page_title: Chur–Arosa railway
section_title: Projects and preparatory work
hierarchical_section_title: Chur–Arosa railway / History / Projects and preparatory work
caption_attribution_description: English: Train Station Arosa, original building (1914–1964) Deutsch: Bahnhof Arosa, das frühere Aufnahmegebäude, 1964 umgebaut
context_page_description: The Chur–Arosa railway, also called the Arosabahn, Arosalinie, Aroserbahn or Aroserlinie, is a Swiss metre-gauge railway, which is operated by the Rhaetian Railway. It was built in 1914 by the former Chur-Arosa-Bahn to connect the Grisons capital, Chur, with the spa town of Arosa. Since 1942, it has been integrated into the network of the Rhaetian Railway. The name of the former company is still used as a name for the line.
context_section_description: The first proposals for a railway from Chur to Arosa originated around the turn of the twentieth century, when it was realised that the Schanfiggerstrasse, which was completed in 1890, would not be able to cope with the traffic bound to the rapidly expanding spa of Arosa. Local spa doctor Carl Rüedi was the first to apply for a concession to build a railway line. A meeting was held in St. Peter with the Schanfigg stakeholders on 9 February 1901. It was planned to run the line along the cantonal road after it was widened with some sections on separate track through tunnels in difficult places. The terminal station would have been built  on the Hubelwiese at the Hotel Hof Arosa. After the unexpected death of Rüedi in June 1901, his concession lapsed and his plans were no longer pursued.
  The Chur engineer Robert Wildberger and his colleague Englert applied for a concession for the construction of an electric railway to Arosa in January 1903. Their application competed with numerous other applications filed in the meantime. The most notable counter-proposal came from the Zurich-based firm of Müller, Zeerleder, Gobat & Thomann, which later built the Gründjitobel Viaduct. It put forward three different options, with the first involving a 23.4 km-long line running on the left side of the Plessur. The second option, with a total length of 21.5 km, would have run via Passugg, Tschiertschen and Litzirüti to Arosa. The third option would have essentially followed the Schanfiggerstrasse on a 28 km-long route. The latter two options provided for rack railways to overcome the slope, which was expressly not recommended by the chief engineer Moser of Zurich, who had been commissioned by the municipality of Arosa.
  In view of the differing interests of the valley communities, the previous applicants for a concession joined together in March 1905 to prepare a joint study with three different options. All three proposals began at the Chur station forecourt, headed west and crossed the Plessur near the Welschdörfli district, ran under the Rosenhügel through a 500 m-long tunnel and had their first stop at Bodmergut. Finally, at the end of October 1907, there was a modified project which, although later realised, was initially rejected by an Arosa town meeting. The location of the Arosa terminal station was particularly controversial. As a result, the Arosa municipality first decided to examine more closely another proposal from the Churwalden line (Churwaldnerlinie) company for a line from Chur via Passugg, Malix and Parpan to Arosa with a possible, later, connection to Lenzerheide. The core of this 32-km project was a tunnel connection under the Urdenfürggli and the Hörnli mountains to the Wasserboden lake at an altitude of 2100 m. The terminus would have been located in Innerarosa near the Bergkirchli (church). The application for a concession was lodged on 15 October 1908.
  It was followed by a protracted competition between the Wildberger & Co. project, which was revised again and favoured by the Schanfigg valley communities, and the proposal of Ahlsfeld & Spyri, which initially also found the support of the city of Chur. For a short time, another project via Tschiertschen was also discussed. After a conference to determine a way forward in December 1909, the Chur city council supported the project of Wildberger, which also caused a change in opinion in Arosa and led to a withdrawal of the Churwalden line's application for a concession. Nevertheless, an engineer from Chur, Versell, proposed a new, 24-kilometer option, the so-called Lenzerheidebahn via Malix, Praden, Tschiertschen and under the Ochsenalp to the Obersee. Although this proposal enjoyed a degree of support  in Arosa, it focused from then on the financing of the Wildberger proposal, which provided for a pure adhesion railway with a maximum of 6.0% grade. In March 1910, negotiations were conducted on the location of Arosa station and the route was optimised. Since the rolling stock of the RhB would be able to run on the line, the minimum radius of curvature was set at 60 metres.
caption: Arosa station in about 1915
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