SBB

SBB has announced that the number of Zurich - St Gallen - Munich services will be doubled to six trains per direction, per day, with journey times have been reduced by 45 minutes to around four hours following the introduction of SBB’s new fleet of Astoro tilting trains.

The IC5 service between Zürich and St Gallen will also offer a reduced journey times of 59 minutes following the introduction of the new timetable. The IC3 service between Zürich and Chur will also be extended to operate one hour later in the evenings and be reduced to a continuous half-hourly service.

The Lucerne - Zug - Zürich IR70 service will have a reduced journey time of 41 minutes, with no stop at Thalwil, offering a 20-minute journey time via Zürich Airport and St. Gallen, to Chur. This service, alongside the Lucerne - Zug - Zürich - Weinfelden - Constance IR75 service, offer a direct connection between Lucerne and Zürich Airport twice hourly.

SBB will also open the Ceneri Base Tunnel for full service on December 13, which will reduce journey times between Zürich and Lugano to less than two hours, and between Zürich and Milan to 3h 17min. 

The Zürich - Milan service will also be expanded to 10 direct trains per day, and a new service between Zurich, Bologna and Genoa will be introduced.

Following the opening of the Eppenberg tunnel, SBB will offer a new, direct connection between Zofingen and Aarau.

All RegioExpress Olten - Wettingen services will now stop at Wildegg, and all S11 Aarau - Zürich Central, Winterthur - Seuzach/Wila services now stop in Othmarsingen. The S11 service will also now run every half hour during peak hours to and from Aarau.

In addition, the S26 Olten - Schönenwerd service will now connect with the Zürich - Aarau RegioExpress in Aarau, rather than Lenzburg. 

Following the completion of construction work on the east bank of Lake Zug, direct trains between Zug and Arth-Goldau will be restored, cutting end-to-end journey times by around 20 minutes.

SBB will also restore all daytime passenger services which had previously been cancelled this year due to a shortage of drivers. However, night trains will remain suspended for the foreseeable future.

SOB

The Swiss South Eastern Railway (SOB) will launch a service to Locarno from Zurich and Basle, via the Gotthard Base Tunnel, from the introduction of the new timetable. The service will arrive in Locarno on an hourly basis, and will be operated using its Stadler Traverso fleet, and will offer 359 seats per journey, including 68 first class seats. SOB says that it will also introduce an additional service between Bern and Chur from the 2021/2022 timetable.

SJ

SJ has also announced that it will operate a new direct service between Kristinehamn and Gothenburg from December 13.

In addition, all ticket types from the Västtrafik and Värmlandstrafiken regional traffic operators will be valid on SJ’s Gothenburg - Karlstad service, enabling passengers to travel on all services within the region where the ticket was purchased.

SJ will also introduce a new timetable for its Umeå - Stockholm/Gothenburg night train services. Under the new timetable, overnight trains from Umeå will depart at 19.40, reaching Gothenburg at 08.50, around 1h 35min earlier than under the current timetable. On weekends, the service will reach Gothenburg at 08.10, compared with 09.35 at present.

The Umeå - Stockholm service will depart at the same time, and will reach the capital at 05.15, with the opportunity to stay on the train.

The Umeå - Gothenburg and Umeå – Stockholm overnight services will operate as one train until reaching Sundsvall around midnight, where it will divide.

SNCF

French National Railways has confirmed that it will restore all TGV inOui, Ouigo, Intercity, and scheduled international trains to their normal schedules from December 15 and throughout the holiday season.

In accordance with government announcements, travellers with a reservation for a long-distance train running after 20.00 will be able to travel and do not need to change their trip. All TGV InOui, Ouigo and Intercity tickets are exchangeable and refundable free of charge until January 4. Wearing a mask is still compulsory in stations and on trains.