Switzerland unveils world’s steepest funicular railway

Switzerland will on Sunday open to the public the world’s steepest funicular (cable-operated) railway link to the alpine resort of Stoos, which rises 743 metres along gradients as steep as 110%. Replacing an older funicular in operation since 1933, the latest one beats in steepness another such link with a gradient of 106%, climbing to Gelmersee lake in Bern region of Switzerland. The revolutionary design resembles rotating drums that keep passengers level as the gradient changes.

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Rs 333.21 cr or 52 million Swiss franc ($52.6 mn) cost of the project

14 years time taken to build the funicular, which looks like a string of giant hamster wheels

34 people can travel at a time in each of the four cabins, hailed for their revolutionary design

1,720 metres length of track from the base of valley floor near Schwyz to the car-free Stoos resort in the Alps