The story
Planning, construction and commencement of traffic
The mountain village of Zermatt first gained major recognition in Europe in light of the inaugural ascent of the Matterhorn by Edward Whymper in 1865. From then onwards, the number of overnight visitors rose steadily, even though the village itself was only reachable by a lengthy march on foot through the barren valley of Zermatt. Even the simple mule ride as far as St. Niklaus took a long time. Nevertheless, by the 1880s there were already as many as 12,000 tourist visits to Zermatt each year. To promote tourism in the valley, and especially in Zermatt itself, plans soon emerged to build a railway line intended to connect the emerging spa with the Rhone Valley.
On 21 September 1886, the Swiss Federal Council granted the banking house Masson, Chavannes & Co. in Lausanne and the Basler Handelsbank an initial concession. The original request was for a 750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in) narrow gauge railway from Visp to Zermatt, using a mixture of adhesion and rack railway line. At the insistence of the Bundesrat, the gauge was finally altered to metre gauge. The railway was at the outset to be operated from the start of June to the end of September, as the promoters did not wish to take on the risks of operating the line in an alpine winter. Additionally, it was only in summer that there were prospects of significant numbers of passengers, as in those days winter tourism was still of no great importance. Nevertheless, the Bundesrat reserved the right to extend the operating season, and similarly stipulated that concessionary fares be offered to locals.
Planning and construction of the line was entrusted by the participating banks to the railway company Suisse Occidentale-Simplon (SOS), which, in the summer of 1887, conducted extensive survey work in the Mattertal. On 10 October 1888, the Compagnie du Chemin de Fer de Viège à Zermatt SA emerged as the operating company.
The exact route and mode of operation was initially the subject of intense debate. The Suisse Occidentale-Simplon proposed a pure adhesion line, with a maximum gradient of 4.5%, while the engineer Ernest von Stockalper, who was working on the construction of the Gotthardbahn, proposed a combined adhesion and rack railway, as originally planned. A Special Commission established to investigate the ideal mode of operation visited, for the purpose of its investigations, numerous rack railways in Switzerland and Germany, including the Brünigbahn and the Rübelandbahn in the Harz, which was equipped with the Abt rack rail system. These visits led to a decision to equip the line with the system used on the Rübelandbahn, and using a maximum gradient of 12.5%. A total of six sections of track were to be laid out with a total of 7450 m of rack railway.
Construction began on 27 November 1888 in Visp. The work was entrusted to the western Swiss contractors Julius Chappuis, while the SOS undertook the purchase of land and the procurement of rolling stock. Acquisition of the necessary land turned out to be difficult, particularly in the municipalities of Stalden and St. Niklaus, as the local population was not interested in selling. Tedious expropriation procedures therefore became necessary. Also, land in the entire valley was divided into a myriad of tiny plots, and usually the actual owners of the plots were not recorded in official documents. The absence of a road made it necessary to transport the building materials almost exclusively over the already completed parts of the railway tracks to the construction sites.
On 3 July 1890, rail traffic on the first part of the line, between Visp and Stalden, could finally be introduced. By 26 August of the same year, the first trains reached St. Niklaus. In the following months, however, an unusually severe winter delayed the completion of the remaining sections. Only on 18 July 1891 could the entire line as far as Zermatt be handed over to traffic.
The first years of operations
The Visp-Zermatt-Bahn (VZ) transferred the management of the line to the Suisse Occidentale-Simplon, as under that arrangement there was the possibility of using its staff elsewhere during the annual winter service interruption. This management agreement was approved by the SOS's successor company, the Jura-Simplon-Bahn (JS) and retained finally also by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) until 1920.
