SBB Timetable change

The SBB have presented the first key elements of the timetable for the coming year. The timetable will be worse for Central Switzerland.

Central Switzerland and its airport train - it doesn't seem  to be a love affair. In 2018, the SBB annoyed its customers in the heart of Switzerland when it made changes to this connection and, for two years, travellers had to put up with significantly longer travel times to the airport. Although the service now consists of two trains per hour, there will be another cutback as early as next year. This time, the connections will be cut completely, as the SBB announced last Friday.

For one year, there will be no direct connection from Central Switzerland to the country's largest airport. The reason is construction work at Wipkingen station and on the Wipkingen viaduct. This section of the line will be completely closed, which will also interrupt the S24, which runs from Zug to Thayngen/Weinfelden.

Pro Bahn: "Deterioration is unacceptable"
Martin Stuber, president of the Pro Bahn Zentralschweiz customer organisation, finds clear words: "The deterioration of the offer on the main Lucerne-Zug-Zurich artery, with the consequent breaking of the through connections to Zurich airport, is unacceptable."

The Zug resident recalled that SBB had made great efforts to minimise the impact on passengers during the one-and-a-half-year closure on the eastern shore of Lake Zug. "In the view of Pro Bahn Zentralschweiz, at least the same effort is needed for Lucerne and the regions served by Lucerne station." This is a challenge for the governments of Central Switzerland, as well as stakeholders from business and tourism.

Lucerne Tourism is also not happy about the cancelled direct connections to the airport. Spokeswoman Sibylle Gerardi writes: "Many of our international guests appreciate the comfortable connection without having to change trains in Zurich HB. In addition, we generally want to promote sustainable rail travel to Lucerne."

SBB: Travel time will not increase
The SBB emphasise that the journey time will not be longer, despite the change of trains. They had examined different variants for the connection. "The separation of the line has proven to be the best variant, because the other variants would affect more customers or are not operationally feasible," writes the media office.

Commuters at Lucerne railway station                    Photo: Boris Bürgisser
The international train (ETR 610) in special livery, including the Lucerne Tourism logo, at Lucerne station                   Photo: Philipp Schmidli

The Lucerne Transport Association (VVL Verkehrsverbund Luzern) regrets the temporary loss of the direct connections, but understands the situation. Six months ago, they asked the SBB to look for alternative solutions for Lucerne. "So far, according to the comprehensible explanations of the SBB, no other solutions could be found that would be proportionate," writes VVL spokeswoman Luzia Frei.

It's thereby important that travel times should not increase, and the SBB plans to offer the direct connections again after the construction work in Wipkingen has been completed.

Second disappointment for Lucerne: direct train to Milan cancelled
There is also a disappointment for Central Switzerland regarding another major route: on Friday, the SBB announced the introduction of half-hourly service through the Gotthard base tunnel to Ticino (and back). But this extension only affects the Zurich-Zug-Lugano line: there is still only a fast direct connection from Lucerne to Ticino every two hours.

And: The tri-national Frankfurt-Lucerne-Milan train launched in 2018 will no longer run via Lucerne, but via Zurich. Passengers from Lucerne will thereby lose their only daily direct connection from Germany (Frankfurt) and one of two daily connections to Milan. The new connection was only launched in December 2017, with much pomp. The train left Lucerne at 12:18 each day and arrived in Milan at 15:50. The remaining train will now leave four hours later.

Martin Stuber of Pro Bahn Zentralschweiz finds it "particularly shocking" that the frequency from Zurich to Ticino is being expanded while Lucerne is losing a connection to Milan. "This is completely at odds with the landscape.” One could get the impression that Lucerne is not a high priority for the SBB.

The SBB says that the reason why the international train will now run via Zurich is due to construction work abroad. According to current planning, this train won’t run via Lucerne again until the 2027 timetable at the earliest, according to the media office. Another innovation has also been announced: "A further expansion of international connections - especially for Lucerne to Germany - is also planned for this date."