About this journey

Tirano station sits at the Italian end of the Bernina line, where the metre-gauge track of the Rhaetian Railway meets the road crossings and street-level running that characterise the final approach from Switzerland. The line it serves has its origins in 1905, when the Bernina-Bahngesellschaft was established to connect Tirano with St Moritz via the Bernina Pass, financed not by cantonal funds but by investors in Kraftwerke Brusio AG, a hydro-electric works company. The complete line opened on 5 July 1910, and the Bernina-Bahngesellschaft was eventually absorbed by the Rhaetian Railway in 1943.

The railway climbs northward on gradients of up to 7%, crossing an elevation difference of 1,824 m between the Bernina Pass and Tirano — an ascent achieved entirely by adhesion, without rack assistance, making it one of the steepest such railways in the world. Near Brusio, the spiral viaduct manages the altitude loss with a full loop of track before the line continues into Italian territory. At its summit, Ospizio Bernina stands at 2,253 m above sea level, the highest railway crossing in Europe.

The journey ends at Pontresina station, an unusual junction where two electrification systems meet: the 1,000 V DC of the Bernina line and the 11 kV AC of the line arriving from Samedan. Track 3 carries a switchable catenary to accommodate both, and it is here that the locomotive exchange for the Bernina Express service takes place.