In a bid to improve rail punctuality in Switzerland, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) has forced a timetable change in neighbouring Italy. While EuroCity trains between Swiss cities and Italy will leave earlier and run slower, they should now run on time.

Swiss-Italian trains delayed more than half the time

According to the public transport provider, late EuroCity (EC) trains between Milan, Bern, Basel and Geneva have become quite a headache in recent months. Much like services jointly run by Deutsche Bahn, the SBB-Trentalia services often arrive in the alpine nation late, leading to knock-on delays and cancellations.

According to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, in the past few months, less than half of EC trains on the Milan to Basel route arrived “on time” - that is, a delay of less than three minutes. Therefore, at SBB’s request, the Italian rail timetable has been changed. “Swiss punctuality is not just a cliché,” the paper wrote.

EuroCity services between Milan and Basel slowed

From April 2, two-thirds of trains between Milan and Basel via Brig and Bern during the week, and three-quarters of services at the weekend, will leave Italy 13 to 15 minutes earlier, though will arrive at Swiss destinations at the same time. This means that travellers from Milan to Basel will now have to get even more comfy, with the service now taking nearly four and a half hours.

In the opposite direction, departure times will remain the same, but arrival in Milan will be pushed back by three minutes. Milan - Geneva trains will also be slowed as part of the new timetable, while trains between Milan and Zurich will be unaffected as they are already running slower thanks to the part closure of the Gotthard Base Tunnel.

It’s important to bear in mind that between June 9 and September 9 2024, all EC trains between Basel, Bern and Milan will begin and end at Domodossola rather than Milan due to construction work.

Slower trains between Switzerland and Italy could become the norm

Speaking to Watson, SBB spokesperson Sabrina Schellenberg said that the “stabilisation measures” were designed to make sure trains run more on time. The measures are expected to remain in place until at least the next SBB timetable change in December, though will be made permanent if they improve punctuality significantly.

This isn’t the first time that SBB has asked non-Swiss train companies to change their timetables. At the start of 2024, they confirmed that they were in discussions with Austrian and German transport providers regarding how to fix unsatisfactory delays - for example in 2023, the EC service from Munich to Zurich via St. Gallen was late three-quarters of the time.

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