These various forms of mountain transport are of great importance in Switzerland, and of particular value to tourists. Apart from the services they provide for winter sports enthusiasts they also enable the older or less strenuously inclined visitor to enjoy the experience of the mountain world. There are in all some 600 mountain railroads and cableways.
They are not only of use to winter-sports enthusiasts but make it possible for less active visitors and elderly people to reach the higher mountain areas. Some of the railroads and cableways climb to heights of over 3,000 m/9,843ft, such as those up the Kleines Matterhorn (3,820 m/12,533ft), Jungfrau (3,457 m/ 11,342ft), Gornergrat (3,407 m/11,178ft), Corvatsch (3,298 m/10,820ft), Piz Nair (3,025 m/9,925ft) and Mont Gelé (3,028 m/9,938ft).
There are the following types: Funicular (German Standseilbahn, French Funiculaire), in which the cars run on rails and are drawn by cable.
Rack (Cog) Railroad (Zahnradbahn, chemin de fer à crémaillère), with a middle rail fitted with a cog which engages with a pinion on the locomotive. Cableway (Seilschwebebahn or Luftseilbahn, téléférique or télécabine), with cabins for anything from four to 100 passengers suspended from a continuous cable. Chairlift (Sesselbahn or Sessellift, télésiege), with open chairs (sometimes double) suspended from a continuous cable. Ski-lift (Schlepplift, monte-pente), in which skiers are pulled uphill on their skis attached to a moving cable. Sledge-lift (Schlittenseilbahn, funiculaire à traîneaux), in which sledges are attached to a cable and drawn uphill. Many of these facilities operate for only part of the year.
Price reductions such as regional season tickets (e.g holiday or winter sports season tickets) of the various Swiss cable-car undertakings can be obtained.
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