Asian tourists paved the way for a record number of visitors travelling to Europe’s highest railway station – the Jungfraujoch in Switzerland. Jungfrau Railways saw 1,067,000 passengers last year, the third time the million landmark has been breached in the past four years.
However, the railway operators warned that a lack of snow in the current winter season has created challenges. Two of its other destinations in the popular resort of Grindelwald had to use artificial snow-making systems to get the ski season underway last month.
Passengers using the railway purely to get to ski areas on the Jungfrau fell 3.9% last year.
However, this did little to dampen enthusiasm for sightseeing rail trips to the “Top of Europe” station, which saw an annual increase of 2.4% visitors from 2017. The operator recorded a particularly strong increase in summer season visits.
Other sightseeing rail routes also saw a marked increase in visitors. The company said it would intensify its marketing campaigns in Asia in a bid to further increase numbers.
Last year the Swiss authorities granted permission for a controversial infrastructure project to carry tourists faster up to the Jungfraujoch. This includes plans to build a cable car to the Eiger glacier station.
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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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What happens when you flush the toilet at Europe’s highest railway station?
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swissinfo.ch went behind the scenes at Jungfraujoch, to find out what it takes to keep over a million visitors hydrated, fed and breathing.
Visitors to the Jungfraujoch top one million in 2017
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The alpine train station at the ‘top of Europe’ in the Bernese Alps welcomed 1,042 million visitors last year – a 13.6% increase over 2016.
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.