[Removed user]

15 January 2016 at 13:47:56 #808274

i have bought non flexible TGV tickets from Paris Gare de Lyon to Lausanne (arriving 11:37 am) and tickets to Bern (departing 11:50 am). I am very concerned that this is insufficient time for connection. Should I buy another TGV ticket now from Lausanne to Bern?

can you please advise what validation is necessary and where and what this entails. I am Australian. Is there an immigration process as I will gave changed countries.

Is there a site where I can look up which platform my trains will be arriving and departing from?

thank you for your help.

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[Arno]

15 January 2016 at 18:22:58 #847686

Hi MagpieMary,

Trains from Lausanne to Bern don’t require seat reservations, so normally you can take any train during the day printed on your ticket. So you can just take the next train if you miss the first one. Further details are in the timetable. I can’t be 100% sure without seeing the tickets though. Your ticket retailer should be able to answer your question, or you can scan the ticket(s) and attach them here so we can have a look.

[Slowpoke]

16 January 2016 at 16:24:34 #847687

Hi Magpie Mary –

Check this site:

fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/qu ery.exe/en

13 minutes is a very comfortable connecting time at Bern, even with luggage. If possible, ride near the middle of the train, since Bern is not a terminal station, and the access to the tunnel between platforms is near the middle of the platforms.

Direct trains from Lausanne to Bern run twice per hour at xx50 and xx20; usually with one intermediate stop at Fribourg.

Slowpoke

[Removed user]

17 January 2016 at 8:26:54 #847688

Dear Slowpoke

Thank you very much for your reassurance and advice. Very kind of you!

[Slowpoke]

17 January 2016 at 9:58:20 #847689

<<“can you please advise what validation is necessary and where and what this entails. I am Australian. Is there an immigration process as I willgave changed countries”>>

Mary –

I am definitely not an expert on this topic. I would be pleased if anyone can refine my comments.

Here is what i can say from my experience:

France and Switzerland are both Schengen countries, You should be able to cross the border without even showing your passport….if France was your port of entry to the Schengen group, France is responsible to confirm that your passport is in order. After that, in general, it will not be checked when you cross borders within countries adhering to the Schengen Treaty on Free Movement of Peoples.

There can be exceptions to this concept if certain valid reasons exist.

I do not know if there is a visa requirement for an Australian to enter Switzerland. Probably, a Swiss federation web site ( or your travel agent if you used one) can help with that.

This might help:

http://www.myswissalps.com/ab outswitzerland/practic al/websites

and –

http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/schengen-visa-validity

Ordinary tickets bought at counters or from machines do not need validation in Switzerland. (In contrast, they do in Italy, for example.) They will usually have a date stamped on them….apparently, you have a dated ticket.. Arno has noted that a scan of your ticket could help clarify such issues. When a conductor checks your ticket on the train, he or she will confirm the correct travel date, class of car (1st or 2nd) and, if you have a discounted fare ticket, such as a half fare ticket bought from a ticket machine or clerk, the conductor will need to see your supporting half-fare card. He or she will usually punch your ticket or otherwise mark it so that it can be seen that the ticket has been used at a certain point in your journey. That may happen more than once on a train that stops at several stations.

Some special Swiss tickets are bought as , for example, supplemental day cards. They must be validated with a date stamp on the day that they are used, at a small orange machine on the platforms, that puts a date stamp on them .

Hope this helps.

By the way – Lausanne is a busy station. I gave advice for changes at Bern, by mistake. Lausanne does not have many platforms, so 13 minutes should still be a comfortable time for change of trains. Don’t dawdle.

Here is a station map, found on the SBB website:

http://www.sbb.ch/content/dam /infrastruktur/trafima ge/bahnhofplaene/plan-lausanne-a4.pdf#?lang=en

As you can see, it does not have many tracks, unlike bern or Zürich. Also, like Bern, it is not a terminal station. The tracks are numbered on the map.

Slowpoke