User:Kabelleger/Gotthard Line

By the end of 2016 the new Gotthard Base Tunnel will be fully operational. At that point the old Gotthard railway line won't see much traffic anymore. It's therefore time to document this very scenic engineering marvel while rail traffic is still in full swing!

This page will therefore guide you along the old Gotthard railway line, showing you some of its bridges, tunnels and scenic features, and, of course, the trains. Enjoy!

Erstfeld - Amsteg-Silenen

We'll start at Erstfeld. This is the first station that's by-passed by the new Gotthard Base Tunnel, and marks the start of the steep grades of the old Gotthard line. Since the line was built, Erstfeld has a depot for engines, which were and still are mostly used as helpers. In the past, mid-train helpers were common; since about the 1990s, bank engines were only added to the rear end of the train.

Newer locomotives required less and less work, thus much of the depot infrastructure today is not needed for revenue trains anymore. Instead, SBB Historic started storing historic locomotives in Erstfeld. We'll start with a picture of SBB Historic's BDe 4/4 nr. 1646 in front of the station building.

Let's head over to the depot.

From left to right: Re 482 026, Re 620 033, Ae 6/6 11421, Ae 4/7 10976, Be 4/6 12320, Ce 6/8 II 14253.

The Re 482 is part of the modern Bombardier TRAXX series. It's a relatively cheap "off-the-shelf" product, ideal for freight trains.

The Re 620 (formerly Re 6/6) is the last of what we call "Gotthard Locomotives". Their relatively uncommon wheel arrangement with three bogies, of which the center one can move sideways, is very well suited for this curvy line, and with 7800 kW these locomotives are some of the world's most powerful.

The Ae 6/6 is the predecessor of the Re 6/6, and considered to be the classic "Gotthard Locomotive". It's got a more conventional wheel arrangement with two three-axle bogies, which is considered to "eat rails".

The Ae 4/7 and Be 4/6 are from the early days of electric traction. The Ae 4/7 is a universal locomotive, while the Be 4/6 is more suited for passenger service, since it's quick, but not very powerful.

The Ce 6/8 II is one of the famous "crocodiles" and one of the very first successful electric locomotives. It was used for freight trains, because it's relatively slow, but can pull heavy trains.

Let's leave Erstfeld behind, and start the climb!

This intermodal freight train has just left the town of Erstfeld (still visible in the background). It's pulled by the "winning team" Re 4/4 II and Re 6/6, a combination that's so common it's also called "Re 10/10". Both locomotives are controlled by a single driver (they work in multiple).

A bit further up, we're watching a ETR 470 tilting train as it climbs the grade.

It's one of the infamous "Cisalpino" trainsets, which were known for broken toilets, passengers getting motion sickness, faulty tilt mechanisms, frequent breakdowns, constant delays and occasional fires in the electrical equipment. Yet still, they're part of the history of this line. This picture was taken after "Cisalpino", a joint-venture of SBB and Trenitalia, was shut down, hence the SBB logos on the train.

At Silenen, we're watching one of SBB Historics icons, the "Trans Europ Express" RAe TEE II, on its way towards Erstfeld. As the name suggests, the RAe TEE II is an international train of the 1960s.

Let's switch over to the other side of the tracks.

The powerhouse of the Gotthard line, the Re 6/6, is leading an intermodal train, again in a "Re 10/10" combo. Why is this combination so common, you might ask. Simple: A Re 10/10 is able to haul the maximum permitted train weight (1400 tonnes without bank engine; heavier trains are not possible because the couplers are too weak), and the two types work well together, because they're basically the same technology from the 1960s.

Amsteg-Silenen - Gurtnellen

After Amsteg, we're crossing the first high bridge of the line, the Chärstelenbach bridge. The train is an Interregio from Locarno. Noteworthy is the consistent livery of the coaches; you'll probably have to go back to the 1960s to find trains with such a consistent color scheme! Even back in 2010, the colors of the passenger cars were totally mixed.

Also note the hydroelectric power station on the right. It's one of the original power stations that were built to power the line back in 1922, and it still supplies electricity to the trains today, although the turbines and generators have been replaced by new ones in an underground cavern in the 1990s.

The next major bridge is the Intschireuss bridge, the highest (77 m) bridge of the SBB railway network. Should you ever visit the place, be sure to walk along the footpath underneath the bridge, which is just a suspended metal grate over the abyss!

The train is an Eurocity consisting of Trenitalia coaches. Trains with italian coaches were very common in the past, but have since been replaced by EMUs. This was the only such train in 2013, and currently there's none.

