IC/ICN (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), but despite being tilting train, the routes which they take have a maximum 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 an occupancy indicator, so you can see 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 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 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.

There are no luggage rules for travel by these trains, though an option for transporting larger items of luggage between Swiss locations, is to use the Station-To-Station luggage service.

Yes - the SBB guide to reduced mobility travel.

Yes, but from March 21st to October 31st, spaces must be reserved pre-boarding when travelling on these routes on any day of the week:

• St Gallen - Winterthur - Zurich Flughafen - Zurich HB - Olten - Biel/Bienne - Neuchatel - Geneve
• Zurich HB - Olten - Biel/Bienne - Neuchatel - Lausanne.

On all other IC routes bike reservations are required from Friday to Sunday - and on summer holiday Mondays.

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,

Swiss national rail operator SBB used to designate which services are operated by these sleek ICN express trains with spacious interiors, on its timetable.

But now these ICN trains have joined the family of IC trains on which seats don't have to be reserved; which designate an express train within Switzerland.

But they have some qualities that they don't share with other SBB (Swiss) IC trains, hence we have aspired to still make a distinction.

The primary distinguishing feature of these ICN trains is that they tilt when there are bends in the track (they are similar to Pendolino trains).
So they are used on express services, which don't use the full length of Switzerland's fastest railway line between Bern and Olten.

They operate on these five routes:

(1) Zurich – Olten – Biel – Neuchtael – Geneve (all departures)

(2) St Gallen – Zurich - Olten – Biel – Neuchtael – Lausanne (all departures)

(3) Basel – Delemont – Moutier – Biel (all departures)
(connect at Biel for Geneve/Lausanne)

(4) Basel – Olten – Luzern – Arth-Goldau – Bellinzona - Lugano (a few departures)

(5) Zurich –Zug – Arth-Goldau – Bellinzona - Lugano (some departures)

These ICN trains are comparatively comfortable, but a refurbishment of the interior seems overdue on some of these trains - fixtures and fittings can be a tad worn.

In common with most other Swiss trains the power sockets only accept Swiss 3-pin plugs.
The power sockets in 1st class can be hard to spot as they're above the seats, in the base of the overhead luggage racks.

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 some of the coaches on these 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'.

All 2nd class seats are in open plan saloons, but some 1st class seats are in open plan saloons, while others are in compartments.

Seat reservations are optional on Swiss IC trains and if you're going to be travelling in 2nd class for more than an hour, during business hours, reservations can give peace of mind.
Though on the overwhelming majority of journeys reservations won't be necessary, you can be fairly certain that in 1st class seats will be available on any departure.

You can book reservations online, AFTER you have booked a ticket, by using the SBB (Swiss national railways) seat reservation service - OR request a reservation when booking at a station ticket office.

If you have reserved then check the coach number in which your seat is located and wait in the appropriate zone on the gleis/platform/track.

Don’t be surprised if the zone you need is some distance from your entrance point to the gleis/platform/track, ICN trains can comprise 14 coaches.

ICN trains are seven coaches long, but two trains are often joined together to form a long 14 coach train.

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.

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

When two ICN trains are joined together the service will convey two restaurant cars.

The restaurant cars are 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 your journey in the car.
Though on many departures the full restaurant menu is now available as an at seat service in 1st class - but only in certain coaches.

All of these trains used for ICN services are fitted with bike storage spaces, which are indicated on the outsides of the train
Though as these trains can be up to 14coaches long, so being at the station early to work out where to wait for easy boarding is recommended.

On the SBB trains a day bike pass costs CH 14 and they can be booked online here. The only other bike ticket available is a short-distance single journey ticket, which costs half the Adult fare.