa- total population increased by 17 %! voured a narrow-gauge railway with a track

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Landquart-Davos line > A passenger on the Landquart – Davos narrow gauge line passing the through the nar- row gorge (Klus) at the entrance to the Prättigau valley. Photograph from 1891. Rhaetian Railway

Willem Jan Holsboer (1834 – 1898) > Ener- getic initiator and promoter of railway building in Graubünden, about 1885. Rhaetian Railway

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width of only 1,000 mm and parameters better Landquart to Davos. The budget of 5 million adapted to mountainous terrain was accused Swiss Francs for this project was to be less by the political establishment of undermin- than half the estimated cost of the standard- ing the efforts to build international lines on gauge railway mooted ten years earlier, on the canton’s territory. Nor was the consider- condition that the municipalities concerned ably lower cost of a narrow-gauge railway an undertook to supply the land and all the nec- argument that counted for much in those days. essary building materials – gravel, sand, Small-mindedness and parochial attitudes in stones and wood – free of charge. After a siz- some quarters also contributed to the dead- able majority of the people of the Prättigau lock: in the capital, , for instance, which Valley and District of Davos voted in favour already had a rail link to cities in Northern of the project, the Landquart – Davos Nar- Switzerland such as St. Gallen (since 1858) row-Gauge Railway Company was founded and Zurich (since 1859), people were still ada- on 7th February 1888 with its registered office mantly opposed to extending the standard- in Davos; this company was the forerunner gauge line to and the in the of today’s Rhaetian Railway. The section as 1880s for fear of losing the monopoly position far as was put into operation in 1889 as the terminus of a national railway! and Davos, the (provisional) terminus, was reached in the summer of 1890. Willem Jan Holsboer – Graubünden’s Alfred Escher From the “Landquart-Davos Narrow-Gauge A solution to the canton’s railway problem Railway” to the “Rhaetian Railway” was found eventually, thanks to various far- Alongside all this, the discussions about the sighted local people including the future Fed- “right” type of technical railway equipment eral Councillor Simon Bavier, the lawyer for Graubünden were continuing at the - Sebastian Hunger and the engineers Robert litical level and among the population. At Moser and Martin Versell. However, the most the end of 1889, the people of Graubünden important contribution was made by a Dutch- agreed to a cantonal contribution for a stand- man, Willem Jan Holsboer. A former captain, -gauge line (!) from Chur to via and vice president of an international bank, Thusis, but the project had to be scrapped Holsboer first came to Davos with his wife in because the planned core finance from pri- 1867 for a cure. After his wife died the same vate sector sources did not materialise. This year, he decided to make his home in Dav- fuelled the increasingly strident demands – to os, where he would later play a major role in which Holsboer also lent his voice – to aban- turning the village into a world-famous re- don standard-gauge “world rail projects” sort. Holsboer realised that a connection to (e.g. Chur – Engadin – Landeck –­Merano or the greater European railway network was Chur – Thusis – Splügen – Chiavenna) for essential for Davos’ future development. In the time being at least, and focus instead on the mid-1880s, together with Peter Bühler, a measures that would better serve Graubünden member of the Swiss parliament, he present- and its fast-growing tourist industry. Accord- ed a project for a narrow-gauge railway from ingly, work was started on a narrow-gauge

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Overview of the narrow gauge railways in the . Plan (reduced in size) taken from: E. Bosshard: Die Berninabahn, Zurich 1912 (Schweizerische Bauzeitung, offprint).

Landquart-Davos line > After passing Chur – Thusis line > Construction of the Küblis, the railtrack climbs a gradient of steel bridge across the at 43 ‰. Reichenau. Taken in 1885. Rhaetian Railway Rhaetian Railway