To speed up national intercity traffic on the line, the RABDe 500 tilting trains were introduced on the Gotthard line at some point around 2007. They can travel the line about 15-20 km/h faster than conventional trains, and have proven to be quite reliable, at least compared to other tilting trains.

The latest generation of tilting trains, and the replacement for the ETR 470, are the ETR 610 (resp. RABe 503, which is the second series) tilting trains. These trains can go to Italy and thus link Milan (and occasionally other cities) with the german part of Switzerland. Here, one of these trains is passing the town of Intschi.

One curve further up, this quadruple headed freight train ("Re 20/20") is headed down towards Erstfeld. Four locomotives at the head end are rather unusual, as two are typically sufficient; thus, they're probably just moving some surplus locomotives to the north.

We're heading over to the Meitschlingen curve, and watch a BLS train headed by two Bombardier TRAXX climb the grade.

There's always been a historic competition between the SBB and the BLS, since the Gotthard line was owned by the SBB, and the BLS had their own line to the south via Lötschberg and Simplon. For many years it was completely unthinkable that the BLS would operate trains on SBB's "holy mountain" (as it's jokingly called among railway workers) and vice versa. However, since 1999 we have "Open Access" on the Swiss railway network, which means everybody (who meets the requirements) can run trains everywhere, against a fair trackage fee. Since then, views like this are daily business.

We move further up, to a gallery that protects the line against mudflows.

This is the site of three landslides in 2012, leading to the closure of the line for several weeks. Behind the trains you can see metal nets that catch smaller rocks. If you look closely at the second picture, you can see rock anchors in the rock face; these keep loose parts from falling down. These sort of protection measures can be found along the entire line, and are one reason why its operation is rather expensive.

Looking the other way, we can see an Interregio from Locarno that has just passed Gurtnellen.

The town of Gurtnellen is actually further up in the mountains, but the train station has attracted some people and industry, creating today's town of "Gurtnellen Wiler". The train station, however, is simply called "Gurtnellen".

Gurtnellen - Wassen

Just above Gurtnellen we're watching a "RBe Sandwich", which is two RBe 540 units with six passenger cars in between, headed towards Göschenen. RBe 540 units were a rare sight on this line, but during a few years they were used as relief trains between Zürich and Göschenen during the high season.

In the background, down in the valley, you can see Gurtnellen Wiler; above you can see the church of the "real" town Gurtnellen.

Here, the line enters a first spiral tunnel to gain some height.

A bit further up, an Interregio is approaching Wassen on a snowy day.

Wassen

The most scenic part of the line is certainly the section around Wassen. Here, the line first passes underneath the town at an elevation of about 860 meters. It changes direction and passes the town and it's train station again, now at about 940 meters; finally, the line changes direction again, and finally heads away from the town at about 1000 meters. The striking church of Wassen can be seen from the train three times, from each level of the line, and has thus become one of the icons of this railway line.

We start at the lowest level, the line has just passed the lower Meienreuss bridge and underneath the town of Wassen. This Re 460 pulling an Interregio train is just passing the "Wattingen Curve", perhaps the most popular photo spot for railfans.

At the end of the curve a bridge crosses the Reuss, and leads straight into a tunnel.

Yet another different view onto the scene.

In the tunnel, the line starts to turn around. After the tunnel, it has to cross over to the other side of the valley, crossing the Reuss once again.

Now, the line passes the town of Wassen for the second time, offering many different spectacular views!

Here, it crosses the Meienreuss for the second time.

By the way, that locomotive makes all the railfans excited, because it's the last green locomotive of SBB's passenger division, Re 420 161 (formerly Re 4/4 II 11161).

After a second turn, the line is headed south again, and crosses the Meienreuss for the third time.

Think of this photo as "that's how it could have looked in the 1970s". The "Verein Depot und Schienenfahrzeuge Koblenz" restored and operates this gorgeous RBe 4/4 unit, nr. 1405, which is one of the prototypes. It's been returned to its original state (unlike most other units, it was never converted into an RBe 540 with new doors and NPZ livery, which made the task a lot easier, but still), and they also have matching passenger cars, "Einheitwagen I" (Mark I standard coaches).

Further up, we're watching a more modern freight train.

It's hauled by two Siemens EuroSprinter ES64F4, which are equipped to operate in several countries, allowing through trains from the Netherlands to Italy. Since the locomotives are rented from a pool (MRCE, Mitsui Rail Capital Europe) for a relatively short timespan, it's nearly impossible to tell who the actual operator is (TX Logistics in this case).