From the opening of the line onwards, passenger numbers continually increased, and after a short while were already significantly exceeding the predictions established at the time of the line's construction. Yet at the same time, the railway had to fight countless storms that again and again paralysed operations for days. The opening of the Gornergratbahn in 1898, the Simplon Tunnel in 1906 and the Lötschbergbahn in 1913 brought the Visp-Zermatt-Bahn further passengers. However, the upward trend met with an abrupt end at the outbreak of World War I. Foreign tourists stayed away from Switzerland, while coal prices massively increased. Passenger numbers fell back to the level of 1891. The timetable had to be substantially reduced, and fares strongly increased, but a cost covering operation was no longer possible. In the summer timetable for 1914, there were still six train pairs per day between Visp and Zermatt. After the outbreak of war there were only three, and from 1918 just two train pairs. In 1918, the total loss amounted to around 971,000 francs.
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After the war, passenger numbers initially increased again only slowly. In the midst of the emerging boom, a flood on 24 September 1920 destroyed about 300 metres of the formation between Visp and Ackersand. Even this event came after the Vispa had already been diverted during the winter of 1919/20 by avalanches and landslides onto the formation at Kin, causing serious damage. The resulting deficit, which to this day is the most recent in the history of the railway, gave the SBB a reason not to renew the expiring management contracts, and to return the management of the railway to the VZ from 1 January 1921. The railway's management was then allocated to a collective directorate also responsible for managing the Gornergratbahn. At the same time, in collaboration with Zermatt hoteliers, an office was set up to run the first international promotions for the Zermatt tourist resort. In 1927, passenger numbers once again reached pre war levels. In 1931, with 227,845 passengers, the line set a new record that was not surpassed until after World War II.
The rescue of the Furka Oberalp Bahn
The Visp-Zermatt-Bahn survived World War 1 unscathed. Totally different was the situation of the Brig-Furka-Disentis-Bahn (BFD), which was not yet completed as at the outbreak of the war. The BFD was able, by 1915, only to complete the section between Brig and Gletsch, and in 1923 had to file for bankruptcy. VZ Director Auguste Marguerat then took the initiative to preserve the line as a whole, including the section not yet built. A syndicate was formed, with the support of the Swiss Federation and the Cantons of Valais, Uri, Grisons and Vaud. On 4 April 1925, the railway facilities and rolling stock of the bankrupt line were purchased for 1.75 million francs. On 17 April 1925 came the founding of the Furka Oberalp Bahn AG (FO), with share capital of 3.3 million francs. As early as 4 July 1926, operations could commence on the whole FO line as far as Disentis. The FO was initially operated by the VZ, and only on 1 January 1961 spun off as a separate operation.
Closing the gap Brig–Visp
The entry into operation of the Furka Oberalp Bahn revealed a disadvantage, namely the gap between the end point of the VZ in Visp, and that of the FO in Brig. Additionally, since the opening of the Lötschbergbahn in 1913 passengers arriving from the direction of Bern had had to change trains in Brig as well as in Visp; a circumstance that was perceived as cumbersome.
Even as at the start of the 20th century, numerous projects for a metre gauge railway line from Visp to Brig had already been proposed. Most of them also envisaged a continuation in the direction of Furka or Grimsel, but in the end the only continuation to be realised was the later Furka Oberalp Bahn, with its starting point in Brig.
In 1919, the hotelier Alexander Seiler applied for a concession for a metre gauge tramway from Visp to Brig, which, if built, would serve to open up the small settlements between the two towns. That project was terminated after the SBB stated that it would insert two halting points into its standard gauge line. As the SBB did not follow up this announcement, the concession application was resubmitted in 1925. Shortly afterwards, a committee comprising the VZ, the FO and the Lonza Group works at Visp took over the project. Under the leadership of the VZ, it was transformed into a connecting narrow gauge railway running parallel to the SBB line, was no longer equipped with any halting points, and was to serve only to link the VZ and the FO. In 1928, the committee presented a correspondingly modified concession application, which was approved on 28 September 1928, subject to a condition that one intermediate halting point be included. Following the completion of that project as approved, continuous operations from Brig to Zermatt were finally able to begin on 5 June 1930. Curiously, the opening of the new link did not lead directly to a name change for the Visp-Zermatt-Bahn. Only on 1 June 1962 was the name changed to Compagnie du Chemin de Fer de Brigue-Viège-Zermatt (Brig-Visp-Zermatt-Bahn).
