By train from St. Moritz to the Matterhorn - The Glacier Express | DW Documentary

[Music] [Music] [Music] welcome to sant moritz the elegant and extravagant high alpine resort town in switzerland has long been a favorite among those who can afford it it's a cradle of winter holiday fun and it keeps traditions like the alporn alive [Music] some visitors stay just one night a stop over so to speak to be at the railway station in the morning saint maritz promotes itself as top of the world and it's up here that one of the world's most famous train journeys begins the glacier express was set on the rails in 1930 it followed and still follows the tradition of pre-world war one luxury trains hello and a warm welcome to the glacier express the slowest fast train in the world the train takes its time it needs about eight hours to travel 300 kilometers but speed isn't the point [Music] those who board the glacier express aren't in a hurry they want to enjoy every moment of the journey the route winds through the splendid alpine world of switzerland along the abuela line to coor from down in the rhine valley the train makes a slow climb up to descentus andamat and brig are further stations before the glacier express reaches its destination samat by the matahorn especially in winter passengers can catch a glimpse of life in the mountains through the windows the direct journey has existed for more than 88 years after half an hour the train reaches samadhin one of the main towns in the angadine region back in the days when temperatures still drastically dropped in winter samaden was considered one of the coldest places in switzerland over the years the attraction of the glacier express has somewhat paled in particular fewer german passengers come because of the strength of the swiss franc in winter the train is the only means to travel through the abuela pass which is otherwise closed from november to june the train goes beneath it in spinas the route passes by the construction site for the new albula tunnel [Music] the old tunnel opened in 1903 at an altitude of around 1 800 meters which made it one of the highest tunnels going through a mountain in europe parallel to the old tunnel at a distance of about 30 meters construction of the new albula tunnel has been ongoing since 2015. [Music] miners work in a three-shift system the main method being used for advancing the tunnel is blasting [Music] a bit further up the track lies what's known as the most beautiful spot in switzerland swiss television viewers gave this moniker to the mountain lake the laida palpuania in 2007. for passengers this is the first of many highlights along the glacier express route set within this glorious alpine panorama several spiral loops and tunnels or helical tunnels help the train lose about 400 meters of altitude this is done with such grace that the albula section is considered a masterpiece of railway construction even those who aren't trained experts are impressed [Music] train routing that's in perfect harmony with the landscape [Music] has been a unesco world cultural heritage site since 2008 and we're really proud of that the entrance to the spiral tunnel is up above and the exit further down this happens several times along the route the albula valley is always remote but especially during winter when the pass is closed idealized alpine life almost seems to be reality in the region like here in the swiss village of bagoon there's no daily rush just time and quiet stunning scenery and kaubunden architecture at times begun can nearly look too idyllic [Music] the gentle downward glide of the glacier express fits right in i try to drive the glacier express especially smoothly so that nothing slides off the table during lunch but that's a given as long as the train is on time we're allowed to slow down as we pass scenic points to give and there's a lot worth photographing the breathtaking scenery or particularly on the albula section of the track one of the many beautifully designed railway structures one of the most famous is the curved landface viaduct it's said to be the most frequently photographed railway bridge in switzerland if not the world looking out of the panoramic windows it's easy to see why unesco made this a world cultural heritage site the organization describes it as an architectural and civil engineering achievement in harmony with the landscapes sixty kilometers further the world cultural heritage route ends in tusis [Music] a special passenger sits at platform two she is a genuine cowbundan resident and has been waiting for the glacier express since 1995. [Music] the artist robot indamawa created the lady at his studio nearby when my children ask where's mom i tell them she's at the station in tucson i used my wife as a model because i've traveled i picked out an old long dress a straw hat and a few old suitcases and then we set off and and there she still patiently sits watching for the glacier express [Music] after tucsis the route is almost flat but the winter mountain panorama continues even when it's already spring in the valley during this stretch the posterior rhine keeps the glacier express company castles bear witness to the area's historical significance as a transit route before long passengers have reached another highlight of the journey the source of one of europe's lifelines the rhine [Music] two tributaries the posterior rhine and the anterior rhine join to become the alpine rhine [Music] right next to the river stands reichenau castle the property has been in the hands of one family for seven generations except for a few interruptions a good 10 minutes later the glacier express rolls into the oldest town in switzerland kua it's the capital of the canton of