Swiss railways to offer more train services to tourist destinations

In canton Valais, a RegionAlps connection is being introduced earlier every day of the week. © Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott

The 2024 train timetable provides better service to tourist destinations and includes additional direct weekend services between Geneva in western Switzerland and Chur in the east, via Zurich.

Starting on December 10, four direct train services will run between Geneva and Chur at the weekends, the Swiss Federal Railways announced on Monday. The company had already introduced two direct services during the last timetable change a year ago.

The RegioExpress trains will be making extra stops between Geneva and Annemasse. With the Léman Express continuing to break all records (almost 70,000 passengers every day), these additional stops offer customers greater comfort and flexibility for journeys within Geneva and to and from France and the canton of Vaud.

+ Swiss Federal Railways is profitable again

In canton Valais, in order to connect with the new IC6 trains in the morning and evening, a RegionAlps connection is being introduced earlier every day of the week. The two Verbier Express and VosAlpes Express trains will be continued for the 2023-2024 winter season.

From December 10, 2023 to July 7, 2024, on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, and for a pilot phase, two RegioExpress trains (RE9) will be extended from and to Bern, offering an alternative journey between Bern and Paris, with a change at Frasne.

Commuters and other travellers will be able to go directly to Bern and Basel from Tuesday to Sunday by taking the IC6 at Brig (departure at 5.16am, earlier timetable). The last IC6 in the evening will run from Basel (departing at 22:28) to Brig via Bern, an hour later than before.

+ GoldenPass Express tops National Geographic luxury train list

In the canton of Vaud, customers in the Broye region will now benefit from a train every 30 minutes between Palézieux and Payerne on Sundays as well. It should also be noted that, following a decision by the Federal Office of Transport, the names of regional trains are being changed from S to R in several French-speaking cantons

For international traffic, from June 29 to August 18, 2024, TGV Lyria will offer a daily return trip between Geneva and Marseille, with stops in Lyon, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence.

Gotthard Tunnel

Initially, the 2024 timetable was to be the opportunity to introduce the full half-hourly service via the Gotthard base tunnel. However, with operations restricted by the derailment of a goods train last August, the introduction of the half-hourly timetable has been delayed pending the restoration of normal traffic flow in the tunnel.

The Federal Railways operates one of the busiest rail networks in the world. This network must be maintained. This is why the sharp increase in maintenance work will continue over the next few years.

Neighbouring countries will not be left out next year. The Federal Railways warns that the many worksites will sometimes mean longer journey times or force passengers to change trains more often.

How we work

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here. 

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to [e-mail].