Changes on the Swiss Rail Timetables into 2026

Thanks to the completion of some rail network upgrade works the Swiss national rail operator, SBB, has expanded its services on the new timetable which will be in place until the second Sunday of 2026.

However, most of the additional departures, which have enabled SBB to proclaim its biggest service expansion in 20 years, are on local routes.
Though some longer-distance routes within Switzerland popular with tourists have been revived and expanded, but more significant are the new improved services on multiple international rail routes from and to Switzerland!

These are the routes taken by IC express trains which have been enhanced on the new timetable.
Not all station calls have been included in the route summaries.

An hourly IC service has been restored to the Basel - Délemont - Moutier - Solothurn - Biel/Bienne - Neuchatel - Yverdon-les-Bains - Renens VD - Lausanne route.
This provides a direct train service between Basel and Lake Geneva; transforming its access to/from Germany thanks to connections in and out of ICE trains at Basel SBB station.
Plus journeys between Basel and destinations along the The Simplon Railway including Montreux, Martigny and Sion nowonly require one connection in Lausanne.

The hourly InterRegio (IR) service between Basel and Biel/Bienne has beedn retained.
It connects in Biel/Bienne to and to from the IC trains on the Rorschach - St Gallen - Zurich Airport - Zurich main station - Olten - Solothurn - Biel/Bienne - Neuchatel - Yverdon-les-Bains - Renens VD - Lausanne route.
As a result there is now a twice per hour service on the Basel ↔ Lausanne route, with one direct train and one option with a very straightforward connection in Biel/Bienne.

Amended Routes

However, between Biel/Bienne and Lausanne the new service to/from Basel has replaced what was currently a second IC train on the St Gallen ↔ Lausanne route via Zurich and Biel/Bienne.
The retained service on that Rorschach - St Gallen↔ Lausanne route tales the higher speed route between Olten and Solothurn.
Hence a new IR service travels hourly on a Zurich ↔ Biel/Bienne route picking up the calls of the removed IC train, plus it has enabled Biel/Bienne to retain its twice an hour service to/from Zurich.

Every other hour a new additional IC train tales a Zurich ↔ St Gallen route, to lessen the impact of the withdrawn service when travelling between St Gallen and Zurich.

To and From Geneve / Geneva

What hasn't been restored to the schedules is the main change which occurred on last year's timetable, which was the removal of the IC trains which took a Zurich main station - Olten - Solothurn - Biel/Bienne - Neuchatel - Yverdon-les-Bains - Geneve route.
Aside from one IR train per day on a Neuchatel - Yverdon-les-Bains ↔ Geneve route, connections to/from Geneve will still be required at Renens VD station. when traveling between Geneve and multiple locations including Neuchatel, Biel/Bienne and Olten.

The service of express trains on the Zurich - Sargans - Buchs - Chur route has been increased to 2 x trains per hour throughout the day, more of which will be ICE trains which will be travelling to/from Germany.
Though the pattern of which of these express trains will have their journeys extended to travel between Basel and Chur remains irregular - In some hours there will be two Basel ↔ Chur trains, but none in other hours.

The number of weekend only IC trains which take a Geneve Aeroport - Geneve - Bern - Zurich - Landquart - Chur route has been more than doubled to 5 x trains per day in each direction.

Some of the IC trains on the Zurich - Zug - Bellinzona - Lugano route have had their journeys extended to and from Chiasso, so that when combined with the EC trains which travel between Zurich and Italy, this provides an hourly service between Zurich and Chiasso.

Connections are available in Chiasso into local trains to/from Como, Monza and Varese.

Travelling to and from Switzerland by will be easier than ever before when the new timetables are fully available.
There are already additional trains between Swiss locations and Milan, plus new direct links to multiple locations in neighboring countries including Cologne/Koln and Florence and Malmo in Sweden!

Later in the year there will come new or enhanced links by train between Swiss destinations and La Spezia, Lyon, Marseille and Malmo in Sweden.

Yet more improvements have been made to the rail service which links Zurich with Milano - and beyond to/from other destinations in Italy, as there are now 11 x trains per day travelling between Zurich and Milano Centrale.

The train on the Zurich ↔ Bologna route has had its journey extended to/from Firenze / Florence and it's departure time from Zurich HB station has been altered from 06:33 to 14:33.
Heading south the train will arrive into Firenze S.M.Novella station at 21:30 / 9:30pm - in time for connections on to Pisa and Rome.
Heading north the departure from Florence / Firenze will be shortly after 07:45am and the arrival into Zurich HB station will typically before 15:30 / 3;30pm - with conveniently timed connections on to Koln / Cologne and Stuttgart.

