Brusio Spiral Viaduct

The signposted viewpoint sits on the footpath just south of the spiral. OpenStreetMap places the viaduct's arches between about 40 and 95 m (130 to 310 ft) to the north-north-west and north-east of it, with the rest of the loop behind them, so the whole circle can be followed from one place. The effect is what draws people here: a train comes down from Brusio station, runs round the loop and passes beneath the arches, then continues on towards Campocologno and Tirano, or does the reverse on the climb, crossing the viaduct's upper deck over the track it used a few seconds earlier. Switzerland Tourism describes a signposted circular walk from Brusio station past the viaduct and back through the village, which is the way to reach the viewpoint on foot. With roughly one regional train an hour in each direction plus the Bernina Express, plan a visit around RhB's timetable rather than waiting at random.

Brusio lies in the lower Val Poschiavo, the Italian-speaking valley the Bernina line descends after crossing the Bernina Pass from St. Moritz, a few kilometres above the Italian border at Campocologno. At this low end of the valley the setting is a village and its fields rather than high mountains: the pale stone arches of the viaduct sit among meadows and houses, with the steep wooded sides of the valley rising behind. Switzerland Tourism's circular walk from the station passes the crotti, round stone buildings once used as natural cold stores, and returns through the village past Casa Besta, a 17th-century mansion. The subject here is the spiral itself, not a mountain panorama.

The Brusio Spiral Viaduct opened on 1 July 1908 with the Tirano–Poschiavo section of the Bernina Railway. It is built of stone, with nine arches of about 10 m (33 ft), a length of about 110 m (360 ft), a curve radius of about 70 m (230 ft) and a 7 percent gradient, according to Wikipedia; Switzerland Tourism says it overcomes a height of about 10 m. The loop lets the line gain height in the narrow valley floor without a spiral tunnel. The Rhaetian Railway took over the Bernina Railway company, and with it this viaduct, in 1943. Since July 2008 the Bernina line, with the Albula line, has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site 'Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes', shared by Switzerland and Italy.

Few railway structures anywhere let you watch a train circle round and cross over its own track on an open stone viaduct, in daylight, rather than inside a spiral tunnel. Here the whole loop is visible from one public viewpoint a short walk from a station, on a metre-gauge mountain line that is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site and carries the Bernina Express.