Notes on the Bernina line from my Oberengadin 2009 holiday
- During the summer there’s a basic hourly service (departures at the Tirano end are slightly irregular, timed to give connections at Pontresina). Bernina Express workings replace the normal stopping trains at 0945, 1145 and 1545 ex St. Moritz and 0850, 1245 and 1445 ex Tirano, and a couple of extra Bernina Express paths are fitted in between trains for the through trains to Chur and Davos.
- At Pontresina, the Scuol-Pontresina shuttle trains use platform 1, whilst Bernina trains use the two sides of the island platform (tracks 3 and 4). Thus there are always three trains in Pontresina station around the hour, then nothing much happens for another hour.
- I didn’t see a through Bernina Express at Pontresina, but as far as I know track 3 is still the only part of the station that can be switched between ac and dc, so I assume they use that.
- All the trains I saw were pulled by either two abe4/4 power cars or an abe4/4 and a Gem4/4.
- Normal load seems to be up to about eight or ten trailers. Regular passenger trains include B’s and a D (the set with the Gem4/4 also had an ab); Bernina Express trains are all observation cars.
- Most normal trains, and at least one of the Bernina Express workings, also convey freight: the wagons are placed at the end of the train.
- Most wagons seem to be going between Pontresina and either Poschiavo, Campocologno, or Tirano.
- The two power cars were treated as a unit, being run round together at St Moritz and Tirano. It doesn’t seem to matter whether the Gem4/4 is at the front or not.
- At Pontresina, wagons were attached/removed by the pilot while the train was in the platform.
- At Poschiavo, the train had to draw out of the platform to give the pilot room to get out of the yard and attach/remove the wagons. The southbound train drew forward to just before the level crossing; the northbound train pulled completely out of the station (i.e. the shunting operation took place on the steep slope, which can’t have made coupling easy).