Stoos funicular railway is the world’s steepest

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

The Stoos funicular railway gives you the steepest ascent of its kind in the world. For the little Alpine village in central Switzerland, the railway has made it an international tourist destination. The tourists are also eager to take fun in the steepest funicular railway in the world.

 
Launched in December 2017, the Stoos funicular railway connects the village of that name to the Muota valley, famous for the Hölloch caves, which are among the longest in the world.

 
With the new connection – which costs over CHF 52 million ($52.9 million) – a three-minute ride gets you up the 1,740 metre route, with an altitude difference of 744 metres. At its steepest point, the slope is 110%, about 47 degrees.

 
Ivan Steiner, the regional tourism manager said, “We were expecting a certain amount of interest at the international level, but not this much. This cable railway is now known in just about every country in the world!” On social media, footage of the unusually-shaped cable car making its way up the mountainside through avalanche barriers had millions of viewers.

 
Situated at an altitude of 1,330 metres, Stoos has about 150 inhabitants. The village is closed to traffic, and the only way to get there, besides a narrow private road, is an aerial lift and the new funicular railway.

 
The region was already popular in the Victorian age, and by the turn of the century, the health resort at Stoos was much appreciated by the wealthy people. The place attracted an international clientele – French, Russian, and English – which can be read at the website of the hotel that has taken the place of the original resort.

 
Last winter, the number of visitors went up 30% higher than the previous year, said Steiner.

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