About this journey

Arosa station sits at the upper end of one of the Swiss Alps' most demanding narrow-gauge climbs, reached via a 299-metre tunnel that burrows beneath the resort before the terminus. The line descending to Chur — known as the Arosabahn and operated today by the Rhaetian Railway — was built in 1914 by the Chur-Arosa-Bahn to link the Grisons capital with the spa town of Arosa. Its construction cost CHF 402,700 per kilometre, making it the most expensive line on the entire Rhaetian Railway network. The 25.681-kilometre route drops 1,155 metres in elevation and negotiates 41 bridges, 19 tunnels, and 12 avalanche-protection galleries along the way. The line originally operated on the unusual voltage of 2,400 volts DC; on 29 November 1997 it was converted to 11 kilovolts AC to match the rest of the RhB network, a modernisation that cost CHF 58.3 million.

Approaching Chur, the character of the line changes markedly. The track transitions onto grooved tramway rails and passes through the city's streets, at one point crossing a roundabout, before arriving at platforms 1 and 2 — the Arosabahn's dedicated bays at the front of Chur station on Bahnhofplatz, separate from the main SBB hall. The RhB ABe 8/12 Allegra unit works the full descent in January 2024.