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line from Landquart to Chur and on to Thusis. railway operators in 1897, and merged them The Landquart – Davos Narrow-Gauge Rail- into a single, government-controlled compa- way Company was entrusted with this under- ny under the name “Swiss Federal Railways . taking, and both lines were up and running in However, Graubünden did not want to follow 1896. suit with “its” railway. This period also saw a change in the Compa- But since the canton was now the majority ny’s name, which no longer reflected its actual shareholder of the Rhaetian Railway, it was sphere of operations. The Landquart – Davos nevertheless necessary to enact the appropri- Narrow-Gauge Railway Company was re- ate cantonal legislation on railways. This was named “Rhaetian Railway” in 1894, not least done in 1897, and the draft bill was accepted with a view to the new rail projects that were by a clear majority of voters in a local refer- taking shape in the canton. This allusion to endum. The legislation governed the above- the name by which present-day Graubünden mentioned acquisition of shares, support for was commonly known between the 16th and the construction of new lines by means of the early 19th century (Alt Fry Rätien) was graded cantonal contributions, and the man- a clever move, as it fostered a sense of local datory payments in kind by the municipalities identity and certainly helped to defuse the involved. In addition, the Rhaetian Railway tension surrounding the contentious issue of was exonerated from all cantonal and munici- what constituted the “right” type of railway. pal taxes. The tax exemption still holds good The name originally envisaged – Graubünd­ today (see Art. 34 of the Public Transport Act ner Bahnen – was rejected, since a possible in the Canton Graubünden dated 7th March abbreviation using the initials “GB” might 1993), whereas the obligations relating to pay- have led to confusion with the Gotthardbahn. ments in kind could “only” be maintained un- In 1896, the Rhaetian Railway moved its reg- til 1993. However, during the construction of istered office from Davos to Chur. the Vereina line from Prättigau to the Lower In 1897, the Canton Graubünden bought the Engadin (from 1990 on), the municipality large block of Rhaetian Railway shares held of Klosters-Serneus – which was particu- by the “Swiss Railway Bank” (Schweizerische larly strongly affected by this project – was Eisenbahnbank). This bank – another brain- instructed under a Federal Court decision child of Holsboer’s – was set up in Basel in to meet its commitments, notably to make 1890 for the purpose of assisting “in particu- the necessary building land available free of lar, rail transport enterprises serving the in- charge. terests of the Canton Graubünden”. Having In 1898, one year after the legislation on railways acquired these shares, the canton became the was approved, Graubünden successfully applied de facto sole owner of the Rhaetian Railway. to the federal parliament for a subsidy. The Swiss It would now have been possible to make the Confederation agreed to take a stake of 8 million railway company part of the cantonal admin- Swiss Francs in the Rhaetian Railway by pur- istration, in line with the policy adopted at chasing so-called subsidy shares. This meant that federal level: the Swiss government had also work could go ahead on the following lines (first bought the shares of the country’s five regional year of operation in brackets):

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Samedan > The Rhaetian Railway threw a party in Samedan to celebrate the opening of the Albula line, 27th June 1903. Rhaetian Railway

Davos – Filisur line > Wiesen Viaduct. The Reichenau – Disentis/Mustér line > The imposing framework was constructed station in Disentis/Mustér decorated to by the legendary Richard Coray. Taken in welcome the opening train drawn by the 1908. G4/5 Nr. 119 locomotive, 30 June 1912. Rhaetian Railway Rhaetian Railway

