Zweisimmen and Belle Epoque train connection times
A traveler is planning to travel from Grindelwald Terminal to Zweisimmen to catch the Belle Epoque train to Montreux on their last day in Switzerland. They are concerned whether the Belle Epoque will wait if their regional train arrives late, as they also have a flight to catch later that day. They want to avoid a long wait at Zweisimmen and are considering taking an earlier train.
- The Belle Epoque train usually waits for connecting trains, thanks to official minimum connection times at the station.
- Swiss trains are generally reliable, but slight delays can happen, so plan ahead.
- To save time, consider taking the faster route through Visp to reduce the number of changes and avoid stress.
AI-generated summary-
I will be travelling from Grindelwald Terminal (GT) to Zweisimmen (Z) in order to catch the Belle Epoque (BE). The SBB app says that if I leave at 9:52 from GT, after changing at Interlaken Ost and then at Spiez, I will arrive at Z at 11:59 with a regional train. The BE leaves at 12:02 to Montreux.
My question is – will the BE wait for the regional train from Spiez in case it is late. I am asking since I am planning this to happen on the last day of our stay in Switzerland and after the ride on BE we are going to the airport. An option is to get a 1 hour earlier train, but waiting 1 hour at Z seems like too much…..
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Trains from Spiez to Zweisimmen are always official connections with the MOB train from Zweisimmen onwards.
You can see 1159/12.02 times at Zweisimmen on page 10/16 of the official timetable here:
http://www.fahrplanfelder.ch/fileadmin/fap_pdf_fields/2023/120.pdf
You can also see on the PDF a little pictogram of a person and the number 3′ showing that the official minimum connecting time (which cannot be broken) for Zweisimmen is 3 minutes
Hello Ventsislav,
As you can appreciate, Swiss trains are proud of their punctuality and efficiency, so connections like these can be made :-), it can all be, rather stressful for visitors but most living here, ‘this is how it is’. I, myself have adapted to promptly changing to appropriate platforms in a timely manner and I must admit, I have not missed a connecting train (yet ;-)).
Delays can and do happen, not often but they do. If your arriving train from Zweisimmen is late, you could unfortunately miss your connecting train. Unless of course, the Belle Epoque is running late itself.
Best wishes,
Yolanda
“If your arriving train from Zweisimmen is late, you could unfortunately miss your connecting train. Unless of course, the Belle Epoque is running late itself.”
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What is being discussed here is a train arriving into Zweisimmen (from Spiez) and not the other way round
<removed by moderator> It is not correct to say that you could miss your connecting train. The whole reason for stations having official minimum connecting times (as I described in my previous post) is so that if one train arrives late the onward connecting train must not depart until the first train has arrived.
This is the answer I was hoping for. Thank you! Since a stay 60 mins more (by arriving earlier) at Zweisimmen will be too much, having in mind that on that day we will start from Grindelwald with changes at (Interlaken Ost, Zweisimmen, Montreux, Lausanne, Bern, Basel) and finally reach Euroairport.
Is there a particular reason you want to do this long way round to reach Basel airport? If you are concerned about the number of changes of train I wonder if it is worth it?
Thank you for asking! I will be travelling with my 7 year old son and I wanted to enjoy the Belle Epoque. Our base for 7 days in Switzerland will be Grindelwald, with the Jungfrau region in focus. Since on our last day the plane is at 9 pm at Euroairport, I decided to enjoy the Belle Epoque on our way out. Otherwise, we have to devote one full day on the BE experience in the mid of our stay…
The big number of changes is because of the itinerary that I mentioned. We can have 1 change less if we go through Visp, but it takes more time.
Any different approach possible?
7 days is quite a long time in the immediate Jungfrau region, given that the whole area is smaller than New York City, and that it is possible to see all the main views in one or two days total. You may decide a full day’s ‘break’ from the immediate Jungfrau area is desirable. On your final day you could do something a little bit more relaxing perhaps. Basel itself is worth some sightseeing time.
Hi 1960man,
“It is not correct to say that you could miss your connecting train. The whole reason for stations having official minimum connecting times (as I described in my previous post) is so that if one train arrives late the onward connecting train must not depart until the first train has arrived.“
That’s not my understanding of official minimum connection times. Minimum connection times help the train operator creating a timetable with doable connections and it helps passengers to see how tight a connection really is (you can even adjust personal minimum connection times in the online timetable). If a train is really late, there is no guarantee that a connection train will wait. Although in Zweisimmen it’s very likely they will wait in case of small delays. Feel free to correct me if you have any SBB documentation saying otherwise.
Quote from http://www.sbb.ch/en/help-and-contact/produkte-services/timetable.html:
“Since stations and stops differ in size, passengers need different lengths of time to get from A to B. The timetable therefore includes different interchange times required for changing mode of transport at each stop. The standard time is 2 minutes. However, for larger stations this interchange time is increased, for example to 7 minutes for Zürich HB. The interchange time can be amended by the individual passenger on SBB .ch. In the advanced search, this can be extended to a given time interval (10 min, 20 min or 30 min). Under “via” you can even set an personalised interchange time.”
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