About this journey

St. Moritz station sits at the starting point of the Berninabahn, the metre-gauge line that climbs to the highest adhesion railway crossing in Europe. The Bernina-Bahngesellschaft was established in 1905 with the objective of connecting St. Moritz to Tirano via the Bernina Pass, financed not by cantonal subsidy but by investors in the hydro-electric works at Brusio. The line opened in stages from 1908 and was fully complete on 5 July 1910, when the last and most difficult section between Bernina Suot and Poschiavo was finished.

Leaving St. Moritz, the line crosses the Inn River on a 64 m viaduct before passing through the 689 m Charnadüra-Tunnel II, the longest tunnel on the route. The climb continues to near Ospizio Bernina, where the track reaches 2,253 m above sea level, working against gradients of up to 7% on a single-track, 1,000 mm gauge alignment. The line has operated on DC current from the outset; in 1935 the voltage was raised from 750 to 1,000 volts. On 7 July 2008 it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site alongside the Albula line. Descending toward Italy, the track passes the Brusio spiral viaduct before crossing the main square of Madonna di Tirano and reaching Tirano station, where the metre-gauge Berninabahn meets the standard-gauge Italian rail network.