New night routes, more trains abroad: this is what the timetable brings
Published: Friday, Dec 13th 2024, 10:40
Updated At: Sunday, Dec 15th 2024, 04:40
Back to Live Feed
The new SBB timetable comes into force today, Sunday. Among other things, it brings new night-time connections and more trains to neighboring countries. In western Switzerland, the biggest timetable change since Rail 2000 is on the cards. The new timetable is an interim solution and is also known as the "construction site timetable". The timetable enables numerous construction sites in western Switzerland to be handled. An overview of the most important changes:
WESTERN SWITZERLAND: The new timetable offers 15 percent more trains in western Switzerland. In particular, it brings new direct connections with Lausanne West. Renens VD station (access to the university campus) will become a main hub for rail traffic and will be integrated into the Lausanne junction. The new stop in Renens will offer connections to Geneva-Geneva Airport every 30 minutes. The long-distance trains Intercity IC1 (Geneva Airport-Bern-St. Gallen), IC5 (Lausanne-Biel-Zurich) and the Interregio IR90 (Geneva Airport-Brig) will now stop here. The IC5 runs every 30 minutes to/from Lausanne. This will strengthen long-distance services on the Zurich-Biel-Neuchâtel-Yverdon-les-Bains-Renens-Lausanne route. There will also be a strengthening of regional services and better connections to the Riviera and Lower Valais.
BERN-ZÜRICH: From Monday to Friday, one IC train per direction between Zurich main station and Bern will also stop at Bern-Wankdorf station. According to SBB, this means shorter journeys and less congestion at the main stations. Departure from Zurich is at 7.49 am, arrival in Wankdorf at 8.44 am. In the evening, the train leaves Wankdorf at 5.13 pm and arrives in Zurich at 6.10 pm.
BERN-FREIBURG: There will be a total closure on the Bern-Freiburg line in summer 2025 due to several construction projects. Passengers will have to switch to rail replacement buses; French-speaking Switzerland can be reached via Neuchâtel.
BERN-NEUENBURG: The S21 Fribourg-Ins will now be extended to Neuchâtel. Together with the S20 Fribourg-Neuchâtel, there is now a half-hourly service between the two cantonal capitals.
ST. GALLEN-SARGANS: Between St. Gallen and Sargans there is now a half-hourly service on long-distance services.
NIGHT SERVICES: As part of a pilot project, night services are now running on eight weekends on the Bern-Olten-Zurich main station-Zurich airport route and on several weekends and public holidays between Biel and Geneva airport and between Fribourg and Sion and Geneva airport. There will also be improvements to the regional night-time networks at weekends. Various additional trains will be running in eastern Switzerland.
GENEVA AIRPORT: There is now a direct Saturday connection from Geneva Airport via Berne to Locarno.
ITALY: The Eurocity (EC) Milan-Geneva runs four times a day. One of these connections is from/to Venezia. The train stops in Brig, Sion, Montreux and Lausanne. Because the Milan-Geneva Eurocity passes through Chamoson and Ardon a few minutes later, the RegionAlps trains can no longer stop here at these times. This is the case three times a day when the EC runs from Martigny VS to Brig VS.
FRANCE: The TGV connects Lausanne VD and Paris three times a day via Vallorbe VD, three times via Geneva. The daily direct connection between Lausanne and Marseille in both directions with stops in Geneva, Avignon TGV and Aix-en-Provence TGV will be offered again in summer from Saturday, June 28 to Sunday, August 24, 2025.
GERMANY: There will be one additional train per direction between Zurich and Munich. This means that travelers can get to Munich two hours earlier in the morning and back to Zurich two hours later in the evening.
MAJOR EVENTS: 2025 will be a year with numerous events in all parts of the country, write SBB. They refer to the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in Basel, the Uefa Women's Euro 2025 and the Swiss Federal Gymnastics Festival in Lausanne, among others. SBB is offering around 1600 extra trains for these events.
©Keystone/SDA
English 
German 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic