Its 105 meters of track lead from the Marzili neighbourhood to the Bundeshaus, the seat of the Swiss federal government and parliament, in the Old City of Bern.

The Marzilibahn was proposed by a committee of seven Bernese entrepreneurs, who received an 80-year operating license by the Swiss Federal Assembly on 13 December 1884.

Construction began in March 1885 and was hastily completed to allow a start of operations on 19 July 1885, to coincide with the opening of the Eidgenössisches Schützenfest, the Swiss marksmen's festival, in Bern.

[4] The original green cars, built by the local machine company Pümpin & Herzog (later part of Von Roll) were replaced in 1914 by a new set of cars on account of the Swiss national exhibition in Bern, and the official name of the funicular was changed from Drahtseilbahn Aarziele to Drahtseilbahn Marzili-Stadt Bern.

[10] The Zagreb Funicular in Croatia is at any rate shorter at 66 m. The Marzilibahn is owned and operated by a private company, Drahtseilbahn Marzili-Stadt Bern AG, which employs ten part-time staff.