In the early 1890s, many towns and villages throughout Graubünden were not fairly served by railways. After the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) was formed out of the successful Landquart-Davos-Bahn, and voted into state ownership, discussions were soon taking place for a new railway line to serve the somewhat isolated communities.

Multiple plans were drawn up for a railway through Graubünden, but eventually a deal was settled in 1898 for a railway that would traverse the Albula Valley via Thusis and St. Moritz. While originally planned as a standard gauge railway, the higher popularity of the narrower metre gauge within the state saw that the latter would be chosen in the end.

After the railway reached Thusis, it was time to traverse the Albula Valley. Construction began in October of 1898 and much of the new line was laid within 5 years. Despite the rapid construction, the new Albula Line was in no shortages of logistical challenges along keys sections of the pass. Steam locomotives of the day were not excessively powerful, yet the line was meant for both passenger and freight traffic. To overcome this, the line was restricted to both a 3.5% gradient and fairly generous turning radius; this solved any potential power struggle and avoided a rack-and-pinion railway, but ushered in the problem that the line couldn’t reach its destination.
The altitude difference throughout the Albula Valley meant that a 3.5% gradient was not enough to connect the towns throughout the pass. The answer would be to artificially extend the railway. Using a combination of curved tunnels, spiral tunnels and viaducts, the builders carefully brought the railway to the right altitude while staying within the parameters. One other vital structure to the railway is the Albula Tunnel. Stretching across 5866 metres, this tunnel is among one of the highest alpine tunnels in Switzerland and passes under almost a kilometre of mountain above, avoiding the Rhine/Danube watershed.

Services began to operate across a majority of the line with its opening in July 1903, these services were not complete though. The debate between RhB and the St. Moritz municipality on where the town’s station should be based was still ongoing, and as result the full line did not open until one year later.

Even though the line was built as a steam railway and was projected to be so for some time, the coal shortage during the First World War pressed RhB into the realm of electrification. By 1919 the whole line was now seeing wired traction.

In 1930, the Ablula Line became home to one of the slowest, yet most beautiful railway expresses in the world, the Glacier Express. This service was born from the idea to connect two of the main mountain resorts in the Swiss Alps by rail, St. Moritz and Zermatt. The full run takes upwards of 7.5 hours to complete, during which time the rolling stock passes over 291 bridges and 91 tunnels, including those on the iconic Albula Railway. After over 80 years of operation, the Glacier Express is considered as one of the principle passenger services to operate across the Albula Line, and it does so on a regular, daily basis.

In modern times of course, the classic Glacier Express has seen some changes to its rolling stock. Perhaps the most revolutionary was the introduction of brand new panorama cars between 1986 and 1993, these new passenger cars featured windows that stretched beyond the sides of the car and upwards over the roof. This open-plan design gives passengers a completely unobstructed view of the snow-capped Alps, featuring both 1st and 2nd Class accommodation.

The route has been served by a variety of locomotives, and today sees the powerful RhB Ge 4/4 III take the Glacier Express across its unforgettable journey. The RhB Ge 4/4 III entered service in 1993 as a new generation of electric locomotives, developed from the previous Ge 4/4 II. With a top speed of 100 km/h, the Ge 4/4 III is perfect for Glacier Express, and Albula freight haulage. A total of 12 locomotives were built between 1993 and 1999, with each featuring a unique Coat of Arms.

With stunning scenery from the outset, impressive structures throughout and an iconic rail service which has been operating for the last 8 decades, the line between Thusis and St. Moritz has earned UNESCO World Heritage status. Welcome to the Albula Line, now available for Train Simulator courtesy of Partner Programme developer, Thomson Interactive.

Scenarios

The Albula Line Route Add-on includes seven challenging career scenarios and one free roam scenario for the route:

• Spring Commuter Service
• GEX Summer Ascent
• St. Moritz Runaround
• Thusis Container Delivery
• Summer in Filisur
• Locomotive Tutorial
• Autumn Afternoon Duties
• GEX Winter Descent

The Albula Line Route Add-On also includes three Railfan Mode scenarios, a Free Roam scenario and a unique Passenger Ride scenario:
Railfan Mode:

• Toua Tunnel
• Solis Viaduct
• Landwasser Viaduct

Passenger Mode:

• Bergün/Bravuogn to Preda

For customers who own the amazing Bernina Pass: St Moritz – Poschiavo Route Add-On, Thomson Interactive have joined Albula Line with Bernina Pass which you can download for free from the Steam Workshop:

Click here to download Albula Line and Bernina Pass Joined Route. Please note you will need to own both the Bernina Pass: St Moritz – Poschiavo Route Add-On, which is a separate purchase, and Albula Line in order to play this joined route.

