Because of their exceptional importance, the Rhaetian Railway in the Albula/Bernina Cultural Landscape is a UNESCO World Heritage since 2008. The Albula and Bernina railway routes between Thusis and Tirano are remarkable and technically innovative examples of the development of the high alpine territory, and figure among the most spectacular narrow-gauge railways in the world.
The Rhaetian Railway is the backbone of the cultural landscape of Albula/Bernina. The Albula Railway was completed in 1903, the Bernina Railway in 1910. From the start, the Albula Railway was considered a masterpiece of engineering. The Bernina Railway (St. Moritz - Tirano) became a model for many other projected, and some realized, railways across the Alpine region. Today, it is unique around the world. It is the highest transalpine railway in Europe, and one of the steepest adhesion railways in the world.
The surrounding landscape is an essential feature of the Albula and Bernina line, contributing in a major way to its exceptional importance. On the one hand because of its association with a railway construction of such incomparable quality, on the other for the route itself that leads through a landscape steeped in culture.
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