113-527: The Albula railway line ( German : Albulalinie ; Italian : Linea dell'Albula ; Romansh : Lingia da l'Alvra ) is a single track metre gauge railway line forming part of the core network of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB), in the canton of Graubünden , Switzerland . It links Thusis on the Hinterrhein at 697 m (2,287 ft) and Filisur at 1,080 m (3,540 ft) with
226-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
339-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
452-612: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
565-919: A 12 km (7.5 mi) long tunnel from the mouth of the Val Tisch to the Inn Valley below Bever. As the Ofenbergbahn , the Engadine-Orient-Railway would also have cut a connection through to the Val Müstair . It was only on 30 June 1898 that the Federal Assembly in Bern finally decided on the construction of the Albula railway line. The Federal Assembly thereby also decided against another standard gauge transit railway, and
678-405: A city or town not located on a main line. Branch lines may also connect two or more main lines. An industrial spur is a type of secondary track used by railroads to allow customers at a location to load and unload railcars without interfering with other railroad operations. Industrial spurs can vary greatly in length and railcar capacity depending on the requirements of the customer the spur
791-510: A common sight along railroads in industrial and rural cities alike. As automobile and roadway technology improved throughout the early and mid-20th century, most low volume industry spurs were abandoned in favor of the greater flexibility and economic savings of trucking. Today, railroads remain the most economical way to ship large quantities of material, a fact that is reflected in industrial spurs. Most modern day spurs serve very large industries that require hundreds, if not thousands, of carloads
904-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
1017-464: A mainline, they tend to have lower maintenance and signaling (train control) standards. Before the rise of the long-distance trucking in the early 1930s, railroads were the primary means of transportation around the world. Industries of the era were commonly built along railroad lines specifically to allow for easy access to shipping. Short (under a mile, oftentimes only several hundred yards) industrial spurs with very small (under ten car) capacities were
1130-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
1243-696: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
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#17327721728391356-527: A railway company amongst rail fans from around the world. Since the line was equipped with a block safety system in 1969, remote monitoring of train traffic at most stations on the line has been possible. In 2005, the Rail Control Center in Landquart assumed the former tasks of the remote monitoring station at Filisur. The Bever substation was modernised in 1973. Successive extensions to
1469-693: A rapid construction of further RhB lines, which were intended to open up large parts of the Canton. In 1890, the Davos hotelier Willem Jan Holsboer proposed the construction of a rail link from Chur via Davos, and through a tunnel under the Scaletta Pass , to St Moritz , and then onwards via the Maloja Pass , to Chiavenna in Italy. Holsboer later had to abandon this planned Scalettabahn , in favour of
1582-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
1695-695: A route through what was to become the Albula Tunnel . In 1895, the Zurich railway pioneer Adolf Guyer-Zeller presented the idea of an Engadine-Orient-Railway , which would have connected Chur , via Thusis and Engadine , and over the Fuorn Pass , with the Vinschgau and Trieste . Zeller planned this proposed route as a standard gauge line. It would have passed under the Albula Alps through
1808-823: A section of the West Rail line . Discontinued services include the Sha Tau Kok Railway and the Wo Hop Shek Branch . A spur line to Siu Sai Wan has been proposed. Delhi On the Delhi Metro , the Blue Line has a Branch Line with 8 Stations, linking Yamuna Bank to Ghaziabad via Anand Vihar ISBT and terminating at Vaishali. The first section of the Branch opened on 8 January 2010 with Anand Vihar as its terminal with six stations. It
1921-525: A similarly contemplated railway over the Julier Pass . In 1896, there were only 20 km (12 mi) of standard gauge railway line in Graubünden, and 90 km (56 mi) of narrow gauge railways. (Incidentally, the length of the standard gauge line has remained unchanged to this day, apart from the construction of a new industrial spur line from Chur to Domat / Ems.) Priority was given to
2034-531: A subsidy for grain transport, and instead allowed railways to absorb branch line subsidies freely without making effort to improve the profitability of the lines. The term "grain-dependent branch lines" began being used as early as 1978 to refer to the special case of these branch lines in agricultural areas whose viability depended on the economics of grain transport. The Western Grain Transportation Act of 1983 addressed this case specifically, but
2147-466: A year. There is an international branch line between Italy and Vatican: the 300-metre Vatican Railway , connecting from the Pisa-Rome railway mainline at Roma San Pietro railway station , to Vatican City station . Many British railway branch lines were closed as a result of the " Beeching cuts " in the 1960s, although some have been re-opened as heritage railways . The smallest branch line that
2260-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