The three narrow gauge lines now bound by rail - the Visp-Zermatt-Bahn, the Furka Oberalp Bahn and the Rhätische Bahn - took advantage of the opening of the new connection to introduce a through express train from St. Moritz to Zermatt. On 25 June 1930, the now world-famous Glacier Express departed from Zermatt station for the first time.
Electrification
Under pressure from the enormous increase in coal prices during World War I, there were discussions soon after the end of the war about electrification of the railway, to make it independent of expensive imported coal. A study commissioned in 1919 recommended the use of direct current, with a voltage of between 1500 and 3000 volts. To save costs, parts from steam locomotives would be used for the construction of electric locos, and at times consideration was given to purchasing railcars. As prices of copper and the necessary electrical systems were still extremely high in the immediate aftermath of the war, the electrification plan had to be abandoned in view of the still ailing financial resources of the VZ.
Not until 1927 were there once again plans for conversion to electric operations. Now, however, high tension alternating current, at a frequency of 162⁄3 Hz, was to be used. This offered, amongst other things, the advantage of requiring only one electrical insertion point, near Visp, which would drastically reduce the costs of electrical systems in comparison with the original plans. Consideration was also given to adopting completely the SBB system of 15 kV AC railway electrification without alteration, but that idea quickly had to be abandoned. In particular, the Rhätische Bahn, which since 1913 had been operating electric traffic at 11,000 volts AC on the Engadine Line, stressed the benefits of using lower voltage than the SBB voltage. Whereas light weight air cooled transformers could be used on the Engadine Line, a heavy oil cooling system would be necessary for 15,000 volt operations, and that would greatly have increased the weight of the VZ locomotives. Additionally, the use of a single phase current system would make problem free through traffic possible in the event of electrification of the Furka Oberalp Bahn. These advantages led to the decision to use a voltage of 11,000 volts also on the Visp-Zermatt-Bahn.
For the electrification of the railway facilities and the procurement of electric locomotives, a budget of 1.7 million francs was established. Responsibility for the supply of energy was transferred to the SBB, which was contractually obliged to make alternating current available in Visp, at a voltage of 15,000 volts. This energy supply was then transformed down to the required voltage. For the haulage of trains, five electric locomotives of Type HGe 4/4 were procured from SLM, SIG and MFO. As from 1 October 1929, all scheduled VZ trains could finally be operated by electricity. Of the total of eight existing steam locos of Type HG 2/3, the five oldest examples could be withdrawn. The rest remained further in service as reserves, and for snow removal.
Introduction of winter operations
As early as 1907, there were calls from the valley population and Zermatt hoteliers for the Visp-Zermatt-Bahn to operate also in winter. The SBB and the VZ refused to conduct such operations, however, due to the high costs that would result, and the consequent lack of profitability. Also, the danger of accidents due to avalanches and flooding was regarded as an incalculable risk. In addition, for a long time there was, on the part of the VZ, a stance that in any event Zermatt was not suited to being a winter resort. The Valais Council of State, which viewed the prospect of winter traffic positively, therefore considered the possibility of extending the obligation to operate the VZ to the winter months, at least for the section from Visp to St. Niklaus. As the concession text was limited to stipulating running times, and as, in the absence of any precedent, an amendment to the concession against the wishes of the concession holder would not be feasible, further efforts were abandoned until 1914. With the outbreak of World War I, the demand for continuous operations became obsolete for the time being.
Further efforts towards continuous operation gathered force only in the mid-1920s. Zermatt hotels remained open for the first time continuously for the winter in 1927/28. Meanwhile, the VZ had recognised the importance of Zermatt for winter sports, and became more co-operative. On 30 October 1928, the VZ operated timetabled winter traffic for the first time as far as St. Niklaus. In the following winter, a single train pair ran each day as far as Zermatt, weather permitting. This mode of operation could be maintained until the end of 1930. In January and February 1931, however, numerous avalanches made regular operations impossible. It became clear that a regulated winter traffic without shelters was really not feasible. In 1932, the Canton of Valais and the VZ therefore entered into a contract relating to winter traffic. The contract provided, on the one hand, for continuous winter traffic on the VZ, and, on the other hand, obliged the Canton to subsidise the erection of shelters to the extent of 50%. The shelters were completed on time in the autumn of 1933. Thus, in the following winter continuous winter operations could be offered for the first time along the entire route.
