IC (LD/Twindexx) (Switzerland)

ShowMeTheJourney has anticipated what questions are most often asked about travelling on these Swiss IC trains.

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These trains have a theoretical top speed of 200 km/h (125 mph), and these trains can achieve this speed;

• through the Gotthard Base Tunnel
• on the higher speed line between Olten and Bern
  Most of the routes that they follow have a top speed of 160 km/h (100 mph),

No they are not, you have to proactively add a reservation when booking tickets and doing so incurs an additional cost.
At business hours, particularly in 2nd class, it is not unknown for the number passengers to exceed the quantity of seats.
Though when looking up a journey on the SBB website, it will show by an occupancy indicator, how likely it will be that a specific departure will be busy.
So if 'high demand' is indicated, and you want to be sure of having a seat(s), adding a reservation to a booking is the way to go.

When booking a reservation, the only booking options are:

• a seat(s) in the restaurant car;
• a seat(s) on the gangway / aisle
• the family compartment
• no preference.

There a relatively few family compartments on these trains, so if you would want to make use of one during a journey, making this reservation is highly recommended.

Note that it isn't possible to select :

• seats on the lower or upper deck (when available)
• forward facing seats
• seats adjacent to luggage racks

No they are not mandatory, but are an option (though I have taken more than 20 journeys by Swiss IC trains when travelling with 1st class rail passes, without making reservations and never had a problem with finding available seats).

These trains all have a restaurant car which is located on the upper deck - and is available on most departures from 6.30am to 9pm to both 1st and 2nd class ticket holders.

The menu is reasonably priced by Swiss standards, so at meat times the service can be popular - hence reserving seats in the restaurant pre-boarding can be a good idea.

If all seats are taken in the restaurant, or if you would prefer to travel in seats outside the restaurant car, most of the items are available as a takeaway service - so in effect the restaurant doubles up as bar-bistro service.

SBB does not offer an at-seat catering service in any part of these IC trains.
(Note that when travelling on the Zurich ↔ Bellinzona - Lugano route, an at seat service is available when travelling in 1st class on the alternative EC trains).

SBB does not offer a web portal for online connectivity, instead it offers boosted connectivity to local Wifi networks that the train will pass through.

Yes - the Power Sockets on these trains are compatible with Swiss-style two-point plugs.

Only for travel in First Class.

Yes - the SBB guide to reduced mobility travel.

Yes, but when travelling on Friday to Sunday and on summer holiday Mondays. from March 21st to October 31st, spaces must be reserved pre-boarding.

Yes - Small dogs with a height of up to 30cm can travel as hand luggage if they are placed in pet carrier, but if a dog is not in a carrier it requires either a ticket or a dog pass - whatever is cheaper.

These are the brand new double-deck trains which the Swiss national rail operator, SBB has begun to introduce on its IC (InterCity) routes/services.

SBB refers to these trains as 'LD trains' and more info about these trains is available on the SBB website.
Though these trains seem to more commonly referred to as 'Twindexx' trains.

ShowMeTheJourney has produced a specific guide to travelling by these LD (Twindexx) trains because they represent a step forward from the other SBB IC trains.

According to the SBB website these Twindexx trains are now operating on these routes

IC 1: St Gallen - Winterthur - Zurich Flughafen - Zurich HB - Bern - Fribourg - Lausanne - Geneve - Geneve Aeroport (now virtually all departures)

IC 3: Basel - Zurich HB - Landquart - Chur (most departures)

IC 21: Basel - Luzern - Bellinzona - Lugano (a few departures)

These trains, without the restaurant cars being available for use, are also be used on this route on which the trains are designated IR
Luzern - Zug - Zurich - Zurich Flughfaen - St Gallen - St Margrethen - Buchs - Landquart - Chur
The same on board experience is available when used for IC services, except for the lack of catering.

In comparison to the older decked Swiss IC trains, these new LD (Twindexx) trains have:

(1) Electronic info screens on board, which give details of the route and list the details of the connecting departures available at the next station, which the train will be calling at.

(2) Power sockets available in 2nd class, as well as 1st class

(3) More wheelchair accessible compartments and toilets

(4) Toilets which have baby changing facilities

(5) A dedicated family car with a play area for young children

(6) More space for prams/pushchairs/strollers

(7) More bike racks

All the routes taken by these trains have scenic highlights, so an obvious advantage of being on the upper deck are the better opportunities to make the most of the views.

However, there are less obvious advantages of heading to the upper deck:

• it is easier to move through the train at the upper deck to seek out spare seats
• the restaurant is at the upper level.

The lower deck can feel more spacious as there’s more headroom - and if you have heavy luggage it obviously saves you the effort of heaving it upstairs.
There are luggage racks in the lower and upper deck seating saloons.

The toilets are also located on both decks.

Swiss national rail operator SBB does not provide wi-fi on its trains in the conventional sense - meaning that passengers can't log on to a SBB portal for wi-fi.

Instead SBB has equipped its IC trains with signal amplifiers to enable enhanced connectivity with local mobile networks.

The coaches/cars equipped with this equipment have symbols by the doors - and SBB suggests that passengers who wish to access wi-fi during a journey, should travel in these coaches in order to access these 'hotspots'.

The restaurant car can be popular at meal times, as prices aren't exponentially more expensive compared to standard restaurants.
If you want to have a meal head direct to the restaurant car when boarding and spend the first part of your journey in the car.
Though something to watch out for is that two Twindexx trains can be joined together on many departures and when that is the case, the restaurant can only be available in one part of the train and not the other.
So use the info on the departure screens on the platforms (gleis/voies) which will tell you in which part of the train the restaurant car will be located.

The departure information on the platform (gleis/voie/binaro) at a Swiss station will indicate in which 'Sektor' (zone) the 1st class, 2nd class and restaurant coaches/cars will occupy when the train arrives.
Swiss stations don't have a system which will tell you, in which specific 'Sektor' (zone) you should wait, if you have a reservation in a specific coach/car.

Don’t be surprised if the 'Sektor' (zone) you need is some distance from your entrance point to the gleis/platform/track.

If you haven't reserved, a tip is to head for the respective zones/sektors furthest away from the entrance to the gleis/platform/track.
Fewer people will have headed to the far ends of the train, so you should increase your chances of finding a seat - particularly if there is an option to board towards the front of the train.
Walk through the train if need be.

Few seats are generally reserved on IC trains so finding seats shouldn’t be a problem outside business hours.