About this journey

The journey begins at Disentis/Mustér station, the western terminus of the Rhaetian Railway and simultaneously the eastern terminus of the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn, making it a meeting point of two distinct metre-gauge networks high in the Rhine valley. The station sits close to Disentis Abbey, a Benedictine monastery whose origins trace to around 720 and whose present baroque complex was built between 1696 and 1712. Bilingual signage here reflects the town's strong Romansh Sursilvan character, recorded at 75.3% of residents in the 2000 census.

The Rhaetian Railway line that carries the journey toward Chur was inaugurated in 1896, originally running between Landquart and Thusis. When it reached Chur, the Swiss Federal Council required the Rhaetian Railway to share the existing station rather than construct its own terminus. Chur station itself first opened on 30 June 1858 and remains the most important railway junction in the canton of Graubünden. The station occupies the centre of Chur, forming the transition between the city's old and new towns — a contrast that becomes visible on arrival after the descent through the Alpine Rhine valley.