On October 29, 2022, the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) is going to attempt to run the longest passenger train in the world on the UNESCO World Heritage railway line in Canton Graubünden, Switzerland. 100 passenger carriages and 25 trains are going to be used in the attempt.
In a press conference on June 29, RhB announced that it will be trying to break the world record for the longest passenger train to ever run. The current record was set by a 70-car service that ran in 1991 between Ghent and Ostend in Belgium. A 60-passenger car train run by Dutch public transport between Kijfhoek and Eindhoven in 1989 is the second longest.
However, unlike the records in the Low Countries, the attempt in Switzerland requires even greater feats of engineering, with 25 trains, seven drivers, 21 technicians and various support staff having to work in unison to get the 3.000 tonne, 1.910-metre train to move up the stunning mountain pass in Canton Graubünden.
4.450 public transport tickets will be sold for the one-off service between Preda and Thusis, which will scale the famous Landwasser Viaduct along the way. Tickets will go on sale on August 2, 2022.
To prepare for the event, the company confirmed that it had already run a 64-car-long train in May, in what it called a “dress rehearsal.” Most notably, RhB said the rehearsal raised a problem with communication between the different trains, which was resolved by commandeering a field telephone from the Swiss army.
When asked why RhB, one of the smaller public transport providers in Switzerland, was attempting the record, rail director Renato Fasciati said that it was to celebrate 175 years of railways in Switzerland and to commemorate their largest purchase of rolling stock ever. Also, after two years of COVID restrictions, Fasciati admitted the attempt will bring in some much-needed exposure for the company.