2373-612: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
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#17327721728392486-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
2599-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
2712-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
2825-535: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
2938-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
3051-532: Is known as the Schinschlucht . Even at this early stage, it passes many bridges and tunnels . After Solis station, 8 km (5.0 mi) from Thusis, the line crosses the Albula for the first time, on the 89 m (292 ft) high Solis Viaduct , which is both the highest bridge on the Rhaetian Railway, and the broadest span viaduct on the Albula line. Between Tiefencastel and Filisur,
3164-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
3277-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
3390-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
3503-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
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3616-465: Is serving. In heavily industrialized areas, it is not uncommon for one industrial spur to have multiple sidings to several different customers. Typically, spurs are serviced by local trains responsible for collecting small numbers of railcars and delivering them to a larger yard, where these railcars are sorted and dispatched in larger trains with other cars destined to similar locations. Because industrial spurs generally have less capacity and traffic than
3729-567: Is still in operation in the UK is the Stourbridge Town Branch Line from Stourbridge Junction going to Stourbridge Town . Operating on a single track, the journey is 0.8 miles (1.3 kilometres) long and the train takes around two and a half minutes to complete its journey. In North America, little-used branch lines are often sold by large railroads to become new common carrier short-line railroads of their own. Throughout
3842-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
3955-720: Is the highest stopping point on the Albula line, is the north portal of the Albula Tunnel . After passing through the tunnel, and the Spinas station at the southern portal, the train descends at a slope of up to 3.2%, to arrive in the Oberengadine at Bever , in the Val Bever . Here there is a junction with the Engadine Railway from Scuol-Tarasp . At the next station, Samedan , the line to Pontresina branches off. The Bernina Express takes this branch, which connects
4068-776: Is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and the Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ),
4181-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
4294-485: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
4407-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
4520-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
4633-532: The Bay of Plenty Region , lines were built inland to provide rail access to large logging operations. Today, many of the branch lines have been closed, including almost all of the general-purpose country lines. Those that remain serve ports or industries far from main lines such as coal mines, logging operations, large dairying factories, and steelworks . In Auckland and Wellington , two branch lines in each city exist solely for commuter passenger trains. For more, see
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4746-665: The Bernina Express from Chur via Samedan and Pontresina to Tirano. The most frequently used motive power on the Albula line is the modern Ge 4/4 III class of electric locomotive , which is also in service on the Vereina line . The Albula line was once the main stamping ground of the Rhaetian Crocodile (the Ge 6/6 I ). The two remaining locos of this class, and the similarly historic Ge 4/6 , still operate today at
4859-568: The Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
4972-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
5085-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
5198-522: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
5311-753: The Gladstone Branch in New Jersey; as well as the New Canaan Branch , Danbury Branch , and Waterbury Branch in Connecticut . The Long Island Rail Road also refers to its services as "branches". In Chile, there are a lot of branch lines on its main line, of only a few remain operational. Most only operating in turistic services (like the Antilhue-Valdivia branch line), others have been taken over by other railways (like
5424-1048: The Grand Trunk , Canadian National , or Canadian Pacific ) which would acquire formerly independent short line railways for use as branch lines, with the short line often continuing to exist as a subsidiary. For example, when the Canadian Pacific acquired the Algoma Eastern Railway (a short line) in 1930, it soon after abandoned much of the Algoma Eastern mainline, but retained sections close to Algoma Eastern–Canadian Pacific junctions as short branch lines or spurs. The National Transportation Act of 1967 provided government subsidies for branch lines. Western railway development in Canada worked in concert with land settlement and cultivation, as pioneers were settled near railway lines, often on land
5537-554: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
5650-480: The North South Line between Jurong East and Choa Chu Kang stations was operated as a separate line, known as the Branch line . It was merged into the North–South Line with the opening of the Woodlands Extension in 1996. The future Jurong Region Line and Cross Island Line will also have branch lines. New Zealand once had a very extensive network of branch lines, especially in the South Island regions of Canterbury , Otago , and Southland . Many were built in
5763-439: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
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#17327721728395876-434: The South Tseung Kwan O Spur Line to LOHAS Park station , opened in 2009. Earlier, a spur line was built in 1985 on the East Rail line to serve Racecourse station , bypassing Fo Tan station . Also, the Tsim Sha Tsui Extension [ yue ] was built in 2004 on the East Rail line to serve East Tsim Sha Tsui station . However, after the Kowloon Southern Link was completed in 2009, this spur line turns into
5989-427: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
6102-422: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
6215-400: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
6328-475: The alpine passes all year round, whereas with the help of the Albula line, the mountain barrier can be overcome without any problems. The Rhaetian Railway therefore offers road users the option of loading their own cars in Thusis onto special car carriers, for transport to Samedan. On the Bergün-Preda section, there are also so-called sledding trains operating in winter. These are shuttle services, which carry sledders and tobogganers from Bergün to Preda. At Preda,
6441-408: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
6554-451: The watershed between the Rhine and the Danube a few kilometres west of the Albula Pass . With its maximum elevation of 1,820 m (5,970 ft) above sea level, the tunnel is, after the Furka Tunnel , the second highest alpine tunnel in Switzerland. The creation of the tunnel was hampered by unusual problems caused by outflowing water, and these led to the bankruptcy of the building contractor. A total of 1,316 people were involved in
6667-442: The Albula line and the Bernina railway line , which also forms part of the RhB, were jointly recorded in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites , under the name Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes . The best known trains operating on the Albula line are the Glacier Express and the Bernina Express . Up until 1890, the south east of Switzerland was extremely poorly served by railways . Alpine transit traffic
6780-431: The Albula line was still a steam railway at its conception. Moreover, (and again unlike the Bernina line), it was intended to be universally available, particularly for the transport of goods. As the steam locomotives of the time were still not particularly powerful, and in order to permit the highest possible speeds, the maximum gradients were restricted to 3.5%, and the minimum curve radius was also generously defined. Thus,
6893-454: The Albula line with the Bernina line to Tirano . On the other hand, the Glacier Express follows the main line, via Celerina , to the terminus of the Albula line at St. Moritz . Originally, it was planned to extend the Albula line via the Maloja Pass , to Chiavenna in Italy . At the terminus of the extension, there was to have been a connection with the Italian railway line that runs along Lake Como to Milan . In light of those plans,
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#17327721728397006-417: The Albula line, in the interests of maximising its effectiveness, did not test the technical bounds of an adhesion railway. However, such an architectural style required a variety of engineering structures. So, for example, the viaducts were exclusively solidly constructed. Especially problematic was the ascent of the valley between Bergün/Bravuogn and Preda , where, in a distance of 5 km (3.1 mi) as
7119-614: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
7232-414: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
7345-417: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
7458-399: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
7571-623: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
7684-547: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
7797-408: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
7910-409: The Maloja Pass route is served by a cross border post bus line. Between Chur and St Moritz, there are fast trains every day at regular hourly intervals. These trains have been officially known as RegioExpress services since December 2004. For the section Thusis - St Moritz, the fast trains require 1 hour 34 minutes, and therefore travel at an average speed of 39 km/h (24 mph). Only
8023-435: The RhB and the St Moritz municipality were still yet to reach agreement over the site of the St. Moritz station , the inauguration of the 3 km (1.9 mi) long remaining section had to be delayed to 10 July 1904. Shortages of coal during World War I prompted the RhB to grapple with the task of electrification . On 20 April 1919, the first section of the line to be electrified, the link between Bever and Filisur ,
8136-695: The San Rosendo-Talcahuano branch line, which has been taken over by Biotrén and the Laja-Talcahuano train service) however, there is one branch line that still remains as fully operative. The Talca-Constitución branch line, which uses trains with bus motors. Two extensions to the MTR rapid transit network were built as branches of existing lines: the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line to Lok Ma Chau station , which opened in 2007; and
8249-563: The St Moritz station was, and still is, laid out as a through station . Whereas on the Swiss side plans for a line through the Bergell reached an advanced stage, there were, on the Italian side, only vague statements of intent, for a line proceeding onwards from the border at Castasegna . World War I , and the subsequent economic recession , prevented any implementation of the plans. Today,
