Swiss Railway Journeys - SBB Gothard South

This is the official channel of the TV show Swiss Railway Journeys, run in association with MITV, the production company that created the show. The following episode represents original content made and copyrighted by MITV, and its content is in no way repurposed.

Travel with us along the spectacular SBB Gotthard Line, one of the world's premier rail routes, running south-north through the Alpine chain in Switzerland. In Gotthard South we take the EC "Verdi" from Chiasso on the Italian border through Canton Ticino to the Gotthard tunnel at Airolo.

Our journey begins at the southernmost tip of Switzerland, passing by the blue waters of Lake Lugano. Along the way we stop to visit some of the many attractions of the region including the Swiss Miniatur model village and the Monte Generoso rack railway. We admire the three impressive historic castles in the city of Bellinzona and enjoy spectacular mountain scenery.

The climb to the summit includes no less than two sets of spiral tunnels and we view these incredible engineering feats from train, air and track-side.

Other treats include a ride on an E 3/3 ex-Gotthard steam locomotive at Mendrisio and a visit to the line's power generation station at Ritom. We round off the compelling journey with a look at the Gotthard tunnel excavation at Airolo.

A companion video "Gotthard North" makes the journey with ex-TEE "Gottardo" from Zürich to Göschenen, along the northern stretch of the line.
(recorded in 1994)