A Rhaetian Railway train on its way to set a world record for longest passenger train in Berguen, Switzerland on Saturday.
BERGUN (Switzerland), Oct 31 (NNN-XINHUA/AGENCIES) — The world’s longest narrow gauge passenger train of Swiss Rhaetian Railway has entered the Guinness Book of Records.
The company ran the 1.91-km-long train composed of 100 coaches along the Albula-Bernina route from Preda to Bergun on Saturday. Several thousand guests and railway fans attended the event.
“We are looking forward to seeing many tourists from both Switzerland and China,” said Renato Fasciati, director of Swiss Rhaetian Railway.
Fasciati said the world record attempt was intended to highlight some of Switzerland’s engineering achievements and to celebrate 175 years of Swiss railways.
“Railway transportation plays an important role in the social and economic development of China and Switzerland,” said Sebastian Blaettler, market manager for Asia Pacific at Rhaetian Railway, “I think we will enhance the cultural and technical communication and cooperation between the two countries in the future.”
While there are freight trains that are longer, with some measuring over 3km, Saturday’s event featured by far the longest passenger train ever run.
It was several hundred metres longer than a train that held the unofficial previous record, in Belgium in the 1990s, an RhB spokesman said.
With dazzling sunshine reflecting off its shiny, silver roof and with a digital destination sign on the front reading “Alpine Cruise”, the train carried 150 passengers.
It took the spectacular, spiralling Albula/Bernina route, listed as a Unesco World Heritage site, covering the nearly 25km from Preda to Alvaneu in less than 45 minutes.
Some 3,000 people who had snapped up coveted tickets watched the trip on a giant screen set up near Bergun, at the halfway-point in the historic journey.
Others lined the mountain roads and paths, cheering as the giant train slowly snaked between autumn-coloured trees.
It wound through 22 helical tunnels and crossing 48 bridges along the way, including the majestic Landwasser Viaduct, towering 65 metres over the ravine below.
Swiss media broadcast aerial footage showing the train at several levels simultaneously, with its snout exiting one tunnel as carriages further back were sliding through others.
The road up to the various lookout points was closed off to traffic, but many hiked or biked up the mountainside seeking out the best view.
And as the train made its way down one mountainside, a flock of people on bikes tried to follow alongside it on a parallel path.
Holding up the Guinness World Record diploma, Fasciati told reporters that there had been significant challenges to ensure such a long train could travel safely.
Few countries have a rail network as dense as Switzerland, which is famous for its punctual trains.
The wealthy Alpine country saw the departure of its first train service on Aug 9, 1847, linking Zurich with Baden, 23km to the northwest – a trip which took 33 minutes. — NNN-XINHUA/AGENCIES
