The Jungfraubahn (JB) is an 1000 millimetre gauge rack railway electrified at 3-phase 1,125 volts, which runs 9 kilometres from Kleine Scheidegg to the highest railway station in Europe at Jungfraujoch. The railway runs almost entirely within a tunnel built into the Jungfrau mountain and contains two stations in the middle of the tunnel, where passengers can disembark to observe the neighbouring mountains through windows built into the mountainside.

The JB is under the management of the Jungfraubahn Holding company, which also comprises the WAB (Wengener Alp Bahn) which links to the JB at Kleine Scheidegg and has two routes down the mountain, to Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald, from where the BOB (Berner Oberland Bahn) connects to the Federal Railways at Interlaken.

History

Starting from approximately 1860 there were many different plans for a mountain railway on the Jungfrau, which failed due to financial problems. In 1894, the industrialist Adolf Guyer-Zeller received a concession for a rack railway, which began from the railway station of the Wengernalpbahn (WAB) at Kleine Scheidegg, with a long tunnel through the Eiger and Mönch up to the summit of the Jungfrau. In 1896 construction began. The construction work preceded briskly. In 1898 the Jungfraubahn opened as far as the Eigergletscher station, at the foot of the Eiger. But it wasn't until February 21, 1912, sixteen years after works commenced, when the tunneling crew finally broke through the glacier in Jungfraujoch. The station at Junfraujoch was inaugurated on August 1, 1912.

Rolling Stock

Since most of the railway is inside a tunnel, it was designed to run with electricity since conception. The latest rolling stock consists of twin units motor-cocahes carrying 230 per train and capable of 27km/h on steepest ascent.

Main Characteristics

See also

• Mountain railway
• Rail transport in Switzerland
• Jungfrau is German for virgin; however the Jungfraubahn is nothing to do with Virgin Trains

External link

• Jungfrau Railways website