Replacement Helicopter

[bahnause]

Between November 6 and 17, the Braunwald funicular railroad between Linthal and Braunwald in Switzerland will be overhauled. As there is no suitable roadside connection, replacement transport will be provided by a helicopter shuttle. Normal tickets and season tickets are valid. A chance for all would-be prime ministers.

Revision der Braunwald-Standseilbahn

 

[StephenHunter]

Full story here.

Braunwaldbahn renovation: rail replacement flights with helicopters for 7,20 francs - Aviation.Direct

Aviation.Direct - your specialist portal for aviation, travel and tourism in the Germany-Austria-Switzerland region. Always read the latest news. Switzerland % Braunwaldbahn renovation: rail replacement flights with helicopters for 7,20 francs

aviation.direct

 

[Seehof]

Not the first time they have done this!

 

[AndrewE]

It's amazing though, a helicopter ride for the price of a rail ticket. (Albeit a Swiss rail ticket!)
I note that it says

Incidentally, this is an extremely expensive matter for the operator and will tear a hole in the annual balance sheet. It is assumed that the two-minute rail replacement flights will cause a deficit of around 40.000 Swiss francs compared to normal operations. If everything goes according to plan, helicopter flights for 18 francs will be over on November 2023, 7,20, [sic, ?] because then the renovated funicular should be in operation again.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Here in Sweden, the ferry between the island of Holmön and the port in Norrfjärden is categorised as being part of the national road system. Therefore there are no ferry tolls, and when a ferry has been unavailable for longer periods a helicopter provides a free shuttle service.

 

[Trainfan344]

TheTimTraveller, an excellent youtuber has made a video about this!

 

[Watershed]

I had time this weekend, so I thought I'd do an impromptu day trip to Switzerland to try this out!

I did read in the comments section of the above TimTraveller video that there has been Swiss media coverage of this, resulting in overcrowding. The weather forecast also wasn't great, so I wasn't holding out high hopes.

As expected, the rail replacement helicopter wasn't running due to low cloud today. Still, Linthal is a beautiful place to visit and I'll take any chance to go walking in freshly fallen snow!

As for today's edition of "only in Switzerland"... The SBB journey planner's suggested itinerary between Zürich airport and Linthal involves 6 changes, each between 2 and 7 minutes, which will all easily be made. Naturally, the journeys are also symmetrical (in departure time, duration as well as number of changes) in both directions.