But actually the picture gets much more interesting if we stitch a few photos together!

Here, a freight train is going up, while a RABe 503 tilting train is going down, about 80 meters below. It feels like you're on a model train layout if you're sitting there and watching the trains run all around you!

Looking the other way, towards Göschenen, we see two tilting trains meet, a RABDe 500 "ICN" and an ETR 610. The ETR 610's coupler cover seems to be broken.

Göschenen

The line now soon reaches Göschenen. The most noteworthy structure is the Rorbach bridge, which used to be a steel bridge, which was frequently damaged by avalanches. The solution was to rebuild it as a tunnel, thereby protecting the line from avalanches, and making the bridge much more robust. Unfortunately it's not really possible to get a good photo of that peculiar structure.

At Göschenen, bank engines are normally uncoupled, and they return back to Erstfeld. It's also the first passenger stop since Erstfeld that's still served by trains, and it connects to the Schöllenenbahn to Andermatt, which is a branch line of the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn, a meter gauge railway with rack sections.

What follows is the old, 15 km long Gotthard rail tunnel, a single bore, double track tunnel, which leads the line to Airolo.

Airolo - Faido

The southern ramp of the Gotthard line is generally a bit less spectacular, and harder to photograph, especially if you're living in the northern part of Switzerland, as I do. Hence this bit will be a bit shorter.

South of Airolo, the line crosses the Ticino river, over the Stalvedro bridge.

Just south of Ambri-Piotta, a steel train hauled by the well-known Re 10/10 combo is headed south.

Before arriving at Faido, the line passes two spiral tunnels, thereby loosing about 160 meters of height!

Faido - Giornico

Just south of Faido, an ETR 470 "Cisalpino" is headed towards Milan.

This is a historic photograph in several ways. First, the company Cisalpino AG does not exist anymore. It was an ill-fated joint-venture between SBB and FS (the italian state railways). Second, the livery of these trains was unique, and disappeared a few years later; and third, the trains themselves have been retired from service and scrapped. These trains were one of the reasons the Cisalpino brand died; they were a constant source of problems and made the Cisalpino name synonymous to crappy service, huge delays, technical failures and stranded passengers.

A bit further south, the latest high-tech from Bombardier is hauling a southbound BLS freight train.

The front unit is a BR 187 TRAXX "Last Mile", which means that it's got an auxiliary diesel engine (and a "booster" battery) for operation on non-electrified track. The diesel engine is nowhere near powerful enough to haul a freight train at speed, but it's enough to shunt trains on non-electrified sidings at little over walking pace, eliminating the need for diesel shunters. The second unit is a slightly older Re 486, also a TRAXX, but without the diesel engine.

In this area, the railway line follows the old Gotthard road for a bit.

Right after this photo, the line enters a tunnel which leads it to the top level of the Biaschina loops, which lead it down from 580 meters to 450 meters.

This southbund freight train has just arrived at the middle level between the two spiral tunnels.

The following photo shows the line crossing the Ticino river, at the bottom end of the second spiral tunnel.

On the next photo you can see the arrangement, with the top, middle and bottom levels of the line, a switchback of the old Gotthard road, and the 1980s autobahn at the top.

The train is kind of special, because it's one of last locomotive-hauled Eurocity services that used to connect Switzerland to Italy. The locomotive is a multi-system Re 484, which can run in Italy and Switzerland, and the coaches are SBB Eurocity coaches, the second one still has the Cisalpino design, but already the SBB logo.

Giornico

The last stop on our tour along the Gotthard line is Giornico, a typical Ticino village. The most prominent buildings are an old SBB substation and three historic churches, two of which you'll see in the following photos.

The SBB substation was built in the late 1910s, when the Gotthard line was originally electrified, and is still in use today.

On the second photo, you can see one of SBB's "Lösch- und Rettungszug" ("LRZ"), a fire fighting and rescue train. These older models are hauled by Am 843 diesel locomotives, while the newer ones are self-propelled.

Finally, the curches. The next photo was actually taken from the third church, and shows the other two churches which sit next to the Gotthard line. The train is an ETR 610 tilting train to Milan, owned by FS (Trenitalia). They're the same as SBB's ETR 610, and very similar to SBB's newer RABe 503s.

The final photo shows a northbound SBB RABDe 500 tilting train passing the two churches.

After Giornico, the line continues in a rather unspectacular fashion to Pollegio, where the new Gotthard Base Tunnel line merges into the old line.

That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed the trip along the old Gotthard line!