About this journey

Wilderswil station sits at 584 metres above sea level at the foot of the Bernese Oberland, where the depot and workshops of the Schynige Platte-Bahn occupy the ground adjacent to the platform. From here, Line 314 begins its ascent on 800 mm gauge track, powered by 1,500 V DC overhead wire and assisted throughout by the Riggenbach rack system, which allows the line to tackle a maximum gradient of 25%.

The Schynige Platte-Bahn opened on 14 June 1893, initially worked by steam. Electrification followed in 1914, and the He 2/2 locomotives that entered service at that time — a fleet drawn in large part from the old stock of the Wengernalp Railway — remain in operation today, making every journey a working piece of railway history. Over 7.26 km the line climbs 1,420 metres, passing through forest and out onto open alpine pastures, with widening views across Lakes Thun and Brienz unfolding to either side.

At 5.6 km into the route the train passes through the Grätli Tunnel, after which the landscape opens dramatically to reveal the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau directly opposite. The line arrives at Schynige Platte station at 1,967 metres above sea level, a contrast in almost every respect to the valley floor at Wilderswil — the gentle Oberland countryside of the lower stages giving way, in the final kilometres, to the full scale of the high Alps.