The Federal Office of Transport has approved a CHF400 million ($405 million) mountain railway project that will carry tourists faster up to the Jungfraujoch in the Bernese Alps. The project has been modified to appease local opponents who had raised environmental and aesthetic concerns.
At the heart of the controversial plan is a V-shaped cable car route that would allow more tourists to swiftly reach the Eiger Glacier station from where they can take the mountain railways to the Jungfraujoch “Top of Europe” tourist station.
Local authorities and residents of the Bernese Alps feared the “Eiger express” line, which would start from the village of Grindelwald, would disfigure the landscape. Seventeen objections were made but advocates gave up the fight in February accepting in exchange a donation for a good cause.
The Federal Office of Transport introduced measures and requirements to allay these concerns. The gondola will have shorter masts than originally planned and the colour scheme of the cabins will be more discrete to blend in with the landscape.
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Jungfrau Railway is still on top
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In its first full year in operation, 1913, the Jungfraujoch attracted 42,880 tourists; last year 765,000 made the unique rail trek to “The Top of Europe”. On a midweek summer’s day swissinfo.ch joined the throngs of passengers expertly herded up and down the route every half an hour, 48 minutes each way. The pace of…
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In the winter season up to April 2024, railway and cable car operators ferried 3% more visitors compared to the previous winter, and 5% more than the five-year average.
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Swiss government proposes CHF10 million UNRWA donation
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A study led by the Swiss Ornithological Institute in canton Lucerne is helping to better understand the movement patterns of migratory insects.
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The Red Cross and Red Crescent network in Gaza and Israel has lost 22 staff members since last October, the Swiss Red Cross (SRC) said on Wednesday.
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Borussia Dortmund’s Gregor Kobel has achieved history by becoming the first Swiss goalkeeper to reach a Champion’s League final.
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Pro-Palestinian activists occupied university buildings in Lausanne, Geneva and Zurich on Tuesday, widening the protest movement in the Alpine nation.
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TradeXBank, the former Swiss branch of Russia’s Sberbank, will be able to resume its dollar-denominated activities from the second half of this year.
Geneva decides not to remove controversial memorials
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The city of Geneva has presented an action plan regarding a series of controversial local statues and monuments of historical figures linked to racism, colonialism or slavery.
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‘Beast from the East’ brings record low temperatures
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The so-called ‘Beast from the East’ weather front has hit Switzerland and temperatures dropped to as low as -28.9 degrees.
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