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> Albula line from Thusis to St. Moritz up by a factor of 2.0 (1903 / 04) > Number of passenger kilometres – > Reichenau – Ilanz line (1903), later extend- up by a factor of 2.6 ed to Disentis / Mustér (1912) > Number of tonne kilometres – > Samedan – Pontresina line (1908) up by a factor of 3.0 > Davos – Filisur line (1909) > Total transport revenues – > Bever – line (1913) up by a factor of 2.5 These lines constitute the main network of the What should also be noted in this connection Rhaetian Railway, together with Landquart – is the considerable increase in transport pro- Davos and Landquart – Chur – Thusis. In ad- ductivity, which is defined as the quotient be- dition, three legally autonomous railway lines tween the company’s transport services and were built in Graubünden during the same its total staff. This quotient rose from 20.1 in period: 1890 to 36.5 in 1913. > – Mesocco (1907) The increase in train frequencies, of course, > St. Moritz – (opened in stages from was not achieved without a lot of hard work. 1908, all sections open in 1910) Very early on, the people who ran the Rha- > Chur – Arosa (1914) etian Railway had realised the importance Graubünden’s narrow-gauge rail network of measures that nowadays come under the covering a total distance of almost 400 km heading of marketing. The Bernina Rail- was completed in an extremely short time- way’s report on its second financial year span of 26 years – an absolutely remarkable (1907) emphasised the need to take appro- achievement even (or especially) by today’s priate steps in this field: “As the area which standards, given the major technical, topo- should be opened up to large-scale graphical, climatic, political and financial dif- by the is still relatively little ficulties involved. known, we consider that extensive but digni- fied advertising is absolutely essential.” Sub- Strong growth in the Belle Epoque sequently, renowned artists including Emil The lines of the Rhaetian Railway and the Cardinaux, Augusto Giacometti, Rafael de ­other rail companies provided access to all the Ochoa and Marcel Lebrun were commis- most important valleys of Graubünden. Train sioned to design suitable posters. Advertising frequencies showed a very pleasing trend. between 1910 and 1920 was done by means of Between 1890 (the first full year of opera- posters, which displayed the name of the rail- tion) and 1913 (the year preceding the war), way but did not show any ! i.e. the period of network expansion, the Rha- In line with the increase in train frequen- etian Railway registered the following growth cies and revenues, financial results were also in its main network (converted to network very encouraging. With the exception of two kilometres): business years (1891 and 1892), the Rhaetian > Number of passengers carried – ­Railway paid its shareholders regular divi- up by a factor of 2.0 dends until 1913. In the post-war period, an- > Number of tons transported – nual dividend payments only resumed when

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Poster for the Rhaetian Railway by Poster for the Rhaetian Railway by Emil Cardinaux, 1916. Surprisingly, Emil Cardinaux, 1918. Here again, the the artist chose not to show a train. representation of a train is “missing”. Rhaetian Railway / KGMZ Rhaetian Railway / KGMZ

Postcard for the Bernina Railway, 1920. Artist unknown. Rhaetian Railway / KGMZ

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the Company started making profits again af- on cars in 1900 soon put a stop to this. From ter 1925, but they came to an end once and for 1907 on, the people of Graubünden would all in 1930. repeatedly turn down proposals by the can- In the euphoric atmosphere generated by the tonal authorities to allow private cars on the success of the early years, various studies roads. Only in 1925 – after eight unsuccessful were carried out after 1900 on the feasibil- referendums on the matter – was the ban on ity of extending the Lower Engadin line to cars finally lifted. The car gradually became Pfunds in , where a connection with a powerful competitor of the railway for both the projected Vinschgau line from Meran to passenger and goods traffic. A few years lat- Landeck was planned. Both the Swiss and the er, the Rhaetian Railway and the canton as a Austrian authorities had already agreed in whole were hit by the world economic crisis. principle to grant the licence for the construc- Between 1931 and 1936, the handsome profits tion work. Projects and licences were also earned in the six previous years turned into available for a rail link to , from St. Mo- equally substantial losses. This negative trend ritz via Maloja to Chiavenna. But World War continued with the outbreak of World War II. I put an end to all these plans. In view of the International political developments had an limited investment funds available, priori- even stronger impact on the other rail com- ties had to be redefined. What counted was no panies in Graubünden, namely the Bernina, longer the extension of the network but the op- Mesocco and Arosa lines, which were only timisation of transport productivity. able to stave off bankruptcy thanks to peri- In the entire main network of the Rhaetian Rail- odic injections of public funds. In 1939, the way, only the lines to the Lower Engadin and Federal Act on Assistance to Private Railway the section between Samedan und Pontresina and Shipping Companies entered into force. were electrified until 1913; roughly 80 % of This was the basis for the restructuring of the the network was operated with steam engines. Bernina line and its subsequent integration During and after World War I, the price of coal into the Rhaetian Railway, initially by way of rose six fold within seven years. The Company a cooperative arrangement, then a full merger therefore pressed ahead with electrification of in 1944. Of necessity, the Mesocco and Aro- all its other lines, and the process was complet- sa lines had already adopted this solution in ed in 1922 (cf. 2.b.6 and 2.b.7). 1941.

