page_title: BVZ Zermatt-Bahn
section_title: The Randa landslide
hierarchical_section_title: BVZ Zermatt-Bahn / History / Further modernisation and merger with the FO / The Randa landslide
caption_attribution_description: Description: Deutsch: Der Bergsturz bei Randa. Source: Martin Hawlisch (User:LosHawlos) My own photo
context_page_description: The Brig-Visp-Zermatt-Bahn – officially known between 1991 and 2002 as the BVZ Zermatt-Bahn – is a metre gauge railway in the Canton of Valais, Switzerland. Its 44 kilometre long line links the communities of Brig and Visp in the Rhone Valley with Täsch and the car free holiday resort of Zermatt in the Mattertal. The BVZ also forms part of the much travelled and admired route of the Glacier Express between St. Moritz and Zermatt. Opened in 1891 as the Visp-Zermatt-Bahn, the BVZ merged on 1 January 2003 with the Furka Oberalp Bahn to form the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn.
  The Gornergratbahn is connected with the BVZ at Zermatt.
context_section_description: The biggest disaster in the history of the BVZ occurred in its jubilee year of 1991. On 18 April at 6.45 am, approximately 15 million cubic metres of rock broke away from the Wartfluh northwest of Randa and buried the Vispa and parts of the hamlet Lerc, along with 100 metres of railway track. No people were injured, as the hamlet Lerch was uninhabited and at the time of the landslide there was no train in the affected section of track. However, a goods train heading for Zermatt was left standing a few hundred metres north of the incident site, after its traction failed due to damage to the overhead line and the resulting short circuit. Passenger and goods traffic was temporarily moved to the road, which was left undamaged. Between Herbriggen and Randa, omnibuses operated bustitution services, and between Randa and Zermatt the trains ran in a shuttle service. As from 22 April, it was again possible to operate through goods trains, for which a diesel locomotive of type HGm 4/4 was hired from the Furka Oberalp Bahn. Passenger traffic initially remained suspended, as further landslides could not be ruled out.
  On 9 May, large rocks fell into the valley once again, burying the railway tracks for 250 metres and also making the road along the valley impassable. Moreover, the alluvial fan dammed up the Vispa, causing the lower part of the hamlet slowly to become flooded. After heavy rains on 18 Juny 1991, the station was similarly left under water. Planning immediately began for a new route for rail and road that would by pass the disaster area. The new rail alignment, totalling 2860 m, was ready to be opened on 1 August 1991. However, a heavy thunderstorm on 8 August led to a blockage of the newly excavated river channel of the Vispa by washed up glacial rubble, which meant a second flooding of the station. After the water had flowed away to a sufficient extent, the rail traffic could once again be resumed on 10 August.
  The total damage to the railway was valued at 16.5 Million francs, of which 13.59 Million could be alleviated by natural disaster relief under the Swiss Federal Railway Law. Due to the break in the track, which was closed for 105 days, the Jubilee festivities originally scheduled for July 1991 had to be postponed until October.  During the Jubilee, the Brig-Visp-Zermatt-Bahn was renamed as the BVZ Zermatt-Bahn, to highlight more strongly the most important town on the line.
caption: The alluvial fan of the landslide at Randa, viewed from the south. To the right of the picture is a BVZ train on the newly relaid track.
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