Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn AG (MGB)

Updated: August 2026 – The train moves briskly through the valley, then becomes noticeably slower, a short jolt runs through the carriages – and from here it climbs. Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn AG operates one of the alpine railways where this change is an everyday occurrence. This page explains what happens technically, why vehicles need two drive systems for it, and how to recognise such railways in the field.

What is the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn?

Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn AG is a Swiss public limited company that operates a metre-gauge railway in the Alps. Its business area is passenger transport – regional for people living along the line, touristic for travellers for whom the journey itself is the destination.

The company name places two geographic terms side by side and is almost always shortened in everyday use to the code MGB. It therefore follows neither the classic place-name-chain pattern of the Lugano–Ponte Tresa railway nor the pure destination name of the Gornergrat Bahn, but instead spans a geographic arc.

The explainer: mixed adhesion and rack operation

Most alpine railways are not pure rack railways. They run by friction wherever friction is enough, and only engage the rack rail on the steep sections. This mixed operation is the norm in the mountains – and technically more demanding than either pure form on its own.

The reason lies in the vehicle. A vehicle for mixed operation needs two power transmission paths: the adhesion drive via the driving wheels, and the rack drive via a separate driving cog wheel. Both have to serve very different gear ratios, because the operating speeds are far apart. On top of that come additional, independently acting brakes for the rack section, because the real danger does not lie uphill but downhill.

Aspect	Adhesion section	Rack section
Power transmission	friction between wheel and rail	positive engagement via cog wheel and rack
Speed	comparatively high	markedly reduced, especially downhill
Brakes	standard operating brakes	additional, independently acting brakes
Train load	depends on friction coefficient, weather-sensitive	determined by the tooth engagement, less weather-dependent
Recognisable by	smooth track	third, toothed rail in the middle of the track

The transition between the two modes of operation is a piece of engineering in its own right. At the start of the rack section sits an entry device: the first few metres of rack are mounted so they can move and are spring-loaded. As the cog wheel enters and tooth meets tooth, the rack briefly gives way until the engagement settles in. Entry therefore happens slowly and is felt in the carriage as a short jolt. In the track you can spot the point by its different construction.

Operationally this has consequences that reach far beyond the steep section: the rack line dictates how heavy a train may be overall and how long the whole journey takes. A timetable in the mountains is therefore never even – it consists of fast stretches and very slow ones.

Vehicles such as the ABeh 8/12 and the ABDeh 4/8 are built for exactly this dual task, as is the rack electric locomotive HGe 4/4.

Reading vehicle codes

Swiss vehicle designations look cryptic at first but follow a clear logic of letters and an axle fraction. For alpine operation, three building blocks are enough: capital letters on coaches and railcars name the class of accommodation, lower-case letters name the technology – e for electric, h for rack –, and the fraction states powered axles against total axles.

A code such as ABeh 8/12 reads as an electric rack vehicle with compartments of two accommodation classes and eight powered axles out of twelve. The full designation system, including the speed classes used for locomotives, is set out in more detail on the Swiss Federal Railways page.

Observing in the mountains

Alpine railways are photographically rewarding and logistically demanding. The sun is only favourably placed in narrow valleys for a short time, the weather can turn quickly, and the last train down is a hard deadline.

If you want to practise these conditions on comparable metre-gauge lines, you will find them in the Grisons. The Albula line near Bergün shows the same building philosophy in spiral tunnels and viaducts, just without a rack. At the Landwasser Viaduct near Filisur the best-known motif of this style of construction is added. And in Tirano on the Bernina line a metre-gauge line ends that crosses the main Alpine ridge entirely without a rack – the direct counterpart to mixed operation. This Grisons metre-gauge network is operated by the Rhaetian Railway. How the line was once laid through the mountains is shown by the Albula Railway Museum in Bergün.

For the photography side, the tips on winter railway photography are worthwhile, because snow fools every exposure automatic. Anyone who wants to know how to systematically identify companies will find the way in the guide Who actually runs it? Recognising railway operators.

Common mix-ups

• Rack railway meaning rack everywhere – in mixed operation it only lies on the steep sections.
• Slow running meaning a fault – in the rack section low speed is the normal case.
• Metre gauge meaning branch line – in the Alps it is the standard system for main services.
• Code meaning vehicle type – ABeh describes class and technology, not a particular production series.
• Mountain railway meaning heritage railway – here regular services run to a timetable, not a heritage operation like a museum society.

Conclusion

The Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn stands for the most technically demanding form of operation in the Swiss railway landscape: metre gauge in the high mountains with the switch between friction and rack. Once you have understood this switch, you read alpine railways differently – and you know why a timetable in the mountains never looks even.