Gütsch Funicular

The Gütsch Funicular, also known as the Drahtseilbahn Gütsch (DBG) or simply the Gütschbahn, is a funicular railway in the city of Lucerne in the Swiss canton of Lucerne. The line links a lower station located on Baselstrasse, some west of the centre of the city, with an upper station adjacent to the Château Gütsch hotel, 90 m above.

History The Château Gütsch was constructed between 1881 and 1883 on a site overlooking the city of Lucerne and modelled on the architecture of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. To provide a direct connection between the hotel and the city, a concession application was submitted on 3 March 1884, and the water-powered Gütschbahn funicular was opened on 22 August 1884.

In January 1895, the Gütschbahn-Gesellschaft was founded to operate the line. The company later underwent several ownership changes before entering bankruptcy in 2006. Following a foreclosure auction in 2007, UBS acquired the funicular together with the hotel; operations were subsequently suspended on 21 April 2008. After rebuilding, the line reopened on 26 September 2015.

Since its reopening in 2015, the Gütschbahn has been owned by Château Gütsch AG and operated under a private-law agreement with the City of Lucerne to ensure public transport access to the Gütsch area. As part of the 2014–2015 refurbishment, the city contributed CHF 1.73 million in public funding, approved by a municipal referendum on 30 November 2014.

Operations In its current guise the line is operated by Verkehrsbetriebe Luzern, the city's transport operator, and is integrated into zone 10 of the city's integrated fare system. It has the following parameters:

Feature ValueNumber of stops2ConfigurationTwin trackMode of operation Automatic Track lengthRiseTrack gaugeNumber of cars2Capacity8 passengers per carTravel time1.5 minutes

Gütsch Funicular

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