Arlberg

Arlberg is the name of a crystalline mountain mass amongst the Eastern Alps, which forms the boundary between the Austrian provinces of Tyrol and Vorarlberg ('the land before or beyond the Arlberg'). The pass over this ridge, that on the route from Bludenz to Landeck and Innsbruck, is 5300 feet high, and is one of the most difficult in the Tyrolean Alps, though it is practically the only one between the two Austrian provinces. The scheme for a railway with a tunnel through the Arlberg Alp took definite shape in 1880, and the railway from Innsbruck to Bludenz was opened 15th November 1884. The railway is through a singularly beautiful mountain country, and is much frequented by tourists to and from Italy. The main tunnel is 6720 yards in length, and cost £1,500,000.