About this journey

The journey begins at Zugspitze station, perched at 2,650 metres above sea level — the highest point on Germany's highest railway. From here, the Bayerische Zugspitzbahn descends 19.0 km through an extraordinary range of terrain and engineering, dropping 1,945 metres in total — the greatest height difference of any railway in Europe.

The line was built between 1928 and 1930, opening in three stages, with the final section inaugurated on 8 July 1930. Near the summit, the route runs through the 4,466-metre Zugspitze Tunnel, passing almost directly beneath the peak and within a few metres of the Austrian border with Tyrol. In 1987, a 975-metre branch tunnel — named after local alpine ski racer Rosi Mittermaier — rerouted trains to the Zugspitzplatt plateau at 2,588 metres. The upper section relies on the Riggenbach rack system alone; lower down, from Grainau onward, the line transitions to adhesion running with rack assistance across the remaining 7.5 km into the valley. Throughout, the 1,000 mm gauge track is powered by 1,500 V D.C. overhead line. The descent ends at the BZB's own terminal station in Garmisch — operationally separate from the adjacent Deutsche Bahn station — marking the contrast between the high alpine tunnel world above and the valley floor below.