World War II, the postwar period and recovery
The outbreak of war in 1939 had a much less dramatic impact on rail traffic than had been the case in 1914. Although this time once again foreign tourists stayed away from the Mattertal, there were nevertheless Swiss excursioners who, thanks to the previously introduced income compensation, could afford to travel even during the war, along with military transport to secure the full utilisation of capacity. Thanks to electrification, the once again strongly increasing coal prices also had no further effect on rail traffic. During the war years, passenger numbers increased continuously, and in 1945, with 265,473 people transported, reached a new high point.
After the war, passenger numbers continued to rise strongly. In 1961, they surpassed the million mark for the first time, but took a short term hit in 1963, due to a typhoid epidemic in Zermatt. Also goods traffic increased, especially to serve the construction of power stations in the Saas Valley massive rises in demand in Zermatt. The VZ took advantage of the upturn to modernise rail operations gradually: between 1958 and 1989 all major bridges (apart from the Kipfenbrücke, which, after its destruction by an avalanche in 1947 was reerected as a steel bridge) were replaced by reinforced concrete structures, which enabled an increase in axle loadings.
Rolling stock was also renewed. The passenger cars, mainly still dating from the steam era, and equipped with open platform ends, were replaced between 1955 and 1963 by passenger cars of modern light steel construction with centre entrances. The locomotives from the time of electrification were supplemented between 1960 and 1965 by five passenger railcars. To increase safety, a remote controlled block signalling system was installed along the complete line from Brig between 1965 and 1966.
The avalanche shelters along the whole line were similarly continuously extended. The devastation of Zermatt station on 4 January 1966 presented the opportunity for a complete rebuild of the whole station, and the installation of avalanche proof roofing. The same year, an avalanche gallery was erected on the northern part of the station. Construction of avalanche proof roofing began in 1982 and ended in 1989.
The opening of the valley road as far as Täsch in 1971 resulted in a new focus of passenger volumes. Since then, many tourists have driven with their own cars to Täsch, where they have to change to the trains of the BVZ, as the road to Zermatt remains closed to car traffic to this day, and can only be used with special permission. To cope with the additional passenger numbers from Täsch, a commuter service was introduced in May 1972 between Täsch and Zermatt. This service has since transported around two thirds of all passengers arriving in Zermatt.
With the commissioning of four baggage railcars Deh 4/4 in 1975 and 1976, and their matching driving cars, it was possible, for the first time, to introduce shuttle trains on this important connection. Since then, trains on the entire line from Brig to Zermatt have been operated in increasing numbers as shuttle trains.
Further modernisation and merger with the FO
The 1980s were marked by ever increasing numbers of passengers. In particular, there was the continuing success of the Glacier Express. Running from 1982 all year round, its passenger numbers increased from about 20,000 in 1982 to 269,830 in 2005, and contributed to the utilisation of the railway and the reputation of Zermatt.
To cope with the increase in traffic, the station at Zermatt was completely rebuilt between 1982 and 1989. All of the platform tracks were given an avalanche proof canopy, and the west side of the track layout has since been bordered by a massive 300 metre long avalanche wall. The Zermatt station building, which had been in place ever since the opening of the line, was demolished and replaced by a larger new building.
A second major construction project followed between 1983 and 1984, with the erection of the Glisergrund Depot near Brig. This depot partially replaced the space-constrained depot facility at Visp station. By 1998, the Furka Oberalp Bahn had extended the Glisergrund site, by adding a further workshop hall. The complete depot site now occupies an area of around 50,000 m2 (540,000 sq ft).
From Wikipedia’s article on Brig–Zermatt railway line, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3