Polaris overlooking the Matterhorn in the evening, Gornergrat Railway

Info point 5

Travel sustainably with Gornergrat Railway

Gornergrat Railway is closely linked to the virtually untouched surroundings and the unique flora and fauna it passes through. It is therefore of great importance to the company that sustainability is an integral part of its corporate philosophy. Since its first trip in 1898, Gornergrat Railway has been using recuperation to improve its energy efficiency. All trains are equipped with asynchronous engines that feed excess energy back into the grid on their descent. This allows the trains that go uphill to reuse this energy.

Every journey generates reactive power – unused electricity in the grid. Normally, this is compensated by capacitors. Reactive power cannot be used directly, but it is used in transformers and generators for magnetic fields as well as for charging capacitors. The new Gornergrat Railway POLARIS trains can compensate for this reactive power themselves, which further increases efficiency. Three downhill trains generate enough electricity for one or two uphill trains. This recuperation contributes to a sustainable energy supply.