Le Prese railway station

Le Prese railway station is a railway station in the village of Le Prese, within the municipality of Poschiavo and canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. It is located on the Bernina line of the Rhaetian Railway.^[1][4]

Le Prese
The station building in 2019
General information
Location	Via Principale Poschiavo Switzerland
Coordinates	46°17′31.776″N 10°4′40.260″E
Elevation	966 m (3,169 ft)
Owned by	Rhaetian Railway
Line(s)	Bernina line
Distance	48.0 km (29.8 mi) from St. Moritz[1]
Train operators	Rhaetian Railway
Connections	AutoPostale buses[2]
History
Opened	1 July 1908 (1908-07-01)
Passengers
2018	180 per weekday[3]
Services
Preceding station Rhaetian Railway Following station Poschiavo towards Chur or St. Moritz Bernina Express Campocologno towards Tirano Poschiavo towards St. Moritz RE 9 Miralago towards Tirano Li Curt towards St. Moritz R 19
Location

The station is located in the road, and comprises a single track within the carriageway, with a single kerbside platform and a roadside station building. To the north of the station, the line continues to share the street with road traffic as it passes through the village of Le Prese, before reaching the passing loop of Spinadascio. To the south, as far as Miralago, the line runs between the road and Lago di Poschiavo.^[1][4][5]

The station opened on 1 July 1908 with the opening of the Tirano to Poschiavo section of the Bernina line. Originally train services halted directly in front of the entrance to the hotel, and until 1975 the station had a passing loop.^[5]

Architecture and setting

The station building was erected in 1908 to a standard Bernina line design by architect Hans Studer: a three-storey block of quarry-faced gneiss with arched ground-floor openings and a half-hipped roof, echoing local Val Poschiavo farmhouses. It functioned as a combined railway office and annex to the neighbouring Hotel Le Prese, so the original platform lay directly against the hotel terrace. The structure is today listed in the Federal Inventory of Cultural Property (category B, regional significance).^[6]

Track layout and upgrades

Le Prese is one of only four stations on the Bernina line where trains share the roadway with mixed traffic; through the village the timetable limits speed to 25 km/h and motorists must yield at flag-controlled entrances. The passing loop was removed in 1975, but a 2010–12 project installed a new 40 m-kerbside platform at the regulation 350 mm height, tactile paving for the visually impaired, and LED road signals that interlock with the railway block system. Control of the points and street-running signals is performed remotely from the Poschiavo operations centre.^[7]

Services

As of the December 2023 timetable change,^[update] the following services stop at Le Prese:^[8]

• Bernina Express: Several round-trips per day between Chur or St. Moritz and Tirano.
• RegioExpress / Regio: hourly service between St. Moritz and Tirano.