More scenarios are available on Steam Workshop online and in-game. Train Simulator’s Steam Workshop scenarios are free and easy to download, adding many more hours of gameplay. With scenarios being added daily, why don’t you check it out now!

Click here for Steam Workshop scenarios.

Key Features

• Stunning 65km route through the Swiss Alps
• Unique Dynamic Pantograph height system
• GE 4/4 III Electric Locomotive and Glacier Express tourist vehicle consist
• Lb-v container flat wagons
• Dynamic seasonal rolling stock textures
• Over 130 custom bridge and tunnel portal models
• 16 Highly detailed station models
• New animated ski lift models in Bergün and Celerina.
• Over 100 overhead line equipment and catenary models designed specifically for this route.
• Completely new RhB signalling system with custom designed signal models and advanced features
• Accurate driving characteristics
• Seven challenging career scenarios for the route
• Three Railfan Mode Scenarios
• One Unique Passenger Mode scenario
• One Free Roam scenario
• Quick Drive compatible
• Download size: 457.1 mb

Date Released: 01/09/2016

Requires: Train Simulator 2020

Developer: Thomson Interactive

Language: English, German, French, Italian

Unlike most other traction in Train Simulator, the ABe 4/4 III is neither a locomotive nor a multiple unit, but a combination of the two. It can operate independently with its own 1st and 2nd class seating capacity. However it is more commonly seen operating in multiple, hauling rolling stock over the Bernina Pass on services including the Bernina Express.

With the RhB Enhancement Pack 03, the ABe 4/4 III includes all six railcars in standard red RhB livery (numbered 51 to 56), each with their own body side crests. In addition two promotional liveries are also included, vehicle 51 promoting the Unesco World Heritage status of the Albula and Bernina lines, and vehicle 52 celebrating the centenary of the Bernina Line. Features range from dynamic pantographs, detailed passenger views with random window animation and animated passenger doors, speed set and traction motor blower control, opening cabin windows and much more.

To complement the ABe 4/4 III, the RhB Enhancement Pack 03 also features ten different officially licensed Coop swap body Lb-v wagons for authentic Alpine operations. To bring it all together, the pack is fully quick drive compatible with the Bernina Pass route, and a trio of varied Career scenarios are also included.

Included Scenarios

• (ABe 4/4 iii 51 Unesco) BEX Summer Southbound
• (ABe 4/4 iii 52 Bernina) Railcar Tutorial
• (ABe 4/4 iii RhB) Winter Freight Northbound

Please Note: Bernina Pass: St. Moritz – Poschiavo Route Add-On is required, as a separate purchase, in order to play the scenarios featured in this add-on.

More scenarios are available on the Steam Workshop online and in-game. Train Simulator’s Steam Workshop scenarios are free and easy to download, adding many more hours of exciting gameplay. With scenarios being added daily, why don’t you check it out now!

Click here for Steam Workshop scenarios.

Key Features

• ABe 4/4 III Railcar in red RhB livery with correct body side crests for all six units numbered 51 to 56
• Officially licensed ABe 4/4 III Railcar 51 Unesco
• Officially licensed ABe 4/4 III Railcar 52 Bernina
• Ten officially licensed Coop Lb-v swap body wagons
• Dynamic animated pantographs
• Speed select and automatic power cut-off for cabin control wheel
• Manual control of locomotive fans (Blowers)
• Opening cabin windows with dynamic audio levels
• Animated gangway ramps during railcar coupling and uncoupling
• Railcar passenger view featuring:
  • Six position passenger view camera
  • Seasonal timed operation of internal light dimming
  • Random window animation viewable externally and internally with “weather and time intelligence”
  • Animated passenger doors and compartment doors viewable externally and internally
  • Request stop passenger messages viewable externally and internally
  • Rain effects
• Winter snow effects for all vehicles including dynamic snow ploughs on railcars at high altitude
• 3 Career scenarios for Bernina Pass: St. Moritz – Poschiavo Route Add-On
• Download size: 95.7 MB

Date Released: 31/01/2019

Requires: Train Simulator 2020

Developer: Thomson Interactive

Language: English, German

Construction was costly, and the line struggled to pay for itself to begin with, but once it was taken over by the by the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) in 1943, substantial upgrades revitalised it, and today, it is a world-renowned route through the Alps. The Bernina Pass is served most famously by the Bernina Express, which connects Switzerland and Italy and offers an unrivalled view thanks to the panoramic coaches which are used.

