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Glacier Express
The Glacier Express (GEX) is a direct train connecting railway stations of the two major mountain resorts of Zermatt and St. Moritz via Andermatt in the central Swiss Alps. The train is not an "express" in the sense of being a high-speed train, but rather, in the sense that it provides a one-seat ride for an 8-hours-long end-to-end journey, and omits stops made by local trains. The Glacier Express is known as the slowest express train in the world. As St. Moritz and Zermatt are home to two well-known mountains, the Glacier Express is also said to travel from Matterhorn to Piz Bernina. The journey from Zermatt starts at the dead end of an Alpine valley, the Mattertal, just below the world-renowned Matterhorn at an elevation of before it descends to the huge valley of the Valais in Brig. It traverses the journey through the center of the Swiss Alps, over 291 bridges, through 91 tunnels, such as the Furka Tunnel at an elevation of to circumvent the Furka Pass, makes an inter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Landwasser Viaduct
The Landwasser Viaduct (german: Landwasserviadukt) is a single-track six-arched curved limestone railway viaduct. It spans the Landwasser between Schmitten and Filisur, in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. Designed by Alexander Acatos, the Landwasser Viaduct was constructed between 1901 and 1902 by Müller & Zeerleder on behalf of the Rhaetian Railway, which both owns and operates it through to the present day. A signature structure of the World Heritage-listed Albula Railway, it is high, long; its southeastern abutment connects directly to the Landwasser Tunnel. During 2009, the Landwasser Viaduct underwent renovation work for the first time since its original construction. Location The Landwasser Viaduct, composed of dark limestone, forms part of the Albula Railway section between Tiefencastel and Filisur, and is at the mark from Thusis. To passengers on trains approaching the viaduct from Tiefencastel and Alvaneu on the Albula Railway, the viaduct becomes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thusis
Thusis ( it, Tosana, '' Romansh: Tusàn'') is a municipality in the Viamala Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. On 1 January 2018 the former municipality of Mutten merged into the municipality of Thusis. History Thusis is first mentioned in 1156 as ''Tosana''. The town was devastated by more than 10 fires and after the one of 1845, it had to be rebuilt. Geography Thusis has an area, , of . Of this area, 18% is used for agricultural purposes, while 58.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 15.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (8.6%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). The municipality is the capital of the Thusis sub-district, of the Hinterrhein district, after 2017 it was part of the Viamala Region. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mattertal
The Matter Valley (German: Mattertal, or sometimes ''Nikolaital'') is located in southwestern Switzerland, south of the Rhone valley in the canton of Valais. The village of Zermatt is the most important settlement of the valley, which is surrounded by many four-thousanders, including the Matterhorn. Geography Located in the Pennine Alps, the Matter Valley is drained by the Matter Vispa, a tributary of the Rhone. The valley itself ends at Stalden where it meets the Saas Valley. The resulting Visp Valley continues for a few kilometres until it reaches the town of Visp on the young river Rhone. The valley starts between the high summits south of Zermatt ( Monte Rosa, Matterhorn) on the border with Italy. The upper side is glaciated, the second largest glacier of the Alps, the Gorner Glacier lies at the foot of Monte Rosa (4,634 m), while the Zmutt Glacier lies at the foot of the Matterhorn (4,478 m). Around the village of Randa are located the Weisshorn (4,505 m) and the Do ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piz Bernina
Piz Bernina ( Romansh, it, Pizzo Bernina, ) is the highest mountain in the Eastern Alps, the highest point of the Bernina Range, and the highest peak in the Rhaetian Alps. It rises and is located south of Pontresina and near the major Alpine resort of St. Moritz, in the Engadin valley. It is also the most easterly mountain higher than in the Alps, the highest point of the Swiss canton of Graubünden, and the fifth-most prominent peak in the Alps. Although the summit lies within Switzerland, the massif is on the border with Italy. The "shoulder" () known as La Spedla is the highest point in the Italian Lombardy region. Piz Bernina is entirely surrounded by glaciers, of which the largest is the Morteratsch Glacier. The mountain was named after the Bernina Pass in 1850 by Johann Coaz, who also made the first ascent. The prefix ''Piz'' comes from the Romansch language in Graubünden; any mountain with that name can be readily identified as being located in southeaster ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matterhorn
The (, ; it, Cervino, ; french: Cervin, ; rm, Matterhorn) is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the main watershed and border between Switzerland and Italy. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, whose summit is high, making it one of the highest summits in the Alps and Europe.Considering summits with at least 300 metres prominence, it is the 6th highest in the Alps and Europe outside the Caucasus Mountains. The four steep faces, rising above the surrounding glaciers, face the four compass points and are split by the ''Hörnli'', ''Furggen'', ''Leone''/''Lion'', and ''Zmutt'' ridges. The mountain overlooks the Swiss town of Zermatt, in the canton of Valais, to the northeast; and the Italian town of Breuil-Cervinia in the Aosta Valley to the south. Just east of the Matterhorn is Theodul Pass, the main passage between the two valleys on its north and south sides, which has been a trade route since the Roman Era. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High-speed Rail
High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines built to handle speeds above or upgraded lines in excess of are widely considered to be high-speed. The first high-speed rail system, the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, began operations in Japan in 1964 and was widely known as the bullet train. High-speed trains mostly operate on standard gauge tracks of continuously welded rail on grade-separated rights of way with large radii. However, certain regions with wider legacy railways, including Russia and Uzbekistan, have sought to develop a high speed railway network in Russian gauge. There are no narrow gauge high-speed trains; the fastest is the Cape gauge Spirit of Queensland at . Many countries have developed, or are currently building, high-speed rail infrastructure to connect majo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swiss Alps
The Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps (german: Schweizer Alpen, french: Alpes suisses, it, Alpi svizzere, rm, Alps svizras), represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main physiographic regions. The Swiss Alps extend over both the Western Alps and the Eastern Alps, encompassing an area sometimes called Central Alps. While the northern ranges from the Bernese Alps to the Appenzell Alps are entirely in Switzerland, the southern ranges from the Mont Blanc massif to the Bernina massif are shared with other countries such as France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. The Swiss Alps comprise almost all the highest mountains of the Alps, such as Dufourspitze (4,634 m), the Dom (4,545 m), the Liskamm (4,527 m), the Weisshorn (4,506 m) and the Matterhorn (4,478 m). The other following major summits can be found in this list of m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zermatt
Zermatt () is a municipality in the district of Visp in the German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is classified as a town by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO). It lies at the upper end of Mattertal at an elevation of , at the foot of Switzerland's highest peaks. It lies about from the over high Theodul Pass bordering Italy. Zermatt is the southernmost commune of the German '' Sprachraum''. Zermatt is famed as a mountaineering and ski resort of the Swiss Alps. Until the mid-19th century, it was predominantly an agricultural community; the first and tragic ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865 was followed by a rush on the mountains surrounding the village, leading to the construction of many tourist facilities. The year-round population () is , though there may be several times as many tourists in Zermatt at any one time. Much of the local economy is based on tourism, with about half of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mountain Resort
A mountain resort is a place to holiday or vacation located in an elevated and typically at least relatively isolated area. The term resort implies integral hotel or inn accommodations, restaurants, and either or both sports facilities or scenic attractions. These can either be part of a " destination resort" that provides both accommodations and activities, or in a "resort town" that offers amenities near outdoor areas. Winter sports include skiing, snowboarding, and ice skating, and summer activities such as hiking, golf, and tennis. Sightseeing and related activities such as leaf peeping to appreciate Fall colors are also common where foliage turns. In hot climates hill and mountain resorts are visited for the cooler temperatures at higher elevations. North America In the United States and Canada the term "mountain resort" usually denotes a resort visited all year, both for winter sports and summer activities, such as hiking, golf, tennis, and mountain biking. So ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zermatt Railway Station
Zermatt railway station is a metre gauge railway station serving the car-free mountaineering and ski resort of Zermatt, in the Canton of Valais, Switzerland. It is the southern terminus of the BVZ Zermatt-Bahn (BVZ), which connects Zermatt with standard gauge lines at Visp (served by SBB-CFF-FFS) and Brig (served by SBB-CFF-FFS and BLS AG). Since , the BVZ has been owned and operated by the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn (MGB), following a merger between the BVZ and the Furka Oberalp Bahn (FO). The station is across the street from Zermatt GGB railway station, the valley terminus of the Gornergrat Railway. Overview Every day, several Glacier Express trains, which are operated at this point by the MGB, either originate from, or terminate at, Zermatt station. The MGB also operates regional services to Brig at hourly intervals. Additionally, due to Zermatt's car-free status, the MGB has a frequent special shuttle train service between Zermatt and nearby Täsch, where people travell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brig Railway Station
Brig railway station is an important railway junction in the municipality of Brig-Glis ( French: ''Brigue-Glis''), in the Canton of Valais, Switzerland. Opened in 1878, it is adjacent to the northern portal of the Simplon Tunnel and is served by two standard gauge lines. Another two metre gauge lines serve the physically adjacent Brig Bahnhofplatz railway station. History Service to Brig began on 18 June 1878; it was at that time the eastern terminus of the Simplon Railway. The opening of the Simplon Tunnel in 1906 extended the Simplon Railway southeast to Domodossola, in Italy. Brig's other standard gauge line, the Lötschberg railway line, opened in 1913. It links Bern with Brig via the Lötschberg Pass, including the Lötschberg Tunnel. In 2007, this line was largely supplanted by the New Railway Link through the Alps (NRLA),Swiss timetable 300. connecting ( Bern and) Spiez with Visp, near Brig, via the Lötschberg Base Tunnel. Trains travelling along the NRLA line to V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Celerina
Celerina/Schlarigna (German/Italian ''Celerina''; Romansh ) is a municipality in the Maloja Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. History Celerina/Schlarigna was first mentioned in 1313 as ''Schellarin'' and in 1320 as ''Celarina''. In 1631, a fire destroyed 43 houses. From the 1860s onwards, tourism became more and more important to the village. The Cresta Run opened in 1884, the St. Moritz-Celerina Olympic Bobrun in 1904 and the cable car to Saluver in 1958. In the course of the 20th century, the population structure of the originally Romansh-speaking farming village underwent radical change, with people moving to the thriving resort from the German-speaking part of Switzerland and also from Italy. Geography Celerina/Schlarigna has an area, , of . Of this area, 34% is used for agricultural purposes, while 30.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 4.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (31.4%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
