Thanks to fodors, I just read about the landslide that has closed the main train line from Italy into Switzerland for at least a month. I just last week purchased tickets from Milano to Basel, and then separately from Basil to Luxembourg. I realize there will be buses or alternate trains so I could still travel from Milan to Basel, but they say to allow an extra 90 minutes. That would mean I would probably miss my train to Luxembourg.

I see on the trenitalia site that there is a train from Milano to Bern, and then I could connect to Basel from there. So my question - is the train from Milano to Bern on a different route than the one to Basel (which I think goes through Zurich which is the line that is closed)? It looks like it on a rail europe map but I' m not really sure. If that is the case would you, if you were me, fork out the extra approx 36 euro to book that train as well? Otherwise, it looks like if I miss the train I have already purchased from Basel to Lux, I'll have to spend even more money to take a later train, and if they are sold out then I'll be stuck in Basel (with no hotel res, while the hotel res in Lux will go to waste). Any suggestions?

Take a rail route from Milano to Brig and then proceed from there on to Basel. The route to Brig uses the Simplon tunnel as opposed to the St. Gotthard tunnel which is on the line affected by the landslide.

I'm not sure your train is affected although there might be some delays. I was under the impression it was the trains that went via Zurich. IIRC, you were taking the EC Milan/Basel at 11:25. It doesn't go through Zurich. Here are the stops for this train.

Arrival station Arrival time Departure time
Milano Centrale --:-- 11:25
Stresa 12:20 12:21
Domodossola 12:43 12:48
Brig 13:16 13:20
Visp 13:26 13:28
Spiez 13:53 13:54
Thun 14:03 14:04
Bern 14:23 14:34
Olten 15:00 15:05
Basel Sbb 15:29 --

The trains that go through Zurich have these stops:

Arrival station Arrival time Departure time
Milano Centrale --:-- 11:10
Como S. Giovanni 11:43 11:45
Chiasso 11:49 11:52
Lugano 12:10 12:12
Bellinzona 12:34 12:36
Arth-Goldau 14:09 14:13
Zug 14:27 14:29
Zuerich Hb 14:51 --:--

Your train should be using the Lötschberg Base Tunnel between Brig/Visp and Spiez. Only if you were booking Milan/Zurich/Basel would you be affected by the slide as it's a different tunnel.

kybourbon - Thank you again. I was hoping that was the case but on the train site that talked about the closure I was unable to tell - it did mention Basel but you must be right that the train I'm taking doesn't stop in Zurich. I tried to search by train number (mine is #50)on the trenitalia site too but couldn't find it. Where did you find that schedule? Thank you so much.

I hope your train doesn't go through there and I would call someone to be sure. We traveled Zurich-Milan yesterday and it was a nightmare. 9 trains, 2 buses and a taxi. Granted we went further than Milan, but it took us 18 hours instead of the projected 8. Repeat - don't go on that line!

Trenitalia's updating of their summer schedules have messed up the ability to see stops. If your cities are auto-filling, you won't find a link to get stops. Use this Trenitalia link.
http://www.fsitaliane.it/homepage_en.html

Enter your cities (if they auto-fill you won't get to the screen you need)and date. Select your train. Instead of clicking continue, click details by selection. Scroll down and click info. You will then get the list of stops.

I would still anticipate a bit of delay on trains that are not on the affected route. They imply some trains on the affected route will be rerouted so that means more trains than usual using the Lötschberg tunnel. Since you are taking the early train, I think you have a good chance of being on schedule.

Thanks that worked. It goes through Brig and Bern so I guess I can reasonably hope if there are delays they won't be that bad and I'll still make the connection. Thanks again for all your help.

skedaddle - wow that sounds like a real nightmare. I hope the rest of your trip is OK.

The Milano-Bern train goes first through the Simplon, then arrives in Brig, continues through the Lötschberg Base tunnel to arrive in Spiez and Bern. From Bern, you then go to Basel.
The affected line is the Gotthard line, which is more east.

Isabel,

this is no problem at all. You will drive over Domodossola, Brig, Spiez, Bern, Basel. You don't have to change between Milano and Basel (traveling the major tunnels: The Simplon tunnel between Domodossola and Brig, 20km) and the quite new (2007) Lötschberg Basis tunnel: between Brig and Spiez, 34.6km). You don't even have to consider to have some extra spare time in Basel, your connection will be seamless. And I am quite sure you don't have to spend more money (or even to change your ticket), since the Swiss railway ask you to use this route instead, because of the rockfall on the as well as senic Gotthard route. But probably you have to check out first, if you have to change your ticket, especially, if you have a seat reservation.

And for any connection information use the timetable of the Swiss railway (SBB CFF FFS): http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html.
You can even find most appropriate any information on it by using Milano as the starting point and Luxembourg as the destination, though indicate that the travel has to go via Basel (instead of Paris).

Click on the plus sign (+) on the left to see further details.

If you click on the map icon (below your preferred journey), you can even see where the travel goes along. Or if you click on the train icon ("travel with") you can check out the exact time of every stop (at least true for Switzerland ).

And I just read in the newspaper that the delay between Tessin (southern Switzerland) and Zurich will only be about 30 minutes, as long as you do not travel druing travel rush hours (a lot of passengers). And please be aware of, if you want to travel nevertheless between Bellinzona and Zurich, you can't take a bike with you, because you will have to change into (too narrow and filled up) buses inbetween (between Goeschenen (just after the 15km long Gotthard tunnel) and Fluelen).

Last but not least: I am - of course - somehow disappointed that you don't even to consider to make a stop in Switzerland

Cheers

Thanks for all that info. I am being cautiously optimistic that my train will be OK

I have been to Switzerland and loved it. I will certainly return but this trip I will only have time to see it from the train. I was hoping to have an hour or so walk between trains in Basel.