Pilatus Railway

The Pilatus Railway climbs from Alpnachstad to Pilatus Kulm at a maximum gradient of 48 per cent, making it the steepest cogwheel railway in the world. It usually runs from May to November, weather permitting, and is often combined with a boat from Lucerne and a cable car descent to Kriens.

Why it is the steepest

A conventional rack railway cannot hold this gradient — the teeth would ride up out of the rack. The engineer Eduard Locher solved it in 1889 with a system found nowhere else: two horizontal cogwheels gripping the rack from either side rather than from above, so the train cannot climb out of its own track. It ran on steam until 1937.

The Golden Round Trip

The classic way to do it is a loop rather than a return: boat across Lake Lucerne to Alpnachstad, the cogwheel railway up to the summit at 2,073m, then the aerial cableway and gondola down the other side to Kriens on the edge of Lucerne, and a bus back into the city. It takes most of a day and you never retrace your steps.

Practical detail

The cogwheel line is seasonal — roughly May to November, depending on snow — and closes for the winter, though the gondola from Kriens runs year round, so the summit is reachable in winter by the other side. The Swiss Travel Pass gives a discount rather than free travel.

More pictures

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