Excellence Class on Glacier Express with Eurail
A traveler named BarbS is planning a trip to Switzerland this fall using a 10-day Eurail Pass over two months. She seeks to clarify whether buying seat reservations for Excellence Class tickets is sufficient or if she needs to do something else upon boarding the train.
- Simply bring your seat reservation and Eurail pass to board the train; the pass serves as your ticket.
- When using the Eurail Pass, the period of travel starts on the first day of use, so plan accordingly, especially for scenic trains like the Glacier Express.
- The Swiss Travel System allows for flexible travel without the need for many reservations, but special trains like the Glacier Express require them.
AI-generated summary-
I am new to traveling using a Eurail pass so I just want to be sure I understand before I buy the tickets. We will be traveling in the fall and have purchased a 10 day Eurail Pass good over a two month period. If I buy my Excellence Class tickets today and pay the price for the seat reservation, do I need to do anything else other than show up to the train that day and board with my Eurail pass information? At that time, will my pass will be used to purchase the train ticket? We purchased 1st class Eurail passes if that makes a difference. Thanks in advance!
-
Hi BarbS,
Welcome to MySwissAlps! Yes, that’s almost right. Simply board with your reservation and pass (which must be valid for that day). You don’t use the pass to purchase a ticket. Your pass replaces a ticket.
You’ll find further details here:
Arno – You are the best! As I said, I haven’t used a Eurail pass before and the first day of travel using the pass will most likely be the day we board the Glacier Express. It is good for 10 days of travel in a 60 day period so I guess the clock starts that day. It just seems odd to buy a seat reservation but not have purchased a train ticket to be used in conjunction with the seat reservation in advance.
It may indeed seem odd, but it is only odd to people who come from countries where railway travel is much more regulated (usually because trains are once per day or fewer (eg much of the Amtrak network in the USA) .
The Swiss rail system (and the vast majority if public transport) works on an ‘honesty’ system. You are expected to have a valid travel ticket or a pass of some type and as long as that is the case you are free to board a train, bus, lake boat etc; if and when a train controller turns up you will show your ticket and it’s all good. In Switzerland it is very rare for seat reservations to be necessary on most of the rail network, but because the Glacier Express acts like one of the types of train cited in my first sentence you do need a reservation.
My quick guide to the Swiss Travel systesm:
The Swiss railway operating/timetable concept – a quick guide
Switzerland’s railways are a lot different to very large countries in many parts of the world, such as USA and Brazil.
Passenger trains run very frequently on a dense network, so that the rail network operates like a whole-country version of the transit of a large metropolis such as New York.
This means that it is not necessary to reserve seats in advance or buy additional tickets except on a very small number of specific special services.
It also means that short connecting times between trains are worked out so that they are easily possible, even with luggage.
The operation of the national network (aka Swiss Travel System) is by what is called the ‘taktfahrplan’ principle, i.e. that trains run at the same times past each hour at least every 1 hour on most lines, and half hourly where necessary, and all services are programmed to interconnect with each other at nodal points with a minimal connecting time. This minimum connecting time is built in and is designed to enable you to continue a cross country journey without waiting for ages between trains if you have to change trains.
Within this concept, ‘freedom type’ rail passes such as the Swiss Travel Pass and Saver Day Pass (and Eurail Pass) act in the same way as 24 hour pass tickets on many city transit systems around the world, in other words they allow ‘hop on hop off ‘ travel on all the main modes of transport which make up the Swiss Travel System – federal railways, private railways, post buses, city buses, city trams, local railways, lake boats.
It doesn’t matter which type of train you get on on the main national network (which includes all SBB, BLS and private railways).
Train classifications decode can be found on the electronic version of the Swiss National Timetable, as can timetables for each railway line in Switzerland
Home page: http://www.fahrplanfelder.ch/en/welcome.html
Explanation of symbols: http://www.fahrplanfelder.ch/fileadmin/fap_explanations/pdf-Dateien/2022/Zeichenerklaerung.pdf
Train types lexicon: http://www.fahrplanfelder.ch/fileadmin/fap_explanations/pdf-Dateien/2022/Zugcharakterisierung.pdf
Also take a moment to think about how much time it actually takes to change trains at a small and medium sized stations. Short connecting times between trains are worked out so that they are easily possible, even with luggage. Taking 7 minutes as an example. This might not sound a lot of time but think about how far you can actually walk in a straight line in 7 minutes. At an average walking pace even with luggage most people can cover about 700 metres in 7 minutes, which is far further than the distance needed to walk between platform of connecting trains at most Swiss stations (really all except Zurich HB)
Once again, I so appreciate the thoughtful and thorough response and explanation. It does take a bit of time getting use to the idea of working train system, unlike the embarrassing Amtrak system we have here in the US.
Hi BarbS,
Yes, I can imagine it takes some time to learn how the Swiss public transport works. But it’s an excellent system and you’ll quickly get used to it!
You can find more practical tips about tickets, finding your way at railway stations, getting on and off the train, and so on, here: http://www.myswissalps.com/train/practical/howtotravel.
Further details about 1st and 2nd class, luggage, train types and more are available here: http://www.myswissalps.com/train/practical/howtotravel.
This page explains how to use the Swiss timetable: http://www.myswissalps.com/timetable. It’s an excellent tool that helps you plan each trip to, from and in Switzerland in detail, whether it’s by train, bus, boat or mountain transport.
I hope that’s helpful. Let us know if you have further questions!
I am pleased to hear that my comparisons with the US are helpful as you are indeed from the US. However, no one is really ‘at fault’ for the situation in the US, as it is a natural result of being a large country. I have spent far more time in Switzerland than the US but I am a world rail transport expert and fully appreciate the difference in America, as in August 2019 I took the Amtrak Maple Leaf from New York to Burlington Ontario. We were on the train 11 hours and we did not even leave New York State!
- The thread ‘Excellence Class on Glacier Express with Eurail’ is closed to new replies.
