URGENT: How to pick up Swiss rail tickets in Milan

I am travelling tomorrow from Milan to Zurich at 9.15am. I booked my ticket from Swiss travel website sbb.ch but I just realized that what I have is not a valid travel document...it asks me to pick up my tickets from any counter in switzerland. But how do I do that in Milan is not clear to me. I am desperately running short on time, so any help will be deeply appreciated. Please advise! Navnita

Hi Navnita,

I'm not 100% sure what the SBB instructions look like. However, if you can get your travel documents at any manned Swiss rail station, and assuming that the SBB does not have a sales outlet at the Milan station, this is my suggestion: in Milan, purchase a ticket to Chiasso. This is a Swiss border station close to Milan, so that ticket will not be very expensive. In Chiasso, you should be able to collect the ticket you ordered. The train you planned to take stops in Chiasso as well, so you can continue your trip as planned from here. According to the timetable, your planned train departs from Chiasso at 9.52am. If you just board another train which arrives in Chiasso before that time, you can collect your ticket there. Please use the timetable for the exact times, and pay attention to the fact that Milan as multiple rail stations. The timetable will suggest trains departing from the central station, but from other stations as well. There seems to be a train departing from Milan central station at 7.30 am, arriving in Chiasso at 8.28 am. Later trains depart from Milano Porta Garibaldi (I think it's about 1 km from the central station).

Another option might be to cancel the ticket and purchase one in Milan, but I don't know if you can still cancel it.

I'm sure this will be solved. Enjoy your stay!

Thank you so much for replying back though I am not sure the solution will work. I reach Milan only at 8.15am (from Bologna), so no question of taking 7.30am train and the next one (in fact the only one) is at 8.20am reaching Chisso at 9.43 am...leaving too little time at both ends...at milan to buy a new ticket for Chiasso and at Chiasso to pick up my booked ticket...I am just going to keep my fingers crossed and see what happens!!

Hi, Were you able to collect the tickets on Milan station? Please let me know as I am planning to travel same route and need to collect tickets from Milan.

I have the same problem as well. However, i have an extra of 4 hours before my train leaves for Switzerland.
My Scenario:

Landed in Milan Airport 6.10am
Train to Bern (Switz) - 11.25am

Total Passenger : 4 person

I will need to collect the tickets from Chiasso. *I know i have the time and have checked on the schedule and able to return to n fro.
Question:
1. The next train to catch back has the duration of 25 minutes. Am i able to make it? *Train reaches CHiasso at 9.45am and leaves for Milan Centrale at 10.10am.

2. Do i need to go through the immigration when i enter Switzerland just to collect my tickets?

3. Do you think that my situation is feasible? (1 person travel to get the tickets just to save on the tickets)

4. What sort of ID that i need to present as the tickets i bought from SBB doesn't have any information besides the number of passenger and the Time.

Hope to get your reply!

Thank you.

Regards,
Cheryl Khoo (Malaysia)

Hello Cheryl,

So you already purchased tickets (or passes?) that need to be collected from a Swiss station only? The easier way is to just order them in advance, so you don't have to spend time on that locally. Your local reseller for Malaysia can be found here, but there are more options.

As for your questions:
1. I think that should be ok.

2. I'm not 100% sure of the situation in Chiasso, but usually customs will be handled on board of the train.

3. I don't fully understand but it looks rather complicated as you can arrange for the tickets in advance and just start traveling. It's not the normal way of purchasing tickets to have one person traveling back and forth to Chiasso just to get the tickets for the other travelers (again, I may not understand). But it's doable as you have time.

4. You can best ask the SBB directly.

Please feel free to provide more details and post further questions!

Thank u for your prompt reply!

I have already bought the tickets from Milano Centrale to Bern Switzerland. I used to travel using SBB and able to print out the tickets online. HOwever this inter-regional trains only allows me to pick it up or post it to my house. Postage is ridiculously expensive! THerefore, my options after reading your post in the previous forums, is to collect the tickets from Chiasso.

The tickets have already been paid and its not refundable because it is a super saver ticket, leaves the options to collect / post.

I am still waiting for the replies from the SBB site on whether can i get it posted even after i chose the options of the tickets to be collected.

Or else I am left with only choice of collecting the tickets in Chiasso or Purchase a new ticket again.

You're welcome Cheryl,

Ok, I understand the situation. I think a single ticket Milan - Chiasso is about EUR 14, so EUR 56 for the 4 of you. A return ticket for one person would be about EUR 28, so you would save EUR 56 - 28 = 28 by having one person traveling to Chiasso and back again. It's up to you to decide if that's worth the trouble. Perhaps shipping the tickets to your home address is equally expensive.

Enjoy your stay!