Arlberg Railway

The Arlberg line was the only link of imperial Austria with western Europe and was steam worked for forty hard years. Years ago a train of 500 tonnes required three steam engines and their crews plus ten brake men. The maximum speed was seventeen kilometres per hour.
In it's early years, an average of nineteen trains crossed the Arlberg each day. Today the number is 125. One single manned electric loco can haul a 500 tonne train over the pass at seventy kilometres per hour. The worst problem are the winter snows. The snow plow operator has to know every mast and signal. Damage to plough or track would stop snow clearing and could bring the railway to a standstill.
This is a trailer from a documentary about this unique Alpine crossing from its very beginning to the present. The DVD is available from www.bahnorama.com.