Six Days In Basel; Day Four - RB trains up Mount Rigi; MGB trains to Brig and The Lotschberger

The first train of the day from Basel to Luzern/Lucerne, was an IR train and it had an observation car accessible to 1^st class ticket holders. 

There were paper notices on the door saying ‘reservations’, which we didn’t have, but we peered inside hoping that we’d get lucky. There were tickets above each seat indicating between which stations the seats were reserved for and there were actually plenty of spare seats available, so having a 1^st class Swiss Flexi Pass had delivered another  unexpected benefit.

We only had five minutes at Luzern to catch the paddle steamer across the lake to Vitznau, but walking in a straight line out of the station took us right to the boat. 

The Swiss Pass was valid on the boat and being 1^st class ticket holders we had access to the upper deck for the optimum views.

Vitznau is one of the stations where the Rigi Bahn (RB) rack railway to the summit of Mt Rigi departs from. Paul particularly wanted to go on a rack railway to a mountain summit and as a very general rule InterRail passes only allow give discount on rack railways in Switzerland. This rule often applies to Swiss Passes too, but the Rigi Bahn is free to Swiss Pass holders.

We only had 5 minutes from the boat’s arrival to the departure of the train, so two minutes before arrival at Vitznau, we made our way to the boat’s exit and found dozens of people ahead of us. The charge for the train was on as soon as the gang plank was lowered, so without stepping on anyone’s toes, we deftly made our way through the pack of pensioners, in order to bag a window seat overlooking Lake Luzern on the left of the train.

Mission accomplished, we soon found ourselves heading into the clouds. It wasn’t a particularly cloudy day in Switzerland, but some sort of weather phenomenon was evidently turning Mt Rigi into a cloud factory. However, we didn’t have that much time to linger at the unexpectedly gloomy summit, as the train that we were going to take back down the other side of the mountain to Arth-Goldau, was already in the station.

At Arth-Goldau it was a 5 min walk to the main station from the RB station and the IR train to Goschenen was already in the platform when we arrived.

It was lunch time, so the passengers in this train’s observation car had a grand stand view of us charging through the station shop like demented lunatics buying sandwiches against the clock.

We found seats in the observation car (the train had commenced its journey in Basel) for the thrill ride through the Gotthard pass. The observation cars are only found in the slightly slower IR trains on this route, the faster EC, IC and ICN trains don’t have them, so the IR trains are  worth seeking out if you have a 1^st class ticket.

You don't have to go out of your way to have an incredible journey in Switzerland, this mainline route on either side of The Gotthard Tunnel, used by trains on Basel/Zurich - Lugano - Milan journeys, has to be one of the spectacular taken by express trains anywhere in Europe.

We had to take the IR train, as they’re the only trains that call at Goschenen, where we changed for the short but spectacular trip on the MGB train, through a gorge in the mountain up to Andermatt.

We needn’t have bought sandwiches in a frenzied rush at Arth-Goldau, the station café at Andermatt is a retro delight, looking like something beamed down from a 1950s holiday park and serving food straight out of a Fanny Craddock cook book.

With half an hour before the next train, we couldn’t resist the bright pink raspberry meringue pie.

The MGB train took us to Brig and the scenery on this route either side of the Furka Tunnel was inevitably wonderful, 

but we’d opted for the Swiss Pass partially because it was valid on the MGB trains and InterRail passes aren’t. 
However, this route is arguably not as spectacular as the RhB routes around Chur or‘ The Golden Pass’ route, and the cheaper, InterRail pass, is valid on these lines. 
The point being, is that you don’t have to buy a Swiss Pass to have an amazing experience on Swiss trains, InterRail passes can save you money while also delivering access to the train journeys of a lifetime.

And then the unbelievable happened, we missed a train because of a late arrival into Brig!

To be fair three minutes to change trains at Brig was always going to be ambitious. As we discovered, the MGB train station is located in the road outside the main SBB station and we were at the wrong end of the train, furthest from the SBB station entrance.

We had arrived in Brig two minutes late, but Paul set off like a sprinter, with me trailing behind wailing ‘we won’t make it’. I was proved right, the train disappeared off the departure board while we still in the station subway, so at least we were spared the effort of running up the stairs to the platform in vain.

This left us an hour to explore Brig and to our mutual delight we found an ice cream parlour in the town square. 

Yes dear reader, we’d already scoffed that raspberry meringue pie only a few hours before and now it was double scoop time!

On the Swiss rail map eight routes are singled out as the best trips of all and one of them is the Lostchberger.

It only receives a fraction of the attention dished out to the likes of The Glacier Express and The Willhelm Tell Express etc, but it is fantastic.

All trains between Brig and Spiez were once routed through the old Lotschberg tunnel , high in the mountains, but the express EC and IC trains are now diverted through the Lostchberg Base Tunnel. 
Being three times the length of the old tunnel it’s highly impressive engineering achievement, but if you travel through it, your missing out on a journey with 10x the wow factor.

Anyone with a fear of flying who’s wondered what it must be like to see the world from a plane should take the ‘Lostchberger’ train between Brig and Spiez, these are the only trains that still take the old line.

Sit on the left as the train leaves Brig for an incredible view as the train climbs the side of the valley.

This was my No.1 of all the journeys we made on the trip!

After we boarded the IC train to Basel at Spiez we decided to treat ourselves to a meal in the restaurant car. 

Paul set off to find a menu, but was brusquely informed that they’d sold out of food long ago. It didn’t seem that unreasonable a request, it was 19:40, and therefore very much dinner time. 
The conclusion we drew that hot food was only served at lunch, but to be fair this was the only occasion that the SBB trains let us down.

The trains  taken:

10:04 IR train from Basel to Luzern/Lucern

11:12 boat from Luzern to Vitzanu

12:15 RB train from Vitznau to Rigi-Kulm

13:00 RB train from Rig-Kulm to Arth-Goldau

13:53 IR train from Arth-Goldau to Goschenen

14:53 MGB train from Goschenen to Andermatt

15:37 MGB train from Andermatt to Brig

18:36 train from Brig to Spiez (we missed the 17:36 train)

19:54 IC train from Spiez to Basel – arriving in Basel at 21:29