Funicular route
Niesenbahn
Mülenen → Niesen Kulm · Switzerland
- Distance
- 3.5 km
- Fastest time
- 28 min
- Operator
- Niesenbahn AG
- Train
- Two-section funicular; car change at Schwandegg
- Countries
- Switzerland
- In service since
- 1910
Page last updated 2026-07-23 · figures are published values, not live data · corrections log
Climbs 1,643 m over 3.5 km up the pyramid of the Niesen — and the service stairway alongside is the longest on earth at 11,674 steps.
View on the world railway map →More funicular routes
- Stoosbahn
The world’s steepest funicular: a 110% maximum gradient climbed by barrel cabins that rotate to keep the floor level, 744 m up to car-free Stoos.
- Gelmerbahn
An open-car ride up a 106% grade — Europe’s steepest funicular until Stoos overtook it in 2017 — built to serve the Gelmersee dam works.
- Funiculaire Sierre–Crans-Montana
Switzerland’s longest funicular: 4.2 km and 927 m of climb from the Rhône valley vineyards at Sierre to the Crans-Montana plateau.
- Fribourg Funicular
Europe’s last funicular driven by wastewater: since 1899 the descending car is weighted with up to 3,000 litres of city sewage.
More train routes in Switzerland.