The Jungfraujoch Railway

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Interlaken, which is situated on the Aare river between the beautiful turquoise lakes of Brienz and Thun, is the gateway to the Jungfrau region in Switzerland's Bernese Oberland. Cog railways run from the station at Interlaken Ost to the pretty alpine villages of Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, Mürren and Wengen.

From Grindelwald and Wengen the cog railways continue, to converge on Kleine Scheidegg which consists of a station and a few buildings spectacularly situated on the watershed between the Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen valleys. Above Kleine Scheidegg tower the three peaks of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.

The most spectacular train journey in the region (as well as the most expensive) is from Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch which is situated on the col between the Mönch and the Jungfrau. The train leaves Kleine Scheidegg (2061 m) and climbs sharply to Eigergletscher Station (2320 m). It then enters a tunnel bored through the Eiger and Mönch to arrive an hour later at Jungfraujoch Station (3454 m) which claims to be the highest railway station in Europe.


The train stops twice in the tunnel to allow trains coming in the opposite direction to pass. At the lower stop, Eigerwand, passengers can alight from the train and look out from windows set in the Eiger North Face. At the upper stop, Eismeer, the view is across the Fiescher Glacier which flows towards Grindelwald.

The Jungfraujoch station is underground, but there are tunnels leading outside and a fast elevator to the “Sphinx” observatory and scientific laboratories (3571 m). A path across the permanent snowfields below the Mönch, with superb views towards the Aletsch glacier and back to the Jungfrau, leads to the Mönchsjochhütte (3650 m).

To get the most out of a trip to Jungfraujoch it is necessary to set out early. Good weather is essential, and if the Jungfrau is in cloud it is probably better to postpone the trip. A drop in temperature of 30 C is likely between Interlaken and Jungfraujoch so that warm clothing is required, as well as sunglasses and boots for walking on the snowfields. Although 3500 m is not particularly high, the effect of altitude is quite noticeable on the up-hill sections of the Mönchsjochhütte path.

There is a Web Cam at Jungfraujoch showing changing panoramic views of the Sphinx, the Aletsch Glacier, the snowfields and the Jungfrau.The railway company that runs the Jungfraujoch Railway also operates the Gornergrat Railway in Switzerland's Upper Valais region. This runs from Zermatt (1620 m) to Gornergrat (3130 m) and the journey is notable for its spectacular views of the Matterhorn.A range of 4000 m peaks from Monte Rosa, through Liskamm, Breithorn, Matterhorn to Dent d'Hérens is visible from Gornergrat Station.

There are several stations between Zermatt and Gornergrat and these are linked by paths as well as by the railway, so that it is possible to walk up to Gornergrat from Zermatt and take the train back or vice versa. It is also possible to walk selected sections; the walk from Riffelberg to Gornergrat is particularly spectacular.The pictures shown on this page were scanned from transparencies (Kodachrome 64 or Provia 100) at a resolution 1600×1072 pixel using a Minolta Dimage Scan Dual film scanner. The resolution was then reduced to 800×536 pixel.