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Dear travelers,
Let’s hope that many of you will soon enjoy the efficient Swiss train system again! For those who like to play around with options for future trips: the SBB have announced the major changes for the 2021 timetable.
Basic information
- the new timetable will become effective as from December 13 2020, and will remain valid until mid-December 2021;
- the new timetable is expected to be published from mid-October 2020, and can be consulted at http://www.myswissalps.com/timetable;
- for those who are planning their trip before mid-October 2020: you can use the current schedules to get a good impression of the options for your 2021 trip, and check again once the new timetable can be consulted.
Improved north-south connections on the Gotthard route
- there are important improvements on the north-south connections crossing the Gotthard region. The new Ceneri base tunnel, which is located between Bellinzona and Lugano, will be used. This means that connections to Lugano will be faster:
- from Zurich: you’ll be able to travel from Zurich to Lugano in 1h53, and from Zurich to Milano in 3h17 (23 minutes faster);
- from Basel: traveling to Lugano will be 2h55 (28 minutes faster), and there will be 5 direct connections between Basel and Milano daily;
- from Locarno: there will be direct connections to Lugano in 30 minutes (20 minutes faster than the current route with a change in Giubiasco);
- from Bellinzona: traveling to Lugano will take 15 minutes (15 minutes faster);
- new ‘Giruno’ trains with restaurants, free WiFi and level-floor entry will be used;
- from April 2021, regional trains of the Südostbahn will run hourly over the Gotthard Panorama route (also used by the Gotthard Panorama Express), leaving from alternately Basel and Zurich, under the name ‘Treno Gottardo’.
New west-east connection
The new “Aare Linth” is a direct train from Bern via Zurich to Chur.
More and quicker connections from Zurich
- there will be more direct trains between Zurich, St. Gallen and Munich;
- more trains are scheduled between Zurich and Chur in the evenings;
- there will be 2 direct trains per hour between Zurich Airport, Zurich and Lucerne (starting/ending point of the Golden Pass route), and new double-deck trains will run.
Cancellations and delays
In some regions, trains can be cancelled or delayed, either because the coronavirus caused construction works to be temporarily stopped, or due to a shortage of train drivers. Most of these problems are expected to be solved with the start of the new timetable, but Ticino and the French-speaking parts of western Switzerland may still be affected in the new year.
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Some technical (and ‘opinion’) comments:
“The new Ceneri base tunnel, which is located roughly between Bellinzona and Lugano”
Why ‘roughly’? – The Ceneri base tunnel is exactly between Bellizona and Lugano!
from April 2021, regional trains of the Südostbahn will run hourly over the Gotthard Panorama route (also used by the Gotthard Panorama Express), leaving from alternately Basel and Zurich, under the name ‘Treno Gottardo’.
There will be little point (if it even survives in the long term) in using the Gotthard Panorama Express once these new trains are running. As on the Lötschberg line the regional trains will combine local and ‘tourist’ needs.
there will be more direct trains between Zurich, St. Gallen and Munich;
This is much more important news than “more direct trains” suggests . This is a total re-invention of the Zurich – München route, triggered by the electrification by German railways of the railway between Lindau and München, through the Allgäu area of southern Bavaria). There will be six direct trains – compared to three in the past, with a 45 minute shoretr journey time due to (a) using tilting trains – ousted from the Gotthard by the Giruno trains (b) the higher speed possible in Germany compared to the old diesel locomotives (c) removal of the need to swap a Swiss locomotive for a German one at Lindau.
there will be 2 direct trains per hour between Zurich Airport, Zurich and Lucerne (part of the Golden Pass route), and new double-deck trains will run.
The route will be known as route IR75. The double deck trains are not really new – SBB will be using various types of train that already run in the Zurich / Luzern area. Zurich – Luzern is a very peripheral (if at all ) part of the Golden pass route and is best not described as such.
Thanks for your additions and your catch on the Golden Pass 1960man! Zurich-Lucerne obviously isn’t part of it; must have been some copy-and-paste slip up. It’s been rephrased.
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