EuroRail and SBB schedules not matching

  • bassball29
    Participant
    2 posts
    10 July 2022 at 2:16:44 #827730

    Hi, hello. I have been enjoying the great info on this site and I have a question about rail travel for an upcoming trip I was hoping to get clarified.

    I’m an American and I’ll have a EuroRail global pass for traveling about Switzerland and Italy at the end of August. I’ve found the exact trains and itinerary I would like to take on the SBB Swiss rail site. But I can’t find the same itinerary listed on the EuroRail site. My understanding is that the pass will cover all the SBB trains anyway, so that shouldn’t matter; I’m more worried about keeping to a schedule for this particular day and hoping they will actually be running at the times I think they will. Is there any particular reason for concern that the site schedules do not match?

    (Specifically: Geneva to Zermatt, and then on a different day Zermatt to Como, with a few stops and transfers on the way. For Geneva to Zermatt, I have no problems. For Zermatt to Como, through Visp, Domodossola, Locarno, that is the one I can’t match up.)

    Thanks for any help.

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    Arno
    Moderator
    15471 posts
    10 July 2022 at 6:30:09 #944145

    Hi Bassball29,

    Welcome to MySwissAlps! You meant Eurail where you wrote EuroRail, right? Eurail is a pass, it’s not a train network, nor do they own or operate trains. So indeed, the timetable offered by SBB is your best source for train schedules: http://www.myswissalps.com/timetable. SBB operates about 70% of the trains in Switzerland, but their timetable includes all trains operated by all others as well.

    To see where you can travel with your Eurail Global Pass, you only need to look at the covered routes: http://www.myswissalps.com/eurailglobalpass/validity. Which company operates the trains is not relevant.

    Enjoy your trips!

    bassball29
    Participant
    2 posts
    10 July 2022 at 13:03:27 #944146

    Thanks so much. Yes, I did mean Eurail, not Eurorail. It sounds like I should rely more on the schedules posted by the local trains rather than on the Eurail site then. Appreciate your help.

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    10 July 2022 at 22:03:50 #944147

    Do not rely on information from Eurail (not Eurorail) as the Eurail organisation tends to use ‘2nd hand’ information which is weak in some areas, for example their ‘Planning map’ of European railways is about as useful as a chocolate frying pan!

    Always use the local country timetable, or the most efficient pan European on line journey planner which is the German railway site http://www.bahn.com

    Geneva – Zermatt , like most Swiss routes, runs to the same schedule each hour

    Zermatt – Como is the same every two hours (as there are gaps in the usual hourly service on the Centovalli section). Depart |Zermatt at xx.13 , 09.13, 11.13

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