Wengernalp Railway

Geschichte

The Wengernalp Railway is a long rack railway line in Switzerland. It runs from Lauterbrunnen to Grindelwald via Wengen and Kleine Scheidegg, making it the world's longest continuous rack and pinion railway.The line is normally operated in two sections, with trains from either direction terminating at Kleine Scheidegg. At the latter station, most passengers transfer to the Jungfrau Railway for the continuation of the journey to the highest railway station in Europe at Jungfraujoch.The line is owned by the Wengernalpbahn AG, a subsidiary of the Jungfraubahn Holding AG, a holding company that also owns the Jungfraubahn and Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen–Mürren, Harderbahn, and Firstbahn. Through that holding company it is part of the Allianz - Jungfrau Top of Europe marketing alliance, which also includes the separately owned Berner Oberland-Bahn and Schynige Platte-Bahn.HistoryIn 1875, the first plans for a railway on the route later taken by the Wengernalp line were drawn up, but the high projected costs meant that the concession expired. Fifteen years later, in 1890, Leo Heer-Bétrix gained a new 80 year concession to build and operate the railway. The Wengernalpbahn was founded.