t’s known locally, the top of Europe. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Why? Why would you try and build a complex scientific lab in a place like this? Well, it’s because they had to. Scientists up here are using infrared energy to see objects that are too cool or faint to be seen in visible light.
And at a lower altitude, that energy gets absorbed by the atmosphere. Up here, the atmosphere is thinner because of the extreme altitudes. Some of our measurements are part of the global atmosphere watch program and there are only around 30 spots like that worldwide that do that have such an extended set of measurements at remote locations and this is a really unique place that that allows us to do very unique measurements up here.
Now, if you’re spending time up here, it doesn’t hurt that the observatory shows stunning views in all directions, which is a convenient perk that comes with being built into the peak of a mountain. It’s lodged into a rock summit called the Sphinx, positioned on a seriously sheer cliff face. And terrifyingly, this gravitydeying building was actually constructed way back in 1937.
To support the constant stream of scientists coming to the area to research, they engineered it out of steel and reinforced concrete. Given it’s still standing 88 years later, despite constantly fighting the elements, I’d say they did a pretty good job. But a key issue remains. It’s ridiculously remote.
So, how on earth did you get here? This is Young Fraok Station, Europe’s highest train station. It was constructed as the culmination of the mountain railway fever that has swept through Switzerland. But work on this 7 km tunnel started way before the Sphinx Observatory was ever destined to sit at top the mountain.
They started digging this back in the late 1800s. Now, with no tunnel boring machines on hand, the team had to tunnel through alpine rock the old-fashioned way. Working on this site year round would have been brutal. With temperatures regularly dropping to that -7° C, they chipped and blasted their way through the Aiger Monk and Yungfra mountains, excavating the tunnel using pickaxes and explosives.
The task took a grueling 16 years during which 30 workers lost their lives, often because of blasting accidents. There were multiple strikes and the construction management changed eight times. In an attempt to improve the mood, workers were offered a bottle of wine each every day. Now, the 9.
3 km route along the Yungfra railway starts here in Kleiner Shidik, the connection point to the Wanganau railway. There’s then a 5-minute ride on an open air section of rail before reaching Aiga Glacia station more than 2,300 m above sea level. But I didn’t start my train journey there. Instead, I opted for the Gondler. So, we’re now on the IG Express, quickly going up into the clouds, leaving kind of normal world behind us up to what is a very different environment.
The amazing Aiger Express uses a 3S system consisting of two track ropes and one loadbearing cable. The design meant fewer connection towers had to be built because of the larger rope spans. So, we’re now at the Glassia station, which is around 2,320 m above sea level. Already the air is a bit thinner up here.
But these tracks up here to this door head up through that incredible railway up through the rocks and onto the top of Europe. Aka Glacia station is one of the last opportunities to see daylight on the climb up to Young Fraok station. It’s here where that phenomenal tunnel begins, snaking its way up through the mountains at a ridiculously steep angle.
Now, the entire journey along the Yungfra Railway saw us climb 1,400 m in about half an hour. And as I mentioned, it’s an incredibly steep incline, meaning this couldn’t be just any old train. The track system that makes a railway like this possible is called a cog or rack and pinion system. The track features teeth that the cogs of the train lock onto to pull the heavy carriages up the steep mountain.
Now, you might be wondering how the line is powered given its construction began in the late 1800s at a time when coal was king. But coal and steam in a tunnel isn’t a great idea. So, hydroelect electric power was needed. Well, they had to have power somewhere. And if you think we’re still in the 1800s or 1900s, they built a first hydro power plant near La Brunan.
So, that’s one part of a valley. And then two, three years later, they saw it’s already too small. the in energy they got from there. So they built another hydro power plant in Luchantal. That’s the other valley and that’s still the hydrop power plant we still use today. The final stop on the Yungfra railway is Yungfra station opened in 1912.
It brings us right underneath the Sphinx Observatory. Workers here faced alpine winters, a variety of rock layers which at times had no intention of moving and perafrost where frozen rock would thaw and move causing serious dangers to workers. And I’m now up in the highest railway station in Europe. Extraordinary place. More than 3,400 m above sea level.
That’s four and a bit burge khalifas stacked vertically on top of each other. And it’s just mind-blowing that people could have dug a tunnel like that, that 7 km tunnel up through the mountain to carve out a space like this. Remarkable construction is so cool. The access this station provides is crucial, not just for the thousands of tourists who flock to see this world famous site, but to the scientists who need to get to the observatory.
But rail tracks are only going to get you so far. To reach the very top of this place, it takes another impressive bit of kit. [Music] back in the 1990s. Schindler’s best-in-class engineers were tasked with fitting one of the fastest lifts in the whole of Europe. [Music] [Music] So, I got to say this is a pretty unusual experience.
I’m currently standing on top of a lift car at reduced speed, thank goodness, going down that lift shaft. What was interesting about this is how they built it. The rock was solidified in perafrost and the construction work raised temperatures here around 10 or 15° and that was risky because it could have melted the perafrost and dislodged some of that rock and potentially collapsed the lift shafts around workers.
So what they did ingeniously was come up with this cooling system to keep this construction site at minus one the whole time. Preserving that perafrost and keeping the rock in place while they could get the concrete shaft in. Once again shows you the extraordinary lengths the construction engineering teams have had to go to to put usual stuff in like an elevator in an extraordinary location like this.
Last year more than a million people came up to Yung Fraok. And if you’re coming all this way, there’s no way you’re leaving without taking the lift to the upper viewing platform. The shaft itself is 119 m high in total and 6.5 m wide. And it’s all controlled from here. On top of those shafts, you’ll find this. This is the machine room.
Very behind the scenes part of these things observatory. These machines weigh more than two tons and they’re sitting on top of the lift shafts that are down there beneath my feet. And these things are incredibly strong. They’re able to pull those lift cars up 108 m in the space of just 25 seconds.
Some of the fastest lifts in all of Europe. But before those fast lifts around the corner, there was this lift originally installed in 1936 and serving this station taking people from down here up through the mountain onto the Sphinx Observatory until 1996. An extraordinary period in 20th century history.
Took a bit longer to get up there. Took about a minute and a half. So, not as fast as the ones around there today, but still an extraordinary feat of engineering, and it’s great to see a piece of heritage like this preserved. People used to queue through the mountain for hours to take this old lift up to the very top.
But those days are gone. The new twin lift has capacity to move literally thousands and thousands of visitors a day without the daunting cues. And given how popular this place is, that really is gamechanging. And when you finally reach the top, you’re rewarded for your journey with some of the most incredible views on Earth. [Music] Now, as you can imagine, this was not your average lift installation.
The challenges faced by the team here were extreme, but they took serious pride in their work. Fore hand [Music] see you No background. [Music] Forez for
this whole experience is a reminder of how construction makes the seemingly impossible possible. My time up here was incredible. Oh wow. Can I go in there? Getting to spend the night in the observatory with scientists was a truly once in a-lifetime experience. I didn’t know birds came up to 3 and a half thousand m.
Even if I was feeling pretty rough thanks to the altitude sickness. And yes, from the brave efforts of workers with little more than pickaxes and explosives to a railway pieced together through a mountain or an ultraast lift shooting people up to an observatory high in the clouds, this industry will never fail to amaze me.
The Sphinx Observatory is a remarkable example of something we often take for granted. That construction has been shaping the world we live in for thousands of years and that we haven’t peaked yet. This video was sponsored by Schindler. You can learn more about that at the link below. And as always guys, if you enjoyed this video and you want to get more from the definitive video channel for construction, make sure you subscribe to the B1M.
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