With its sunny observation platform accessible all year, the Gornergrat, at an altitude of 3,089 m, has been one of Switzerland’s top excursion destinations since 1898. The Gornergrat Bahn was the world’s first fully electrified cog railway. Today it is a modern, eco-friendly railway, equipped with a regenerative braking system that generates electricity on the descent and so saves energy.Europe’s highest open-air cog railway brings passengers direct from Zermatt station (1,620 m) to the summit of the Gornergrat, 365 days a year. The ride takes 33 minutes and requires a vertical climb of 1,469 m. The line leads over dramatic bridges, through galleries and tunnels, across forests of larch and Swiss stone pine, and past rocky ravines and mountain lakes.