Bernina Pass – for U3A class – the most wonderful train trip I have been on. (by Bruce Baker) is the ONLY railway line that goes OVER the Swiss . From in to St Moritz in (and on to ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoORCSrs64Y “Bernina Express is famously known as one of the most scenic train in Switzerland or some say even in the world. The train runs along the Bernina and Albula line which are listed as Unesco World Heritage site.”

My late wife and I took this train in 2010. We had 6 weeks planned between Italy and Austria – and I was looking for an interesting way to connect up the Italian and Austrian segments. I initially came across some discussion on TripAdvisor about the (https://www.rhb.ch/en/panoramic-trains/bernina-express https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernina_Express https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g188077-d609559-Reviews-Bernina_Express- Swiss_Alps.html ), but discussion on Tripadvisor suggested that taking the local train from Tirano to St Moritz would be better because there were optional train stops (a bit like a Brisbane bus – press the button to get off at the next station), including near the top of the Bernina Pass https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernina_Pass https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review- g658759-d548006-Reviews-Bernina_Pass-Poschiavo_Canton_of_Graubunden_Swiss_Alps.html at the Diavolezza (https://www.diavolezza.ch/en/ , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diavolezza )

From St Moritz, the following day we travelled on to Chur on our way to Salzburg. The Section between St Moritz to Chur is almost as spectacular as the Tirano-St Moritz section, with both sections requiring ascending(descending) up into (down from) a hanging valley – which required quite spectacular engineering. Other sections of spectacular engineering include the Landwasser viaduct. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landwasser_Viaduct https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=JVFad1OBZ0Y

Note: There are some great photos and videos at the links above.

Bernina Pass by Bruce Baker 10/11/20. Page 1 of 6 Bernina Pass by Bruce Baker 10/11/20. Page 2 of 6 The circular loop of rail above is Viadotto elicoidale at Brussio. There are some other interesting loops near Bergen on the line from St Moritz to Chur.

Bernina Pass by Bruce Baker 10/11/20. Page 3 of 6 If you leave the train for a couple of hours near the top of the Bernina Pass ( ~ Bernina Diavoleza ) , you can catch the gondola to the Diavolezza, where you can see the following.

Bernina Pass by Bruce Baker 10/11/20. Page 4 of 6 On the Gondola going up to the Diavolezza

The route including elevations.

Bernina Pass by Bruce Baker 10/11/20. Page 5 of 6 Entire Route – of Bernina Express. • Starts at Tirano in Italy, which you can get to by local Italian train. My map below starts at , Switzerland (a little north of Tirano) even though both the Swiss local trains (my preference) and the Bernina Express both start in Tirano. The route below starts at Brusio simply because of a short-coming in Google Maps. • The Bernina Express and the local train both go from Tirano to St Moritz, before proceeding on to Chur. Because we took the local train, so that we could go up to the Diavolezza, it was a very full day, by the time we got to St Moritz, so we stayed overnight in St Moritz. • If you stay at St Moritz and catch the train onwards through Chur the following day, make sure you check sunrise time in St Mortiz before you book the ticket from St Moritz. As you can see from this web site https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/switzerland/st-moritz? month=9&year=2020 , because in my ignorance (wong assumption), I booked our train for 6am in the morning, we had to walk to the station in the dark (not a big deal) but it meant that we were on the train for about 75 minutes before the sun rose – hence we missed seeing some of the scenery in daylight, which was a shame. • I booked our train ticked for this leg by Deutsche Bahn https://www.bahn.com/i/view/index.shtml (at least for the ticket from St Moritz to Salzburg). This involved 2 train changes en route, which Deutsche Bahn guides you on, one of those train changes was only 8 minutes (thankfully to the other side of the same platform). These intercity trains do travel on time. Deutsche Bahn is a great web site for much of Europe train bookings. Note: I found that often I could get a discount of about 66% on rail tickets booked 3 months in advance.

Bernina Pass by Bruce Baker 10/11/20. Page 6 of 6