The Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen-Mürren (BLM) is a mountain railway

Mountain railway

A mountain railway is a railway that ascends and descends a mountain slope that has a steep grade. Such railways can use a number of different technologies to overcome the steepness of the grade...

 in the Bernese Oberland

Bernese Oberland

The Bernese Oberland is the higher part of the canton of Bern, Switzerland, in the southern end of the canton: The area around Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, and the valleys of the Bernese Alps .The flag of the Bernese Oberland consists of a black eagle in a gold field The Bernese Oberland (Bernese...

 area of Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, which connects the villages of Lauterbrunnen

Lauterbrunnen

Lauterbrunnen is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.The municipality lies in the Lauterbrunnen Valley and comprises the villages Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, Mürren, Gimmelwald, Stechelberg and Isenfluh...

 and Mürren

Mürren

Mürren is a traditional Walser mountain village in Bernese Oberland, Switzerland, at an elevation of 1,650 m above sea level and unreachable by public road....

. The enterprise consists of a connected aerial cableway, also known as the Grütschalpbahn, and a adhesion worked railway.

Operations

The aerial cableway and railway connect at Grütschalp

Grütschalp

Grütschalp is a station on the Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen - Mürren mountain railway. It is also where the Lauterbrunnen - Grütshalp aerial cableway interconnects with the railway....

 station. The cableway runs 1.4 km (0.869921831309729 mi) from Lauterbrunnen to Grütschalp, and was opened only in 2006, replacing a funicular

Funicular

A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...

 with maximum gradient of 60%. From Grütschalp to Mürren the line is continued as a 4.2 km (2.6 mi) long narrow gauge electric railway with a maximum upward gradient of 5% and using adhesion

Rail adhesion

The term adhesion railway or adhesion traction describes the most common type of railway, where power is applied by driving some or all of the wheels of the locomotive. Thus, it relies on the friction between a steel wheel and a steel rail. Note that steam locomotives of old were driven only by...

 traction (i.e. not rack and pinion

Rack railway

A rack-and-pinion railway is a railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with this rack rail...

). The railway is single-track, with a passing loop at Winteregg

Winteregg

Winteregg is a station on the Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen–Mürren mountain railway. It is a passing place for trains running in opposite directions. There is also a restaurant there and during the winter months a four man chairlift with a bubble takes skiers up the hillside.-References:...

 station.

Both the funicular and electric railway had a track gauge of , enabling the use of the funicular to transfer rolling stock

Rolling stock

Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...

 to and from the electric railway. A travelling crane in the Grütschalp station is used to transfer goods between the two sections - well used since road access to Mürren is very difficult. With the replacement of the funicular, the aerial cable car has also taken over the task of transporting goods. The single cable car carries up to 100 passengers in a journey time of 4 minutes, a significant improvement over the 11 minute funicular journey time. The special crane has been conserved to facilitate transfer of goods between the railway and a goods platform slung underneath the aerial cablecar.

The BLM station at Lauterbrunnen is directly opposite the station of the Berner Oberland Bahn (BOB) to Interlaken

Interlaken

Interlaken is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the Canton of Bern in Switzerland, a well-known tourist destination in the Bernese Oberland.-History:...

, and the Wengernalpbahn

Wengernalpbahn

Wengernalpbahn is a 19.091 km long, gauge rack railway line in Switzerland, which runs from Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg, making it the world's longest continuous rack and pinion railway....

 (WAB) to Kleine Scheidegg

Kleine Scheidegg

The Kleine Scheidegg is a high mountain pass below and between the Eiger and Lauberhorn peaks in the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland. It connects Grindelwald with Lauterbrunnen. The name means "minor watershed", even though it is actually higher than the neighbouring Grosse Scheidegg...

 and Grindelwald

Grindelwald

Grindelwald is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. The village is located at above sea level in the Bernese Alps.-Winter sports:...

.

History

• 1887 Concession obtained for the construction of the railways.
• 1889 The company is formed and construction starts.
• 1891 Railway opens. The planned opening on 1 June is delayed until 14 August due to a derailment.
• 1902 The funicular railway is converted from water gravity power to electric power .
• 1910 First winter operations started.
• 1912 Replacement of the locomotives on the Mürren to Grütschalp section by motor coaches (type BDe 2/4).
• 1949 New vehicles and rope are installed on the Lauterbrunnen to Grütschalp section.
• 1965 The new station at Mürren is opened.
• 1994 The freight loading operations at Grütschalp are rebuilt.
• 2006 Last operation of the funicular railway from Lauterbrunnen to Grütschalp is on 23 April and the first operation of the replacement cablecar was on 16 December.

External links

• Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen-Mürren in English. Part of a site about the Swiss narrow gauge railways.