Availability of EuroCity 37 train (Geneva-Venice)

We are trying to plan our transition from Switzerland to Italy. We are looking at various train options from Mürren to Italy. The fastest while also being scenic (avoiding some of the longer tunnels) that I've seen is from Murren through Domodossola to Milan using Kandersteg as a connection to stay on the local train. I mistyped the dates originally and it showed a very favorable time with good connections with the final portion being on an EC train which makes the difference. Perfect connection in either Brig or Domodossola onto the EC 37 train to Milan.

Now my problem and question. When I plug in my correct date of departure this option disappears and the arrival into Milan is several hours later as the EC train isn't there and I end up with several local trains.

Here's what shows up on the SBB site about the EC train. It shows that this train is only set to run until June 11th of next year.

Direction: Venezia S. Lucia EC 37 (Genève --> Domodossola (I))Direction: Venezia S. Lucia EC 37 (Domodossola (I) --> Venezia S. Lucia)

Days of operation:

runs 13. Dec 2015 until 11. Jun 2016 daily

This appears to be a pretty major route. A EuroCity connection between Geneva and Venice. I'm wondering if this is just a matter of when the schedule will be posted for the second half of 2016 instead of this route being discontinued. Should I expect this train or a very similar route to be available come June 22nd? We have several possible destinations that we are looking at as our first destination within Italy and the total difference in travel time for some of these destination can be as much as 6 hours extra w/o this train. I'm hoping it's just an administrative thing and not a matter of this train being discontinued.

Finally, I have to give thanks to both this site and Kim11 for great help in planning our Switzerland stay. We have exactly the type of trip we love. We know where we'll be and have lots of options on what to do and will just let the weather dictate what we do on which day. We'll be based out of Mürren from June 18th until June 22nd and will be certain to post a trip report afterwards as those have been very helpful to us in our planning.

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

Welcome to MySwissAlps! My guess is that the schedule of the Italian railways is not available yet for dates after June 11. It should have been, but it isn't. It does not only affect EuroCity 37 but many other trains as well. I'd recommended to check again later; I'm sure many more trains will become available, and I would expect EuroCity 37 to be available too.

You will probably need some sort of rail pass for your stay in Mürren. You can order that pass and the tickets (with seat reservations) together, once the train is open for bookings (usually 3 to 4 months ahead of time, sometimes more).

Now for the scenic part of the trip: I recommend to travel to Spiez and take the local train via Goppenstein to Brig. It takes a bit more time but you'll avoid the long tunnel and see much more.

Annika,

Thank you for the fast reply. You validated my thinking that the was more a reflection of the wonderful efficiency of the Italian rail system (and their website) as opposed to a change in service.

Thanks also for the hint on getting the local train. I accomplished the same by using Kandersteg. I looked at the SBB network map and found the local line. I remembered several threads on the forum mentioning this route but could not remember the station name suggested. A quick and easy look at the SBB network map ( www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/am-bahnhof/railway-stations/trafimage-maps-station-plans/maps.html ) quickly showed the local line as well as the bigger tunnel. I found Kandersteg first. It's the stop before Goppenstein on the way to Brig. I double checked the routing just now and Goppenstein was also one of the stations on that line. That is definitely the route we want to take. Thanks for making sure we didn't miss it.

I have a daily email of this forum's traffic delivered that has been a wonderful source of information for our trip.

Hi Kevin,

Just a tip: you can download a network map from any of our pass pages. That way you can see the routes as well as what's covered with the pass.

Speak to you later!