Switzerland’s first funicular railway – between Lausanne and Ouchy – opened in 1877; the Federal Council issued a second licence on 7 July 1888, this time for an electric funicular railway on Mount Bürgenberg.

Driving the project was hotel pioneer Franz Josef Bucher-Durrer, who wanted guests to be able to reach his Bürgenstock Hotels in greater comfort than that offered by mule-drawn carriage. Until 1995 the power needed for the funicular was provided by a run-of-river electricity generator located in the River Aa.

Installing the railway on the steep, rocky mountainside between Kehrsiten and the Bürgenstock Hotels at alt. 874 m was no easy matter. The answer was to make it a single track, with a passing section at the halfway point where the two carriages met. This was something new, and continuous, straight-through operation was approved only after an expert’s report on the safety of the passing section gave it the green light.