The train on the Zurich ↔ Genova route is to become a summer only service, but in 2026 its journey will be further extended beyond Genova to/from La Spezia, with calls in Sestri Levante and Pisa.

A direct overnight train service between Switzerland and Denmark is returning to the timetable twelve years after the prior service was cancelled back in 2014.
Plus the new route which commences on April 15th 2026 will also link Switzerland and Sweden by direct train!

The plan is for the EuroNight train, which will convey sleeper cabins, couchette compartments and seats, to take this route:
Basel-SBB - Hamburg Hbf, - Padborg ↔ Kolding - Odense - Hoeje Taastrup for central Copenhagen - Copenhagen Airport ↔ Malmo.
A bistro / bar car will be available between Basel and Padborg.

The train will depart Basel on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 17:35 / 5:35pm, with conveniently timed connections from Chur, Lugano, Interlaken, Lausanne and Zurich.
A train from Milano will typically be due into Basel a little over two hours before the train on to Malmo will depart.
The arrival time in Malmo C station is scheduled to be at 09:35am - with convenient connections on to Göteborg / Gothenburg and Stockholm by express Snabbtåg trains.

Heading south the train will depart Malmo at 18:57 / 6:57pm on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, with convenient connections out of Snabbtåg trains from Göteborg and Stockholm.
The planned arrival time in Basel-SBB station is 11:30am, with conveniently timed connections on to Brig, Chur, Lugano, Interlaken, Lausanne and Zurich.

Calling at København H, the main station in the Danish capital, would require a reversal, hence the train will take a route which avoids it.
The train will call at Hoeje Taastrup station as it offers an easy transfer into very frequent, local S-Tog trains which call at stations closer to the city centre than København H, as well as at the main station.
Plus the Copenhagen Metro links the station at Copenhagen Airport / Lufthavnen with other locations in central Copenhagen including Kongens Nytorv, the closest station to the popular Nyhavn area.

New trains are now being used on the Zurich - Basel ↔ Amsterdam / Hamburg overnight routes.

The Lausanne - Geneve ↔ Lyon - Avignon - Marseille service by TGV Lyria train is to be expanded.
It will return as a daily service in July and August, but what's new is that in April, May, June, September and October it will also be available on Thursday to Monday.

Due to works on the line between Geneve and Lausanne, on the new timetable none of the Lyria services on the Paris ↔ Geneve route will have their journeys extended to and from Lausanne.
The trains on the Paris ↔ Lausanne route via Vallorbe are unaffected.

The German national rail operator, DB, has also made sweeping changes to the ICE routes between Germany and Switzerland which have been summarised on this travel guide.
The most significant changes are:

• Koln / Cologne will have direct ICE trains to and from Zurich and Chur
• Berlin will have direct ICE trains to and from, Brig, Visp and Zurich
• Brig and Visp will have a direct ICE train from Hamburg and Koln / Cologne
• Interlaken will have a direct ICE train to Koln / Cologne.

Not all of the significant maintenance and enhancement projects which will be occurring in 2026 have been confirmed, but what's already known is that that three of the key international routes taken by trains from and to Switzerland will be impacted at various times during the year:
More info is available on this travel planning guide.

Though on the day after work on the route taken by the EC trains between Switzerland and Italy via Brig and Domodossola is due to be completed, work on the route via Lugano and Como is scheduled to begin!

From June 14th to October 14th the route between Buchs and Feldkirch is being enhanced to enable a single line to be double tracked.

The services which typically use it are:

(1) Zurich - Buchs ↔ Feldkirch - Innsbruck - Salzburg - Linz - Vienna services by Railjet trains
Some of these trains will be cancelled and the remaining trains won't be extended to travel beyond Vienna to and from Bratislava and Budapest.

(2) The Zurich - Buchs ↔ Feldkirch - Innsbruck - Zell am See - Seltzhal - Graz service will only be operating between Innsbruck and Graz.

(3) The night trains between Zurich and both Vienna and Budapest will be diverted.

This route is to be unavailable from May 30th to July 27th.

The trains which use it include the EC services on these two routes:

(1) Basel - Bern - Thun - Spiez - Visp - Brig ↔ Domodossola - Stresa - Milan
(2) Geneva - Lausanne - Sion - Brig ↔ Domodossola - Stresa - Milan

From July 27 to August to September 3rd 2026 the regional Tilo train service on the hourly Locano - Lugano - Chiasso ↔ Como - Milano route will be having to turn around in Como so won't be serving Milano.

From August 24h to September 3rd 2026 the route between Como and Milano will be completely closed, so the EC trains on the routes between both Zurich and Luzern and Milano will also be unable to arrive at and depart from Milano.