New challenges and growth through Developments in recent decades mergers There have only been two further changes in After carrying out all these investments, the the network of the Rhaetian Railway since the Rhaetian Railway was faced with a threat of end of World War II: barely imaginable proportions when a new a) On the insistence of the Swiss government, means of transport made its debut. The first the loss-making passenger transport oper- cars had already appeared on the drivable ation on the Mesocco line was replaced by roads in Graubünden in the closing years of a bus service in 1972; the section between the 19th century (cf. 2.b.3), but a complete ban Mesocco and Castione remained open for

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Bellinzona– Mesocco line > A train passing through . Photograph taken in the 1950s. O. Furter/Rhaetian Railway

Vereina Tunnel > Car loading point for the longest one metre gauge rail tun- nel in the world. P. Donatsch/Rhaetian Railway

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the time being, albeit only for goods traf- grants to compensate the Company for operat- fic. Following a violent storm, the highest ing regular train schedules that do not cover section of the line (Mesocco-Cama) had to costs, and in the joint financing of railway in- be closed in 1978, and the Rhaetian Rail- frastructure investments, particularly with a way also discontinued train services on the view to increasing capacity on certain routes remaining stretch between Cama and Cas- (e.g. by building double-track islands in an tione due to a sharp fall in traffic volume. overwhelmingly single-track network). The The rail installations were transferred to present shareholder structure of the Rhaetian the Società Esercizio Ferroviario Turistico Railway, which has undergone practically no (SEFT), a private association which now change in recent decades, is as follows: offers a museum train service in the sum- Swiss Government 43.1 % mer months. Canton Graubünden 51.3 % b) The demise of the Mesocco line was al- Graubünden municipalities 1.0 % most fully offset in kilometre terms by Natural persons, legal entities 4.6 % the construction of the Klosters-Lavin line (22 km long) between 1990 and 1999; Successful alpine-experience railway its centrepiece, the , is the Under its Articles of Association, the Rhae­ world’s longest railway tunnel in meter tian Railway’s mission is to serve the econo- gauge. In the short time since it was put my of the Canton Graubünden in its capacity into service, the Vereina line has exceed- as a company managed in accordance with ed all expectations regarding traffic vol- business administration principles. This also ume. As the second rail connection from involves responding to new and growing cus- Northern Graubünden to the Engadin, it is tomer needs. For example, the journey time of crucial operational and economic im- from Chur to St. Moritz has been cut from 3¾ portance for the Rhaetian Railway and the hours when the line was opened in 1904 to 2 Lower Engadin/Münstertal region (also as hours today, thanks to state-of-the-art train a fall-back in the event of interruptions on security installations and increasingly effi- the Albula line). cient locomotives. Furthermore, the Glacier The Rhaetian Railway has existed for more Express (St. Moritz-Zermatt) and Bernina Ex- than a hundred years. Although its history has press (Chur – Tirano ) are Rhaetian Railway been punctuated by several crises, the Com- “products” which enjoy a worldwide reputa- pany has never failed to recover from them. tion and are not just applauded by experts; the The Swiss government and the Graubünden National Geographic Traveler rates the Berni- cantonal authorities regard it is an entity of na Express as one of the ten most beautiful major relevance, not only on national policy railway lines in the world. grounds but also for economic, transport and A 385 km rail network with rolling stock of military reasons – which is why the Rhaetian some 1,500 rail-borne vehicles is current- Railway has always received generous finan- ly operated and maintained all year round cial support from the public sector. This com- by a staff of roughly 1,450 people. The lat- mitment manifests itself in non-refundable est performance figures show that with a to-

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Bernina line > The has contributed significantly to international renomné of the Rhaetian Railway. T. Keller

Albula line > The Rhaetian Railway also oper- ates goods trains. Timber and foodstuffs transport on the . P. Donatsch

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tal annual turnover of over 250 million Swiss Francs, approximately 10 million passengers, 700,000 tonnes of freight and 400,000 ac- companied motor vehicles a year are trans- ported in an environmentally friendly and energy-saving manner. The Rhaetian Rail- way has successfully developed from a pure means of transport to a world-class alpine- experience railway, whose fame extends far beyond the borders of Graubünden and which is an inseparable part of the canton’s tourism infrastructure.

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