About this journey

Arosa station sits at the upper end of the Schanfigg valley, reached via a 299 m tunnel that passes beneath part of the resort town. The line descending from here to Chur — the Chur–Arosa railway — was built by the Chur-Arosa-Bahn, with construction beginning on 1 August 1912 under chief engineer Gustav Bener. The line opened on 12 December 1914, covering 25.681 km and descending 1,155 m in elevation, with a maximum grade of 6.0%. At CHF 402,700 per kilometre, it was the most expensive line on the Rhaetian Railway network at the time.

The route includes 41 bridges, 19 tunnels and 12 avalanche-protection galleries — structures that reflect the engineering demands of the terrain. The line was originally electrified at the rare voltage of 2,400 volts DC; in 1997 it was converted to 11 kilovolts AC to match the rest of the Rhaetian Railway network, at a total modernisation cost of CHF 58.3 million. As the train approaches Chur, the character of the line shifts entirely: the track enters the city on grooved tramway-style rails, at one point crossing a roundabout, before arriving at platforms 1 and 2 on the Bahnhofplatz — the Arosabahn's own dedicated terminus, separate from the main station. The journey moves from alpine infrastructure to urban street-running within a single hour.