The Rhaetian Railway operates a 385-kilometre-long railway network with 10 railway lines and 102 stations.
In 2002 the annual traffic carried by the RhB was 300 million passenger-kilometres and 54 million tonne-kilometres of freight. 80% of the passenger income comes from tourist traffic, although 40% of passengers are local commuters.
Landquart railway station in Graubünden is the starting point of the Rhaetian Railway, historically as part of the Landquart-Davos line, operationally as the company's main workshop, and topologically as the 0 kilometre point of the company's core network. The Landquart-Davos line is the oldest in the Rhaetian Railway network.
After leaving Landquart, the line to Davos generally follows the river Landquart upstream as far as Klosters Platz. Along the way, it crosses the river three times and passes by the award-winning Sunniberg Bridge, the centerpiece of the Klosters bypass road.
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Just south of Klosters Platz, the tracks cross the river the last time and come to two tunnels. One of these is for the Vereina line (see below). The other, the Klosters loop tunnel, takes the Davos line through a 90-degree loop towards the west. The line to Davos begins to climb at 4.5% gradient and then loops 180 degrees back towards the east, inside the Cavadürli loop tunnel. It continues to climb through dense larch and other coniferous forests to the Davos Laret.
The highest point on the line is the next stop, Davos Wolfgang at 1,625 m (5,331 ft). Then the line leads back down and along Lake Davos to Davos Dorf, and the terminus at Davos Platz.
Davos–Filisur line
The line connects Davos Platz to the Albula Railway at Filisur. It is 19 km (12 mi) long, includes 14 tunnels totaling 4,200 m (13,780 ft) in length, and crosses 28 bridges, including the Wiesen Viaduct. The line was electrified in 1919.
Landquart–Thusis line
Starting in the Rhine valley, the Landquart-Thusis line runs more or less parallel with the Swiss Federal Railways' Sargans-Landquart-Chur standard gauge line as far as Chur (elevation 585 m or 1,919 ft). The line to Thusis then simply follows the course of the Rhine to Bonaduz (655 m or 2,149 ft). From there, it enters the Domleschg Valley and follows the Posterior Rhine from Rhäzüns (658 m or 2,159 ft) to Thusis (697 m or 2,287 ft).
Albula line (Thusis–St. Moritz)
This line begins in Thusis (elevation 697 m [2,287 ft]). It continues toward Tiefencastel (851 m [2,792 ft]) following the Albula and then crosses the Landwasser Viaduct before arriving at Filisur (1,032 m [3,386 ft]). Shortly after Filisur the line passes its first spiral tunnel then continues to Bergün/Bravuogn (1,373 m [4,505 ft]).
Between Bergün/Bravuogn and Preda (1,789 m [5,869 ft]), at the end of the valley, the line has to achieve a difference in height of about 400 m (1,300 ft) within a horizontal distance of 5 km (3.1 mi), without using rack-and-pinion, but with many spirals. Then the line enters the Albula Tunnel at 1,815 metres under the Albula Pass. It emerges in the Val Bever, where it reaches Bever (1,708 m [5,604 ft]) on the Engadin plain. The line continues toward Samedan (1,721 m [5,646 ft]) and arrives at St. Moritz (1,775 m [5,823 ft]).
In 2009 it was announced that an examination of the Albula Tunnel conducted in 2006 had found major degradation of the tunnel, with over 60% of the lining in need of replacement. Furthermore, the bores are small by modern standards, and cabling, signalling and drainage all need replacement. As a result, it was announced that an inquiry would decide between two options for action: a comprehensive renewal of the existing tunnel, or the construction of a new bore to modern standards. As a result of this inquiry, RhB decided to build a new tunnel. Construction began in 2015, with the new tunnel opening in 2022 and the project completed including refurbishment of the old tunnel in 2023.
Reichenau–Disentis/Mustér line
The Reichenau to Disentis/Mustér line links the rest of the Rhaetian Railway network with the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn. It branches from the line to Thusis behind the shared Rhine bridge.
The line, which was opened progressively between 1903 and 1912, has been electrified since 1922.
In contrast with the accompanying road, which rises about 500 m (1,600 ft) towards Flims and Laax, the railway to Disentis/Mustér runs slowly up the narrow "Ruinaulta gorge". On this part of the line, its associated engineering structures dominate the otherwise pristine natural landscape.
At Ilanz, the railway line and road merge paths once again. Their combined pathways then rise slowly and evenly to Disentis/Mustér.
The main traffic on the Reichenau–Disentis/Mustér line is RegioExpress passenger trains operating at hourly intervals. Several times a day, there are Glacier Express trains in each direction.
Timetabled goods trains also operate on the line to serve industry in the Vorderrhein area and supplied cement for the construction of the normal gauge Gotthard Base Tunnel with train IDs starting with 5. Usually three pairs of trains serve Disentis/Mustér with a Ge 6/6 II and a few additional trains go only to Ilanz with a Ge 4/4 II.
Engadin line (Pontresina–Scuol-Tarasp)
This line, which runs up the Engadin valley, was constructed in two stages. The Samedan–Pontresina section was opened on by the Rhaetian Railway on 1 July 1908, simultaneously with the Pontresina–Morteratsch section, which formed part of the then-independent Bernina Railway. The actual Engadine line, between Bever and Scuol-Tarasp, was opened on 1 July 1913, and was the first Rhaetian Railway line to be electrified from the start at 11 kV 16+2⁄3 Hz AC.
