About this journey

The journey begins at Chur's dedicated platforms 1 and 2, set apart from the main SBB concourse on the Bahnhofplatz forecourt. From there, the metre-gauge Arosa Railway immediately enters the city on grooved tramway rails, at one point crossing a roundabout, before the track narrows to a single line and follows the right bank of the Plessur river into the Schanfigg valley.

The line was built in 1914 by the Chur-Arosa-Bahn to link Chur with the spa town of Arosa, and has been operated by the Rhaetian Railway since 1942. At the time of opening it was the most expensive line on the entire RhB network, at CHF 402,700 per kilometre, a figure that reflects the scale of engineering required: over its 25.681 km the route climbs 1,155 m in elevation and passes through 41 bridges, 19 tunnels, and 12 avalanche-protection galleries. The line originally ran on a rare 2,400-volt DC electrification system, distinct from the rest of the RhB, until conversion to 11 kilovolt AC was completed on 29 November 1997 at a total cost of CHF 58.3 million. That conversion, 96 per cent funded by the Swiss federal government, finally brought the Arosa Railway into full compatibility with the wider RhB network. The RhB ABe 8/12 STADLER ALLEGRA now works the route, arriving at Arosa after a journey that moves in the space of an hour from a city street shared with road traffic to the deep winter landscape of the Graubünden Alps.