In Train Simulator, the Bernina Pass has been captured exquisitely, right down to individual station building features and the intricate overhead electrification (which the pantograph reacts to). Your virtual journey starts from either St. Moritz or Samedan, familiar locations to owners of the Albula Line, but the line takes a new direction from either station, heading south into the picturesque Bernina Valley.

Things take a turn for speed to begin with, however you’ll soon be riding the steep climb up towards the top of the route, and depending on the time of year, you’ll see the landscape change into something of a wonderland. It is then hairpin central as the descent begins, before finally landing at the base of the valley in Poschiavo.

Climb aboard today and experience the wonder of the Bernina Pass: St. Moritz and Samadan to Poschiavo route.

Included Scenarios

A total of 11 scenarios are included, 6 Career Mode, 3 Railfan Mode and 2 Passenger Mode:

• (Abe 8/12 RHB) Allegra Tutorial
• (Abe 8/12 RHB) BEX Autumn Southbound
• (Abe 8/12 RHB) BEX Winter Northbound
• (Abe 8/12 RHB) Container Deliveries
• (Abe 8/12 RHB) Depot Transfer
• (Abe 8/12 RHB) The Engadine Triangle
• (RailfanMode) Bernina Diavolezza in Summer
• (RailfanMode) Ospizio Bernina in Winter
• (RailfanMode) Poschiavo in Autumn
• (PassengerMode) Samedan to Alp Grüm
• (PassengerMode) Alp Grüm to Poschiavo
• Quick Drive compatible

For customers who own the amazing Albula Line: St Moritz – Thusis Route Add-On, Thomson Interactive have joined Bernina Pass with Albula Line which you can download for free from the Steam Workshop:

Click here to download the Albula Line and Bernina Pass Joined Route. Please note you will need to own both the Albula Line: St Moritz – Thusis Route Add-On, which is a separate purchase, and Bernina Pass in order to play this joined route.

More scenarios are available on the Steam Workshop online and in-game. Train Simulator’s Steam Workshop scenarios are free and easy to download, adding many more hours of exciting gameplay. With scenarios being added daily, why don’t you check it out now!

Click here for Steam Workshop scenarios.

Key Features

• 49 km (30 mile) route from St. Moritz and Samedan to Poschiavo
• Metre gauge track system with 3D sleepers, animated junction levers and illuminated
  Indicators.
• Spring, Autumn and Winter snow effects including deep track snow at high altitude in Winter with dynamic snow ploughs on trains.
• RhB signalling system with custom designed signal models and features including:
  • Group signals unique to this line
  • Animated Brake Test and “Abfahrbefehl” (departure indicators)
  • Operating “Besetztes Gleis” indicators for entering occupied platforms
  • Three state ground signals that function correctly between main signals
  • ZSI-90 Safety System track magnets and in-cabin equipment
• New random request stop features designed especially for the Bernina Pass route.
• Over 100 overhead line equipment and catenary models.
• Dynamically operating pantographs for the Abe 8/12 Allegra. Player trains have pantographs that dynamically follow the height of the overhead wires and lower through tunnels.
• Custom bridge, tunnel portal and snow gallery models designed to accurately represent the stunning engineering of the route.
• Highly detailed station models designed from our survey of the route along with many other feature models along the line.
• Animated ski lift models in Celerina.
• Detailed rock face models to capture the breath-taking scenery of the route.
• Passenger view for the EWA coach of the Allegra where you can take in the breath-taking scenery and observe the driver’s cabin through the glass partition.
• 4 x Bernina Express coach types including first class passenger view.
• Lb-v container wagons and Sp-w timber wagons are included.
• Route fully configured for Quick Drive scenarios.
• 3 x Railfan mode scenarios.
• 8 x Career scenarios including a guided tutorial for the ABe 8/12 Allegra train and two new
  Passenger Mode journeys.
• Download size: 510mb

Date Released: 20/09/2018

Requires: Train Simulator 2020

Developer: Thomson Interactive

Language: English, German, French

The original plan to produce a 6 axle variant of the RhB Ge 4/4 II was quickly replaced with a more universally capable 4 axle design. A much more modern bodyshell was used for the new loco, and by the end of 1993, the first Ge 4/4 III, numbered 641, rolled off the production line, entering service on December 3rd of the same year. A further 11 locomotives would enter service between 1994 and 1999.

