Gornergrat-Bahn – Zermatt, Switzerland

Gornergrat-Bahn takes you from Zermatt, at 5,266 feet, to Gornergrat, at 10,272, with five train stations in between. While it might look like a regular train, it’s a cog railway, also known as a rack railway. Cogwheels use a toothed rail track between the standard rails to maneuver the train up steep grades. Regular friction-based trains only work up to a 10% grade.

I found this older model on display at the Zermatt station. Our train was considerably more modern and sleek.

We could’ve taken an earlier train, but we noticed a large tour group come through and wanted to ensure good seats. We learned that you want to be on the right side when climbing the mountain for the winning view, so we opted for the next train, waiting about 20 minutes.

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