gaubunden people have been living in the fertile valley of the alpine rhine for three thousand years [Music] hua has a pleasantly quaint atmosphere perhaps because of the many fountains pubs bars and cafes for a city of less than 40 000 residents there's quite a lot on offer here [Music] the fountains contribute to that [Music] here in that alpha got wonderful drinking water in this alpine town which can be drunk from 135 fountains cool is rich in that we have a lot of fountains and the water contains lots of minerals there's now plenty of water aboard the glacier express too the train is divided here and takes on its final sequence of cars [Music] many glacier express passengers only board the train in core [Music] at 11 26 it sets off for andamat [Music] the train's galley is now working at full steam the chef has little time and little space to prepare a great number of meals sometimes we're serving 150 meals at the same time so for about one or two hours we're really working quite hard this time the glacier express travels in the opposite direction to cross the bridge over the posterior rhine near reichenau [Music] for the driver and everyone else on board this marks the start of the unique journey through the hui nauta which is what locals here call the rhine gorge between and elance [Music] for 13 kilometers the glacier express winds its way along the anterior rhine tourists dubbed it the swiss grand canyon it's a site even the driver never grows tired of in terms of construction and nature this is one of my favorite sections it's hard not to appreciate this part of the journey also for the passengers who at this point have completed a third of their alpine trip in the glacier express [Music] but the train also crosses political and cultural borders it goes through three cantons grabunden uri and vales and we've got the languages retto romance and german so it's a train that goes through several language regions at this point we're still in the canton of gaubunden in the sorselva area which in rita romanic means above the woods the tracks continue to run next to the anterior rhine the trip is genuinely spectacular the gorge is up to 400 meters deep many places can only be reached on foot or via the railway comes from the latin word for monastery monasterium the town has always been important for the glacier express the rails of the rishian or albula railway end here and the train gets a locomotive from the matahorn gothard ban from here the ascent to the ube pass the first cogwheel section begins hello [Music] merci [Music] the train will now climb 900 meters of altitude [Music] by midday the train is above the snow line there's an interruption in operation towards the uber-ib pass even for the glacier express a few times a year the section becomes impassable and the snow has to be removed with special equipment we joined a snow removal team as they set to work at 5 a.m yesterday we had quite a bit of snow between 50 and 70 centimeters up on the mountain and because of the avalanche risk that was a bit too dangerous that's why we couldn't give the all clear for the whole pass we'll drive up to the dangerous section and see how things look we'll analyze the avalanche threat and then we'll see if we can open the past today a rail yard at the oba'i pass is being cleared at 2033 meters above sea level these tracks cross the highest point on the route look up there that's the first dangerous spot the snow removal equipment from andamat in the canton uri has also arrived in a moment at around 8am we'll make a reconnaissance flight with the helicopter then we'll do some safety blasting and after that we'll decide when we can reopen the section ensuring safety up here isn't easy [Music] a team of specialists looks for dangerous spots that could pose a threat to the railway any that are located are blasted avalanches are intentionally triggered [Music] blue skies and plenty of snow perfect weather for a train journey through the alps [Music] untouched nature during winter time only the train crosses the border here between the cantons of khaobundin and uri we are approaching andamat from here you can see the gemstok ski area at an altitude of nearly 3000 meters andamat lies further down what's hidden from view is that the mountains here in the gothad pass are like swiss cheese countless bunkers and tunnels have been drilled into them [Music] just past andamat the ozerin valley begins the prolific german poet and writer johann wolfgang von goethe said that among all the places he knew it was his favorite and most interesting [Music] the foca based tunnel starts in real the tunnel was opened in 1982 after that operations on the focal mountain rail route which turns off here were suspended [Music] heinz zyla foega drove the glacier express back when it still followed the forker mountain route he's also a model train enthusiast the former engine man can't get enough of trains [Music] the mountain route that i used to drive as an engineer could only be used from the end of may until mid or late october the rest of the year it was closed for the winter because of the huge amounts of snow that's on the furca that would be june or early july on fungi this can pose a threat i was driving a commuter train with the engine in front when i drove into an avalanche and derailed back in real a year after operations were suspended on the mountain route the association for the 4com mountain route steam railway also known by the initials dfb was set up in 1983. its aim was to maintain and run the railway most of those taking part are volunteers known as phonies they work without pay but with plenty of passion [Music] so [Music] passengers are welcomed on the steam railway line from