The red Bernina train - UNESCO world heritage site
This extraordinary route begins in Tirano, the last railway station arriving from Milan.
The famous Red Train is not only a connection between Italy and Switzerland, but it is also a magic journey through the most beautiful mountains in Europe with unique characteristics: it is the highest alpine transversal in Europe and one of the steepest railway in the world.
It is possibile to sit comfortably in panoramic carriages with 360° view both in winter and in summer. The train travels on a 70 out of a thousand slope and climbs up the 2253 metres of the Bernina Pass to descend towards St. Moritz, the Engadine’s pearl.
After a few kilometres the train passes by the wonderful spiralling viaduct of Brusio. Next to Poschiavo, chief town of the homonymous valley with its beautiful patrician residences, the train arrives at Alp Grüm, an exceptional panoramic point. Right after the Pass, it offers a spectacular view over the Morterasch Glacier and the Bernina mountains with their 'sparkilng four-thousand' of eternal snow.
In Pontresina the railway route branches off for Samedan-Coira to the central part of Switzerland, and after a few kilometres arrives in St. Moritz.
An exciting adventure that is now a UNESCO world heritage site.
The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS International), being the advisory body of UNESCO for the world heritage site, is for the registration of the 'Rhaetian Railway and the Albula/Bernina cultural landscape' in the list.
This Committee, that represents the 21 States contracting of the Convention on the world heritage site, will express a definitive decision in July 2008 during its General Assembly in Canada.
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