It links the resort village of Zermatt, situated at 1,604 m (5,262 ft) above mean sea level, to the summit of the Gornergrat.

The line opened in 1898, and was the first electric rack railway to be built in Switzerland.

[3][4] Work on the railway started in 1896, five years after the Visp-Zermatt-Bahn had linked Zermatt to Visp and the Rhone Valley.

[1][2] There is a non-powered connection with the metre gauge Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn at Zermatt to allow transfer of freight and delivery of rolling stock.

The line uses the following rolling stock:[7] The railway typically operates two-railcar trains, and can carry approximately 2,500 people per hour from Zermatt to the mountain summit.