rehab to overwatch the journey has been possible since 2010. it took the railway fans about three decades to get the entire foca mountain route ready a proof of the saying patience pays off [Music] many of the volunteers are real railway professionals the swiss engine is from vintage at over 100 years old the steam locomotive is part of the mountain routes inventory but it was sold to vietnam in 1947. in the early 1990s the dfb brought it back the rails on the stefenbach bridge have become shorter again income from fares covers only about half of the operating costs so donations are always welcome the summer season up here is just three months long still around 30 000 railway fans enjoy this alpine steam experience each year the highlight is the focus summit tunnel at 2163 meters when the glacier express first took to the rails in the 1930s passengers could see the rhone glacier from the train that's no longer possible [Music] [Music] this is the rhone glacier today [Music] we're standing at the edge of the rhone glacier the glacier that gave its name to the glacier express in 2012 the tongue of the glacier was still down here by the lake's outflow since then it's lost more than 170 meters in length [Music] during the summer of 2017 alone the glacier lost eight meters in thickness by the end of the century it's estimated that only 10 percent of the glaciers will be left in switzerland [Music] in the future we're going to have less precipitation here in the swiss alps in the summer that will have a range of impacts the groundwater level will sink down in the rhone valley and we'll have less water for farming energy supply and for tourism around 90 years ago the glacier express still rolled alongside the rhone glacier today there's only grey stone to see a century and a half ago the rhone glacier extended to here tourists could easily walk to it from the hotel by foot down in the uberwat the nostalgic train journey reaches the boundary of the canton of valles this is also where the glacier express exits the 15.4 kilometer long four ka base tunnel and comes back into daylight here the rhone river is called the rotten [Music] the area is known as gums next the train travels over the grangios viaduct and further down towards brick the town is an international railway hub par excellence [Music] but the town itself doesn't look like it yet brick's central location brought affluence [Music] this is most evident at stok iba palace it's said to be the largest privately owned baroque building in switzerland it's named after the man known as the fugga of the alps kaspash dokaiba he recognized briggs central transportation function and used it for trade [Music] he was looking for transit routes to cross the alps and found them here the great sun bernhard and simplon passes during the thirty years war the zimplon pass was a key artery between the great powers today kaspa dokaipa would be described as a war profiteer [Music] he accumulated immeasurable wealth in the mid 17th century he even had a monopoly on salt and he increased his fortune through speculation lived by the saying suspicious lucra karbat god's favorite shall skim the prophets today his family line no longer exists the stock abba palace isn't far from the train station where the glacier express is already waiting [Music] our trip on the slowest express train in the world now takes us along the rhone valley in switzerland trains have also always been important for tourism [Music] the english and the french some of whom came on the simplon orient express wanted to get to fisp and of course to ceremony so a steam train was built from fisp to zermatt relatively early on in 1891. that drew mountaineers they went on holiday up there and climbed the peaks trains and tourism have long existed in a two-way relationship the route from brig to zamat features really diverse landscapes the fispa the river is always flowing alongside the train and there are many bridges and tunnels down here the train moves along quite quickly the neue brick bridge is a popular subject among photographers a short while later the train driver has to reduce the speed the steepest section of the glacier express route starts between akazant and steiden the cogs engage during the ascent special wine glasses are used it's a steep incline with a rise of 125 meters per kilometer [Music] above the rail line invispatamina lies the highest vineyard north of the main alpine ridge [Music] grapes grow here at an altitude of up to one thousand one hundred and fifty meters [Music] winemaking is a very old tradition here in viswer termina almost every family in the village has one or more parcels of land that are distributed over the entire rhine region from down below to right up top the grape variety is called haida in malaysian german that means something like old and odd but the wine is produced in a modern cooperative winery the grapes are small and don't yield much in marketing speak the wine that's made from them is called the pearl of the alpine wines [Music] the haida barrique is special it ages for up to five years in these original 225 liter oak barrels from france the haida wine aboard the glacier express ages here in good years it can test at up to 100 on the xla scale it frequently has an alcohol content of up to 14 percent which is why haida wine is also known as the bone breaker drinking it is said to lead to feeling as if you can speak cleverly without end are very happy and rich and have the strength of a giant and the glacier express keeps on climbing here isn't just a place to grow good wine it's also home to its own breed of cattle the very shore-footed erina [Music] track walkers also have to be good on their feet i'm checking a section and