About this journey

Martigny station sits at the junction of several Alpine rail corridors, and this journey departs along the Martigny–Orsières line, operated today by RegionAlps under the Saint-Bernard Express brand and designated R81. The line has industrial origins: it was established by British Aluminium to smelt and transport aluminium near Orsières, though legal disputes between British Aluminium and Aluminium Industrie Aktien prevented the planned smelter from ever being built. The main line from Martigny runs 19.3 km toward Orsières; at Sembrancher the branch toward Le Châble diverges, adding a further 6.1 km into the Val de Bagnes. That branch opened on 5 August 1953. The line's electrification has also evolved considerably: it opened on 8,000 V DC, then converted to 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC in 1949 to allow Swiss Federal Railways locomotives to work cement trains.

The journey ends at Le Châble station, which was substantially rebuilt in January 2019, when tracks and platforms were lowered 4.5 metres underground to create a subterranean terminus. Adjacent to the station sits the valley station of the gondola lift to Verbier, making Le Châble a key interchange for the resort. The underground terminus, reached by a branch opened in 1953, stands as a striking endpoint for a line whose origins lie in a aluminium venture that never fully materialised.