8362-560: The U.S. state of New Jersey . The line is a short branch of the Northeast Corridor Line , running from Princeton Junction northwest to Princeton with no intermediate stops. Also known as the "Dinky Line", at 2.9 mi (4.7 km) it is the shortest scheduled commuter rail line in the United States. The run takes 4 minutes, 47 seconds. Other than the Princeton Line, other surviving branch lines include
8475-469: The United States and Canada, branch lines link smaller towns too distant from the main line to be served efficiently, or to serve a certain industrial site such as a power station either because of a location away from the main line or to reduce congestion. They were typically built to lower standards, using lighter rail and shallow roadbeds when compared to main lines. Much of Canada's branch line history relates to large rail transport conglomerates (such as
8588-461: The construction of a rail connection to the spa at St Moritz, which at that time was a 14-hour stage coach ride distant from Chur , the terminus of the standard gauge line. After Thusis was reached from Chur, the construction of the Albula line began on 15 October 1898. Unlike the Bernina line , which was opened a good ten years later, and operated in fully electrified form right from the start,
8701-468: The construction of the Albula Tunnel. Overall, there were 16 fatal accidents involving workers. At 03:00 hours on 29 May 1902, the breakthrough of the two tunnel leads was achieved, at a point 3,030.5 m (9,943 ft) from the north portal, and 2,835 m (9,301 ft), from the south portal. On 1 July 1903, the opening of the section between Thusis and Celerina could be celebrated. As
8814-438: The crow flies – without requiring excessive slopes or radii, the route is extended by 12 km (7.5 mi) by various engineering structures (including three spiral tunnels , two curved tunnels and four valley crossing viaducts). Soon after departure from Bergün station, where an RhB Crocodile stands as a locomotive monument, the train climbs once again at a rate of 3.5%. By means of the various structures just identified,
8927-406: The crow flies, a difference in altitude of over 400 m (1,300 ft) needed to be overcome. To stay within the maximum gradient parameters, the project supervisor, Friedrich Hennings , devised an intricate alignment, which lengthened the line's formation by 12 km (7.5 mi). Two curved tunnels , three spiral tunnels , and a number of bridges overcame the engineering problem, by winding
9040-535: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
9153-456: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
9266-519: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
9379-569: The first president of the Canadian National Railway , said that although most branch lines cannot pay for themselves, they are even essential to make main lines pay. In the United States, abandonment of unproductive branch lines was a byproduct of deregulation of the rail industry through the Staggers Act . The Princeton Branch is a commuter rail line and service owned and operated by New Jersey Transit (NJT) in
9492-621: The head of not uncommon special trains. In contrast, the newer RhB locomotives have not achieved the popularity of the Crocodiles . However, they are in everyday use, and the operational difficulties they face can hardly be compared with those to be found on other railways of this magnitude and gauge , due to the nature of the route, and the density of the traffic. Additionally there is, for a narrow gauge railway, unusually dense goods traffic, which in mountainous terrain takes over much of what would otherwise be carried by road traffic. Almost all of
9605-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
9718-481: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
9831-427: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Industrial spur A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line . A very short branch line may be called a spur line . Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or
9944-546: The late 19th century to open up inland regions for farming and other economic activities. The branches in the South Island regions were often general-purpose lines that carried predominantly agricultural traffic, but lines elsewhere were often built to serve a specific resource: on the West Coast , an extensive network of branch lines was built in rugged terrain to serve coal mines, while in the central North Island and
10057-513: The line crosses over itself twice. Rail fans can also view the Bergün-Preda section from a rail history nature trail adjacent to the line. At the hamlet of Naz, near Preda, the line crosses a brief plateau, where, for several years now, there has been a double track section about 1 km (0.62 mi) long. Soon after the Preda station, which, at 1,789 m (5,869 ft) above sea level,
10170-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
10283-653: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
10396-601: The operator set a new world record for longest passenger train, when 100 coaches formed a 1.9 km (1.2 mi) long train, travelling a 25 km (16 mi) distance. The Albula line begins in Thusis, where it connects with the Landquart-Chur railway , built in 1896. Behind Thusis station, the line crosses the Hinterrhein , as well as the A 13 Autobahn, and enters the Albula Valley , which, east of Thusis,
