A Unimog U 430 clears up the Brienz Rothorn railway

Vehicle & Technology

It ploughs through this hollow way…

… with a combination of Herculean strength and state-of-the-art technology: in the Bernese Oberland, a brand-new Unimog ensures that one of Switzerland’s oldest cog railways can start into the season.

Full steam ahead up on the mountain. The Unimog U 430 frees up the Brienz Rothorn railway from snow that has banked up metres high. Thanks to a 7.7-litre engine with a torque of 1 ,200 Nm, top-class equipment with hydrostatic drive and additional rear-axle steering and a rotary snow plough from Kahlbacher, it delivers a mind-boggling performance.


Metre for metre, the Unimog U 430 works its way forward, with 220 kW of sheer power! The rotary snow plough mounted at the front cuts through the glistening white top edge of the snow. From the ejection chute the snow flies in a high arc and splatters onto the steep slope a few metres further down. Way down in the valley Lake Brienz sparkles in the morning sun, against the majestic backdrop of the Bernese Alps with the famous trio of Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. This is a spectacle Frank Zobrist has no time to enjoy. His mission is to clear the tracks of the Brienz Rothorn railway below the upper station still covered in deep snow even at the end of May.


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