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Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Swiss breaks Guinness World Record with the longest train traveling over the UNESCO World Heritage route

 
I was part of the Guinness World Record/history recently when we took the longest train - 100 passenger coaches traveling over the UNESCO World Heritage route from the Albula Tunnel in Preda to the famous Landwasser Viaduct.

We even got a certificate! Click HERE to view.


In conjunction with the 175th anniversary of Switzerland’s railway company - Rhaetian Railway RhB create the new Guinness World Record, towing 100 carriages, weighing 2,990 tons, and measuring at 1.91 km long.

The train consisted of 4,550 seats spread across 100 coaches.

The one-off world record journey was organised by Rhaetian Railway with support from train builder Stadler and took around an hour. Rail enthusiasts lined this beautiful Swiss valley to catch a glimpse of the train winding its way about 25km through the Alps. The 1,910m long passenger train gliding along the UNESCO World Heritage Albula/Bernina route, from Preda to Alvaneu and over the Landwasser Viaduct.



RhB Director Renato Fasciati said that Switzerland is a railway country unlike any other countries, in celebrating its 175 years of Swiss railways RhB and its partners wanted to play their part in achieving this huge feat.

I get to ride in the “Capricorn” electric trains travelling through 22 tunnels and across 48 bridges on the eastern Switzerland’s Albula Line, a UNESCO World Heritage site. I learnt that this feat was challenging as the Albula Line has tight curves and that steep inclines restricting the train to travel at 35 km/h. Not only that, the regenerative braking system was being employed to control the speed. The other thing that they need to take into consideration is that due to the number of coaches, a special software is required in order not to overload the circuit.



I asked what makes them thought of doing this event/feat, and was told that the corona crisis (COVID 19 pandemic) they have lost 30 per cent of their riders may it be local or tourist hence they need to have an event to increase railway awareness, promotes the UNESCO's World Heritage route as well as help with Switzerland tourism growth.




The Switzerland 2022 Media Fam Trip is organized by Tourism Switzerland in partnership with all its sponsors.

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