In a first, Switzerland’s non-stop train – the GoldenPass Express – will connect Gstaad, Montreux, and Interlaken via a technologically advanced rail ride for the winter holiday season to lure more tourists.

As per the latest news reports, starting from December 11, the GoldenPass Express will be linking the said three of Switzerland’s major tourist destinations, on a 3 hour and 15 minute journey that will take travellers across the heart of the Swiss Alps.

As per the Montreux-Oberland-Bernese Railway Co. (MOB) that is behind the new train, when railway projects were starting to develop in Switzerland, the idea to directly link the most visited regions of Switzerland, Montreux’s Lake Geneva, and lakes Thun and Brienz in Interlaken emerged at that time.

Over the time, a number of prominent tourist attractions in Switzerland have been made accessible from either end, including hiking in the mountainous Stockhorn region, chocolate tasting at Maison Cailler in Montbovon, or boating on Lake Thun on a day trip.

However, the said nonstop route remained impossible for decades as there was no such technology for trains to transition across the two types of railway tracks built in Switzerland, which was a standard European track and a metric-gauge track.

Finally, the idea emerged in 2008 to alter the coaches rather than build new tracks, and thanks to the variable gauge-changing bogies placed under the coaches—a mechanism to which a train’s wheels and axles are attached—plus an adapting ramp, the GoldenPass Express train can now easily transition from the mountain track to the standard track, and vice versa.

Revealing more about this train, an official in the know-how added that the inaugural passes are already sold out, further adding that it’s filling up nicely for the weeks ahead. He also added that they are happy with the reservations, and it’s not yet Christmas school break.

Reports further added that there will just be two trains per day with a single trip from each direction. While one will be leaving from Montreux, the other will be from Interlaken, which will be at almost the same time in the morning. Reportedly, the number of trips will be increased to four times a day starting from June 11, 2023.