The Ge 4/4 III fleet is now the principal motive power for traffic on the Albula Railway, the universal design paid off as they can effortlessly cope with either freight or passengers across the mountains, and also command the Glacier Express, known as the slowest express in the world. While originally shipped in classic RhB red, with each loco brandishing a unique coat of arms, the entire fleet has since been decorated with various advertising liveries.

To commemorate the classification of the Albula Line as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2008, locomotive no. 650 ‘Seewis im Prättigau’ was re-liveried into a UNESCO-specific scheme. While 650 retained most of its red front, the rest of the body was given a light blue coating, upon which a graphic depicting a train crossing the Landwasser Viaduct, as viewed from below, is present.

Albula Hauling, Passenger & Freight

Several years after the introduction of the first Einheitswagen (EW) for RhB, it was decided that the next iteration of coaches would focus on passenger comfort and reducing weight. The Einheitswagen II, introduced in 1975, provided more spacious seating, ventilation and heating, plus double glazed windows that were also tinted. The body was extrusion pressed out of aluminium, to not only reduce weight, but also increase strength.

The RhB ordered two main variants of the Einheitswagen II, those being ‘A’ and ‘B’, where A denotes First Class seating throughout, and B is purely standard seating. Neither of these Einheitswagen II models are capable of holding any substantial quantity of passenger’s belongings, so RhB also ordered Baggage Cars which could take care of any storage issues. Luggage and bikes could now be stored away from those aboard, which became even more vital as tourism continued to grow. Some Baggage Cars were fitted with a pantograph to supply heating and air conditioning, taking the strain away from the loco itself.

Of course, the Albula Line is also a key freight route within Switzerland, and a wide variety of tonnage capabilities are seen day in, day out. The Swiss wood industry owes its success to the railways, and the Albula Pass is no exception. ‘Sp-w’ flat cars are often used for transporting roundwood, these wagons are an all-round excellent example of reliable engineering that helps the railway and surrounding area grow.

Another industry, popularly seen curving through the Swiss Alps, is fuel. ‘Za’ tankers transport up to 39000 liters, or 33 tonnes of petroleum a piece, and have a safe and efficient operating history. The mountainous terrain necessitates fuel, and thanks to the Albula railway, plus the readily capable Ge 4/4 III and Za tankers, successful deliveries can be expected promptly.

Ease back on the Throttle

One vital operation across any railway in the world is track maintenance. While maintenance is being carried out Temporary Speed Restrictions (TSRs) are imposed to reduce the speed of movements through the section of line being worked on. The line can be kept open and operated safely instead of shutting it completely for engineering works.

Temporary magnets are placed on the track to warn drivers of an upcoming restriction, of any speed limit, and then once the rear of the consist has passed the area, regular operating speed may resume. This practice is seen worldwide, and while it adds a few minutes to the journey, it is a regular part of railroading activities for drivers to learn and observe.

Scenarios

The RhB Enhancement Pack Add-on includes three challenging career scenarios for the Albula Line: St Moritz – Thusis Route route:

• GEX Zermatt Transfer
• Oil Delivery to Samedan
• Saturday Ski Service

More scenarios are available on Steam Workshop online and in-game. Train Simulator’s Steam Workshop scenarios are free and easy to download, adding many more hours of gameplay. With scenarios being added daily, why don’t you check it out now!

Click here for Steam Workshop scenarios.

Key Features

• Unique Dynamic Pantograph height system
• RhB GE 4/4 iii 650 Unesco and EW II Coach consist
• Sp-w Flatbed Wagon in Clean and Rusty Timber variations
• Za Tank Wagon in Clean and Rusty variations
• Accurate driving characteristics
• Coach windows drop automatically if the weather is nice and is daytime
• Coach lights vary depending on time of day and their current use
• Coaches have customisable destinations
• Range of Temporary Speed Restriction signage included
• Three challenging career scenarios for the Albula Line: St Moritz – Thusis Route
• Quick Drive compatible
• Download size: 71.8 mb

Date Released: 17/11/2016

Requires: Train Simulator 2020

Developer: Thomson Interactive

Language: English