the section is from zermatt to fisp peace peace beyat branchen has another source of income besides his job with the railway he moonlights as a farmer and breeds cattle that are typical of valles the animals are strong nimble and well suited for the mountainous terrain cow fights where the cattle compete are a tourist attraction but the cows are also very trusting and gentle with people these days it's almost impossible to live just from raising animals [Music] we're continuing our journey on the glacier express [Music] like a model railway the train rolls over bridges along valleys and through tunnels [Music] the train is still an important tourist attraction pre-pandemic more than 200 000 passengers used it in a year but the numbers have been dropping slightly people's travel behavior has changed before most would do the whole route from sun moritz or the other way around now the trend is to do shorter sections because people just don't have that much time we call it the world's slowest express train it's there to help people slow down more and more people have no time to take time anymore above stalden the glacier express rolls on for 25 kilometers through the matar valley to tsamat untamed and craggy this section's been immortalized in the guinness book of records you can't see it from the train but the mata valley is the deepest valley in the alps it's surrounded by 33 mountains that rise up to heights of 3900 meters above sea level a short way up the slopes there's plenty of tranquility to be found in another picturesque swiss village turbo is at an elevation of 1500 meters tourists are rare here [Music] our train ride takes us further through the mata valley [Music] we're just about ten kilometers from zamat [Music] the landscape becomes spectacular again and the mater vispa shows tourists its wild side [Music] near rwanda there were devastating rock slides in 1991 which also damaged the glacier express railway it's estimated that mass is a rubble with a volume 13 times that of the great pyramid of giza slid into the valley burying among other things the rail line which was then rebuilt in another place some say worsening global warming is posing a growing threat to the railway as well a problem that isn't exclusive to the alps one thing that shouldn't be missed on the trip is especially poured grappa [Music] the glacier express continues to climb higher once past tesh the railway has a monopoly on transport to tsamat the town has been closed to private automobile traffic since 1931 meaning the railway helps protect the nature here this was a wise decision because without the train mass tourism would never have been possible here after 300 kilometers the glacier express has reached its final destination the train has climbed 1000 meters in elevation since it left brick samat is located at an elevation of nearly 1 610 meters up here the so-called cathedral of rock the matahorn is very close [Music] [Music] these small vans are almost as typical for zermatt as the view of the matterhorn there have reportedly been electric cars here since 1947. the electric bus business grew in the 1970s before that horse-drawn carriages were used to transport people the usual auto traffic associated with mass tourism would simply be unimaginable here the most photographed mountain in the world is ever present in samat its majestic appearance has always had a magical pull on people when the mountain was first climbed in 1865 a chaplain was part of the team of mountaineers yet tragically together with three other climbers he fell to his death [Music] since then hardly a year has passed without a fatal mishap on the matterhorn yearly up to three thousand people try to summit on its unique peak it's mass tourism at an elevation of four thousand four hundred and seventy eight meters to get even closer to the matterhorn those who know recommend taking a ride on the gornergrat with the gornergrat railway the station manager joins the first trip in the morning for many taking the gornergrat is the natural continuation of the journey on the glacier express window spots can be hard to come by the gorner grout railway was opened in 1898 and after the jungfrau railway it's the second highest in europe in just half an hour the narrow gauge railway transports passengers into another world if you're lucky you may even get to see chamois from up close [Music] even from the train the view of the matterhorn is divine and moving [Music] the matterhorn is switzerland's biggest tourist attraction [Music] the gona grace railway climbs nine kilometers at a slope of up to 20 percent after all there are about 1500 meters of elevation to surmount located almost above the clouds the gona railway was the first fully electrified cog railway in switzerland it made a significant contribution to the development of tsamat for anyone who can visiting this world of alpine glaciers at least once is well worth the trip and a trip on the glacier express should either begin or end with this a view of the matterhorn also called god's pyramid [Music] [Music] you

Channel: DW Documentary

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Keywords: Documentary, Documentaries, documentaries, DW documentary, full documentary, DW, documentary 2021, documentary, travel film, Swiss Alps, train journey, railway, glacier express, train ride, trains, rail, train documentary, glacier express first class, glacier express from zermatt to st. moritz switzerland, glacier express train, swiss alps documentary, traveling by rail, traveling by train, travelling by train, travelling by rail, travel documentary, rail documentary

Id: r8c3_T9QfnY

Length: 42min 26sec (2546 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 24 2022