10509-486: The opposite end. At Filisur station is the junction between the Albula line and the branch line from Davos Platz . Between Filisur and Bergün, the train ascends 292 m (958 ft), and runs through the first spiral tunnel . The next section, between Bergün and Preda, is the most demanding example of rail technology on the Albula line: in order to overcome the height difference of 417 m (1,368 ft) between Bergün and Preda – in only 6.5 km (4.0 mi) as
10622-514: The passing loops at the stations has lengthened them to over 260 m (850 ft), the equivalent of an express train with 13 carriages. Since the end of the 1990s, the RhB has installed three short double track sections - at Thusis, at Filisur and below Preda - to make the hourly train crossings flow more smoothly. The remaining parts of the line are single track as before, and are still largely in their original configuration from 1904. In 2022,
10735-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
10848-572: The railways had owned. However, by the mid-20th century, railways began neglecting lines in western agricultural regions. This was historically driven by factors such as the Crow Rate , which regulated the price railways could charge for shipping grain. Railways had little incentive to invest in rural Prairie branch lines, but were legally unable to abandon them under the National Transportation Act , which also did not provide
10961-584: The sledders and tobogganers connect with the Albula Pass road, which is closed for traffic in winter, and used as a toboggan track to Bergün. Download coordinates as: German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It
11074-509: The so-called fast train stations are served by these trains. At the other stations, trains have no longer stopped since the 1990s. In Surava and Alvaneu, only some trains still stop, and only then in off peak times. In the high summer season, there are also special tourist oriented express trains with panorama cars , for which reservations and supplements are required. These trains are the Glacier Express from Zermatt to St Moritz, and
11187-530: The spa resort of St. Moritz in Engadine at 1,774 m (5,820 ft). Construction of the Albula line was begun in September 1898, the opening took place on 1 July 1903, and the extension to St. Moritz commenced operations on 10 July 1904. With its 55 bridges and 39 tunnels, the 61.67-kilometre long (38.32 mi) line is one of the most spectacular narrow gauge railways in the world. On 7 July 2008,
11300-546: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
11413-482: The stations on the line are served with goods trains ; the larger stations are equipped with (at least) one shunting locomotive of their own. The most important goods transiting the line are timber, cement and other building materials, mineral oil products and foodstuffs. A further area of responsibility of the Albula line is the transport of cars through the mountainous terrain, together with their passengers. The alpine weather conditions make it impossible to use
11526-500: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
11639-400: The track around like the thread of a screw. On this part of the line, the construction of the 660 m (2,170 ft) long Rugnux Spiral Tunnels in particular led to problems, because the 4 °C (39 °F) cold mountain water hampered the activities of the workers. Beyond Preda emerged the centrepiece of the line, the 5,866 m (3.645 mi) long Albula Tunnel, which passes under
11752-406: The train crosses the 35 m (115 ft) m high and 137 m (449 ft) long Schmittentobel Viaduct . Shortly before Filisur, it reaches one of the trademarks of the Albula line - and often also the Rhaetian Railway in general - the 65 m (213 ft) high Landwasser Viaduct , which in a curve of only 100 m (330 ft) radius leads directly into a tunnel through the cliff face at
11865-555: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
11978-600: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
12091-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
12204-547: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
12317-694: Was drawn to the Gotthard Railway , so that the construction of transcontinental railways in Graubünden appeared not to be economically viable. Only the success of the Landquart-Davos-Bahn (LD) led to a turning point. In 1895, the LD changed its name to Rhaetian Railway (RhB). Two years later, the people of Graubünden decided, in a referendum , that the RhB would come under state ownership. These two changes created suitable conditions for
12430-461: Was energised with the 11 kV 16 2/3 Hz alternating current system used on the Engadine line. On 15 October 1919, the extension to Thusis followed. Since 1930, the Glacier Express has followed the route of the Albula line. The Bernina Express was added after World War II . Both of these trains have since operated as spearheads of the Rhaetian Railway's legendary reputation as
12543-492: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
12656-504: Was further extended to Vaishali in 2011. The line is planned to be extended from Vaishali to Mohan Nagar via Sahibabad Station to link with the main line. The East West Line of the MRT system in Singapore has a two-station branch to Changi Airport . The first station, Expo , opened in 2001. It was extended to Changi Airport station the next year. From 1990 to 1996, the section of
12769-502: Was repealed in 1994 in the wake of the North American Free Trade Agreement and budget-balancing initiatives in favour of a one-time payout by the federal government directly to farmers, to arrange transport of grain themselves. From the mid-1970s to the late 2010s, more than 9,300 kilometres (5,800 mi) of Prairie branch lines were abandoned or had a discontinuance of service. David Blyth Hanna ,
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