The Niesen funicular
From Mülenen to just below the summit of the Niesen, the pyramid of the Oberland, a very steep climb with a change of car at Schwandegg.
In 1886, Johannes Brahms walks up the Niesen, and he does not much enjoy those long hours on foot, according to Wikipedia. Yet an inn has been waiting for walkers at the top since 1856. Those who can afford it have themselves carried: on horseback, on a mule, or sitting in a chair hoisted by four men.
Built by hand
The first plan started from Wimmis: a steam rack railway, dreamt up in 1887 and dropped, too costly and too risky, the company says on its website. Everything changes in 1901, when trains begin running from Spiez to Frutigen, the first piece of what will become the Lötschberg line. Mülenen, at the foot of the mountain, now has a station: the funicular will leave from there, under a concession granted at the end of 1902. The workers take on the slope in August 1906, and the site shuts down every winter. With no crane and no helicopter, over two hundred men on average lay the line by hand, on wooden scaffolding; in 1909 there are as many as 350. The line opens in 1910, on 15 July: according to Wikipedia, 150 guests ride up that day, in three trips of 50 minutes.
Two funiculars end to end
The track is almost 3.5 km long, too much for one piece: Wikipedia explains that its length got it cut in two. A first funicular climbs from Mülenen (693 m) to Schwandegg (1669 m). There you change cars for the second, which stops at Niesen Kulm, at 2336 m, a little below the summit. Each section has its own two cars, tied by a cable, and not a single cogwheel. According to the operator, the slope reaches 66 % at the bottom and 68 % at the top, and the whole journey now takes half an hour. The early years were hard: avalanches damage the line more than once, the First World War sends takings tumbling, and in 1923 the company has to be bailed out, with the Federal Supreme Court’s help. In 2024, the line carried close to 88,000 people.
The record staircase
The staff have their own way up, beside the rails: a staircase. It has 11,674 steps, and no other in the world has as many, according to Guinness World Records. The public may not set foot on it, except by paying for a pass, joining an organised training session or running the Niesen-Treppenlauf, the yearly race held there since 2004. The fastest runners cover its 1643 m of ascent in under an hour, while a hiker allows about five hours from Mülenen.
On the map
The map has a single funicular, all in one piece, with no stop at Schwandegg: two ivory and green cars, tied by their cable, which pass each other half-way up on a doubled track. The real route was too steep for the map; so the line was laid where the relief allowed, and it ends on a shoulder, below the summit. The staircase is not there, and the ride is much shorter than in real life. The vehicles on the map are there for play: they keep to no timetable and don’t show where the real ones are. To travel, check the official timetables; and if you’d like the map to do more, write to us, our links are at the top of the page.
Sources: Niesenbahn, pages “Niesenbahn”, “Technology” and “Niesen Stairway”; Wikipedia, articles “Niesenbahn” and “Niesen”, “Liste de funiculaires en Suisse” (French).