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RhB train near Preda, June 2003

The RhB (Rhaetian Railway / Rhätische Bahn (German) / Ferrovia Retica (Italian) / Viafier Retica (Rumantsch)) has the largest network of all the private railways in Switzerland. The company operates most of the railways in the south-easternmost canton of Graubünden (Italian: Grigioni, Rumantsch: Grischun, French/English: Grisons) since the Federal Railways SBB-CFF-FFS extend only a few kilometres over the cantonal border to the capital at Chur.

RhB serves the major tourist center of St Moritz and Davos, and one of the lines, the Berninabahn, crosses the Bernina Pass to the Italian border and on to Tirano, where there is a link to the Italian railways.

RhB Map

RhB train between Davos Dorf and Klosters

The RhB network was developed in various stages at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, with the result that several different electrification systems are in use, and one 12km section between Castione and Cama is completely separate from all other railways following a landslide in the mid-20th century. All the RhB is of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3⅜ in) gauge, and is electrified:

• 61km, the Bernina Bahn (Pontresina - Tirano) is electrified at 1000V.
• 12km, (Castione-Cama) is electrified at 1500V.
• 321km is electrified at 11kV 16.7Hz (including Chur-Arosa and the new Vereina tunnel route).

The network contains 84 tunnels (the longest being the 19.042 km (11.83 miles) Vereina tunnel, opened on 19 November 1999, and the 5.864 km (3.64 miles) Albula tunnel), and 383 bridges. The maximum gradient is 4.5%, except on the Bernina Bahn, where it is 7%.[1]

Current services operated by the RhB:

• Fast service Chur – St. Moritz
• Local service Thusis – Chur – Landquart – Schiers
• Local service Chur – Disentis
• Fast service Chur – Landquart – Klosters – Davos
• Regional express service (RX) Landquart – Scuol-Tarasp through the Vereina Tunnel
• Local service Chur – Arosa
• Local service Scuol-Tarasp – Samedan – Pontresina
• Local service St. Moritz – Tirano (Italy)
• Local service Davos Platz – Filisur
• Local service Tirano - Poschiavo
• Vehicle transporter service through the Vereina Tunnel: Klosters - Sagliains.
• Vehicle transporter service through the Albula Tunnel: Thusis - Samedan.

The annual traffic carried by the RhB (2002) is 300,000,000 passenger-kilometres, and 54,000,000 tonne-kilometres of freight. 80% of passenger income comes from tourists, though 40% of passengers are local people.

The RhB is 53% owned by the Cantonal government of Graubünden, 43% by the Swiss Confederation, and 4% is held privately. It employs 1479 staff (2002).

• List of railway companies in Switzerland
• Glacier Express

• Eds: Hill, Ken and Pattison, Tony (2000). Jane’s World Railways ISBN 0-7106-2034-9. Jane’s Information Group, London.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Rhätische Bahn

• RhB official website
• The Rhaetian Network Image presentations of famous Rhaetian lines
• Rail-info.ch description
• Railfaneurope.net, RhB photos