Since the opening of the Engadin line, Pontresina has been a dual system station, as the Bernina Railway operates on 1,000 V DC. Track 3 at Pontresina station has a switchable catenary, and is used for trains, such as the Heidi Express, operating through the station and needing to change from one of the two electrification systems to the other.
Between Samedan and Bever, the Engadin line shares its track with the Albula Railway. With the opening of the Vereina Tunnel and line in November 1999, the Engadin line, at both Lavin (Sagliains car shuttle train station) and Susch (Sasslatsch II car shuttle train station), acquired a direct connection to the Prättigau at Klosters, on the Landquart–Davos line.
Bernina line (St. Moritz–Tirano)
This line begins at St.Moritz and runs towards Pontresina (elevation 1,774 m [5,820 ft]) in Val Bernina. It ascends progressively through the valley to the Bernina Pass over the Morteratsch station (1,896 m [6,220 ft]) (with the Morteratsch Glacier and Piz Bernina, the highest summit of the Eastern Alps, in sight). After Morteratsch, the line runs towards Bernina Diavolezza (2,093 m [6,867 ft]), where an aerial tramway leads to Diavolezza, and Ospizio Bernina station. This station, next to Lago Bianco, stands at the line's summit at 2,253 m (7,392 ft) above sea and holds the title of the highest point of the entire Rhetian Railway network and among all adhesion railways in Europe.
Alp Grüm (2,091 m [6,860 ft]) is the first station to the immediate south of the summit. It is situated above Lago Palü and right below Piz Palü and Palü Glacier. After negotiating many hairpin turns, the line reaches Cavaglia (1,693 m [5,554 ft]) above Val Poschiavo; after that, the line descends across the valley towards the Swiss Italian-speaking town of Poschiavo (1,014 m [3,327 ft]).
After Poschiavo, the line runs next to Lago Poschiavo and calls at Le Prese (964 m [3,163 ft]) and Miralago (965 m [3,166 ft]). The descent continues towards Brusio (780 m [2,560 ft]), after which the line runs across the famous spiral bridge, Brusio Viaduct. After the spiral bridge, the line passes through the Swiss border town of Campocologno (553 m [1,814 ft]) before entering Italy at Tirano RhB station (430 m [1,410 ft]).
Arosa line (Chur–Arosa)
The 25.68-kilometre (15.96 mi) railway line from Chur to Arosa is known as the Arosabahn (or Arosa-Bahn), and is often abbreviated as "ChA" (Chur-Arosa). Work began in 1912 on the route and the line opened on 12 December 1914. The railway leads up from Chur to Arosa (a total climb of 1,155 m or 3,789 ft) via a number of tunnels, bridges and other structures, including the Langwieser Viaduct - a structure of national importance. In 1942 the line became part of the RhB company and network; however the line ran on a separate electric system to the remainder of the network until 1997. Before then it was 2400 V DC - now it is 11 kV 16.7 Hz AC. The gauge has always been 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) as per the rest of the RhB network.
It is a single track railway, with the exception of a short double track section along Engadinstrasse in Chur, with a number of passing loops along the route: at all stations with the exception of Chur Stadt (and formerly Sassal), as well as at Chur Sand depot and at Haspelgrube near Arosa. The maximum incline is 6% but there is no rack-and-pinion used.
A short section of the line runs along the streets of Chur and is known as the Chur stadtbahn ('town railway'). In Chur, the line starts on Bahnhofplatz, in front of the main railway station, where that station's platforms for the Arosabahn are, though there is a second stop in Chur only 760 m (2,490 ft) from the main station.
A 5 km (3.1 mi) tunnel through the Mittenberg had been planned as an alternative route for the lower section of the line, avoiding running through the centre of Chur. This plan was finally dropped in 1996 as the considerable expense could not be justified.
The line is well used by tourists coming to and from the resort at Arosa. The line also carries a substantial amount of freight.
Bellinzona–Mesocco line
This line is not connected to the others. It opened in 1907 and was owned by the Rhaetian Railway between 1942 and 2003. Passenger services ceased in 1972, but a limited freight traffic continued until 2003. The private association (SEFT, Società Esercizio Ferroviario Turistico) operated it as a heritage railway for tourists over 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) of the original 31 kilometres (19 mi) of line until part of the concession was withdrawn in 2013 to allow a road to be built. The road construction started in July 2014.
Passenger services
The RhB operates regular InterRegio (IR), RegioExpress (RE), and Regio (R) services, as well as the Chur S-Bahn. In addition, two Panorama Express (PE) services are operated on the Rhaetian Railway network, namely the
Bernina Express (Chur / St. Moritz – Tirano),
Glacier Express (Zermatt – Andermatt – Chur – St. Moritz),
of which the former is operated by the RhB, and the latter is jointly owned and operated by the RhB and the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn.
The regular daytime passenger services (as of December 2025) are as follows:
In operation
There are currently two operational locomotive classes on the RhB: the Ge 4/4II (built 1973–1985) and Ge 4/4III (built 1993–1999) featuring 19 and 12 locos respectively. Two more Ge 4/4III were taken over from MOB in 2019 but not inaugurated yet. Since the introduction of the shuttle train conception with the "Capricorn" EMU's, apart from freight and charter trains only passenger trains of the Chur - Arosa and Chur - St. Moritz and the Glacier Express have remained locomotive hauled.
