Gütsch Funicular

Gütschbahn
Gütschbahn
	upper station and hotel (2012)
Overview
Other name(s)	Drahtseilbahn Gütsch
Status	In operation
Locale	Lucerne, Switzerland
Termini	"Luzern, Gütsch" at Baselstrasse 21a; "Luzern, Château Gütsch";
Stations	2
Website	chateau-guetsch.ch
Service
Type	Funicular
Operator(s)	Verkehrsbetriebe Luzern
Rolling stock	2
History
Opened	22 August 1884; (140 years ago)
Extension	1897
Operations suspended	21 April 2008
Reopened after new installation	25 September 2015
Technical
Line length	170 m (560 ft)
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in)
Electrification	1961 (water counterbalancing before)
Highest elevation	519 m (1,703 ft)

The Gütsch Funicular, also known as the Drahtseilbahn Gütsch (DBG) or simply the Gütschbahn, is a funicular railway in the city of Lucerne in the Swiss canton of Lucerne. The line links a lower station located on Baselstrasse, some 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) west of the centre of the city, with an upper station adjacent to the Château Gütsch hotel,^[1] 90 m above.

The Château Gütsch was constructed between 1881 and 1883 on a site overlooking the city of Lucerne and modelled on the architecture of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. In order to link the hotel to the city, the water-powered Gütschbahn funicular was opened on 22 August 1884. The line continued operating until 21 April 2008, when service ceased until further notice. After rebuilding, the line reopened on 26 September 2015.^[1]^[2]

In its current guise the line is operated by Verkehrsbetriebe Luzern, the city's transport operator, and is integrated into zone 10 of the city's integrated fare system. It has the following parameters:^[1]

Feature	Value
Number of stops	2
Configuration	Twin track
Mode of operation	Automatic
Track length	170 metres (558 ft)
Rise	90 metres (300 ft)
Track gauge	1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in)
Number of cars	2
Capacity	8 passengers per car
Travel time	1.5 minutes

Gallery

early image of the funicular (ca. 1885)
Share certificate of the Gütschbahn-Gesellschaft (founded 1895, wound-up 2007), issued 19. January 1895
hiking destination from upper station: Luzern, Gütschwald, Oberwil, Littau, Sonnenberg [de]
View from upper station

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Ammann, Christian; Haydock, David (November 2015). "Gütschbahn reopens". Today's Railways. Platform 5 Publishing Ltd. p. 15.
^ "Gütschbahn" (in German). Prellbock Druck & Verlag. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2015.