at Visp took over the project. Under the leadership of the VZ, it was transformed into a connecting narrow gauge railway running parallel to the SBB line, was no longer equipped with any halting points, and was to serve only to link the VZ and the FO. In 1928, the committee presented a correspondingly modified concession application, which was approved on 28 September 1928, subject to a condition that one intermediate halting point be included. Following the completion of that project as approved, continuous operations from Brig to Zermatt were finally able to begin on 5 June 1930. Curiously, the opening of the new link did not lead directly to a name change for the Visp-Zermatt-Bahn. Only on 1 June 1962 was the name changed to Compagnie du Chemin de Fer de Brigue-Viège-Zermatt (Brig-Visp-Zermatt-Bahn). The three narrow gauge lines now bound by rail - the Visp-Zermatt-Bahn, the Furka Oberalp Bahn and the Rhätische Bahn - took advantage of the opening of the new connection to introduce a through express train from St. Moritz to Zermatt. On 25 June 1930, the now world-famous Glacier Express departed from Zermatt station for the first time. Electrification Under pressure from the enormous increase in coal prices during World War I, there were discussions soon after the end of the war about electrification of the railway, to make it independent of expensive imported coal. A study commissioned in 1919 recommended the use of direct current, with a voltage of between 1500 and 3000 volts. To save costs, parts from steam locomotives would be used for the construction of electric locos, and at times consideration was given to purchasing railcars. As prices of copper and the necessary electrical systems were still extremely high in the immediate aftermath of the war, the electrification plan had to be abandoned in view of the still ailing financial resources of the VZ. Not until 1927 were there once again plans for conversion to electric operations. Now, however, high tension alternating current, at a frequency of 16 Hz, was to be used. This offered, amongst other things, the advantage of requiring only one electrical insertion point, near Visp, which would drastically reduce the costs of electrical systems in comparison with the original plans. Consideration was also given to adopting completely the SBB system of 15 kV AC railway electrification without alteration, but that idea quickly had to be abandoned. In particular,