While you’d be forgiven for losing your way when driving or trying to find the train station, you wouldn’t expect the train you take to get lost - considering the journey is quite literally on rails. However, according to new reports, one train on its way from Zurich to Chur suffered this very fate after finding itself on the wrong side of a lake.

Train from Zurich to Chur gets lost

According to a report from the Swiss Southeastern Railways (SOB), the story starts slightly before 10pm on November 26, when one of its rail services from Zurich began its journey towards the mountains and eventually to Chur, the capital of Graubünden. Unfortunately, problems started as soon as the train departed Pfäffikon, Schwyz.

Instead of continuing east towards Ziegelbrücke on the south side of the Obersee, the train careered to the left, travelling northwards along the causeway separating the lake and Lake Zurich before eventually arriving in Rapperswil. After continuing along the northern side of the Obersee towards Uznach, “The train attendant was then allowed (…) to announce with embarrassment that the train had lost its way,” a passenger told 20 Minuten.

Human error meant an empty service train went towards Chur

Later, SOB spokesperson Conradin Knabenhans confirmed to the newspaper that the train had indeed gotten lost as it tried to go to Chur. According to him, the train was formed of two parts, “The open unit was supposed to…run to Chur, the closed train unit was planned as a service train towards the Herisau service centre.”

Unfortunately, before the journey had even started, what Knabenhans described as “human error” meant that the two parts were switched, meaning that as the train meant for the depot made its merry way towards Chur, the train with actual passengers in it was going the wrong way. 

For their part, all passengers were told to get off the train at Uznach and take the S4 service to Sargans and then on to Chur - delays to passengers were around 40 minutes in the end. The SOB has apologised for the incident and the inconvenience caused.