Bernina Pass: St Moritz – Poschiavo Route Add-On

Climb the mountains and explore stunning Switzerland – Thomson Interactive’s popular line-up of Swiss add-ons continues with the famed Bernina Pass.

Opened between 1908 and 1910, the railway which traversed the challenging Bernina Pass was built to extend the reach of rail travel, for locals and tourists, expanding upon the success of the Albula Line. The peaks and valleys of the Bernina Alps required rails as high as 2,253 m (7,392 ft), and so the route was built with a staggering 7% gradient for the most part, in both directions, and had to feature engineering marvels such as hairpin curves and plenty of tunnels – all of which are still in use today.

Construction was costly, and the line struggled to pay for itself to begin with, but once it was taken over by the by the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) in 1943, substantial upgrades revitalised it, and today, it is a world-renowned route through the Alps. The Bernina Pass is served most famously by the Bernina Express, which connects Switzerland and Italy and offers an unrivalled view thanks to the panoramic coaches which are used.

In Train Simulator, the Bernina Pass has been captured exquisitely, right down to individual station building features and the intricate overhead electrification (which the pantograph reacts to). Your virtual journey starts from either St. Moritz or Samedan, familiar locations to owners of the Albula Line, but the line takes a new direction from either station, heading south into the picturesque Bernina Valley.

Things take a turn for speed to begin with, however you’ll soon be riding the steep climb up towards the top of the route, and depending on the time of year, you’ll see the landscape change into something of a wonderland. It is then hairpin central as the descent begins, before finally landing at the base of the valley in Poschiavo.

Climb aboard today and experience the wonder of the Bernina Pass: St. Moritz and Samadan to Poschiavo route.

Includes:

• 49 km (30 mile) route from St. Moritz and Samedan to Poschiavo
• Metre gauge track system with 3D sleepers, animated junction levers and illuminated indicators.
• Spring, Autumn and Winter snow effects including deep track snow at high altitude in Winter with dynamic snow ploughs on trains.
• RhB signalling system with custom designed signal models and features.
• New random request stop features designed especially for the Bernina Pass route.
• Over 100 overhead line equipment and catenary models.
• Dynamically operating pantographs for the Abe 8/12 Allegra. Player trains have pantographs that dynamically follow the height of the overhead wires and lower through tunnels.
• Custom bridge, tunnel portal and snow gallery models designed to accurately represent the stunning engineering of the route.
• Highly detailed station models designed from our survey of the route along with many other feature models along the line.
• Animated ski lift models in Celerina.
• Detailed rock face models to capture the breath-taking scenery of the route.
• Passenger view for the EWA coach of the Allegra where you can take in the breath-taking scenery and observe the driver’s cabin through the glass partition.
• 4 x Bernina Express coach types including first class passenger view.
• Lb-v container wagons and Sp-w timber wagons are included.
• Route fully configured for Quick Drive scenarios.
• 3 x Railfan mode scenarios.
• 8 x Career scenarios including a guided tutorial for the ABe 8/12 Allegra train and two new Passenger Mode journeys.