It looks to me when viewing the Swiss site that all the trains leaving Milan are CIS; but with some changing to IC in Brig or Bern.
The journey takes longer than the CIS train which goes all the way through. I want to keep to one change if possible.

I do not think the Cisalpino trains IME are cattle cars at all but modern trains and if you can not have to change that's all the better. Cisalpino trains are run by the Italian railways and Swiss railways as a subsidiary i believe.

I can't get Trenitalia to show prices for ICE or Swiss IC trains. On the Swiss website, all the options are either a combo of IC+CIS or ICE+CIS or IC+IR trains and involve changes. The cheapest I see involves two train changes, 2nd class is 62€ (1st is 98&euro and the trip takes two hours longer. I would much rather try to book the CIS 1st cl for the 19€ Smart fare and avoid the train changes. The Swiss website says half the CIS trains were to be replaced Dec 2008 and the rest mid-2009.

Phillbill - Trenitalia is difficult to use so there is no guarantee your purchase will actually go through. If it doesn't, I would contact my hotel and ask them to get tickets, making sure of times, train number, dates (Europe formats their dates differently)and that you want the 19€ Smart fare price. A 1st cl CIS ticket should entitle you to use the Club Eurostar lounge at Milan Centrale while waiting for the train to arrive.

This thread has gotten off the rails a bit... If you want to know about Cisalpino, look at the company website www.cisalpino.ch where it says (SBB meaning Schweizerische Bundesbahnen - Swiss Federal Railways):

"Cisalpino AG is a jointly-owned subsidiary of Trenitalia SpA and der SBB AG. Both companies hold an equal share in Cisalpino AG."
"Cisalpino operates all international services between Italy and Switzerland"
"The company’s main office is in Berne. Other offices are located in Zurich, Visp and Milan." [end of quote]

For the network info and network map go to
http://cisalpino.com/go/Destinations

As I have reported elsewhere, all is not well with the Cisalpino trains and the partnership. The Swiss are unhappy with the Italians in the company's maintenance works which are in Milano, the trains are breaking down too often, then Swiss rolling stock has to be substituted, and the Swiss are moving to bring the maintenance to Zürich because they think they could do a better job. But this is not going to happen anytime soon, there are contracts and unions to consider...

This summer new Cisalpino rolling stock will come into use, fast enough to come close to the newly approved speed limits (I think 250 km/h or so) in the new base tunnel through the Lötschberg.

But all that doesn't affect pricing - you pay for the fast train from Milan to Basel, and if it is rolling stock of the "Cisalpino" model XYZ or some other rolling stock that carries you - you have no control and there is no price difference. Remember the phrase from the website: ""Cisalpino operates all international services between Italy and Switzerland" - so you don't pick and choose.

"Off the rails" is just too funny yet so appropos!!

I intend to try to book via the website when the dates become available, but I have been told US credit cards may not be accepted on line. The concierge idea is a great one and should the web site not work I will go that route. Hadn't thought of that.

BTW Byron who specializes in train travel called back and was very accommodating.
Thanks again so much!

Dolly - When i've pointed out in the past that the Cisalpino group operates all trains between Italy and Switzerland, even quoting the Cisalpino language like you i was met with several critics who pointed out that that was simply not true.

So even the fancy new IC Swiss trains are Cisalpino trains. Hopefully the new Cisalpino labeled rolling stock will bring the comfort level up to the new Swiss IC trains.

Cheers - Polly

Phillbill - It might be possible to purchase or get the discount through the Swiss railsite if Trenitalia doesn't work. I tried to enter the info to see about prices and whether Smart fares were on their site, but it said they would e-mail with fares. It wouldn't hurt to e-mail and find out. Maybe they let your purchase further in advance.

Pal, don't be so definitive. The new IC trains are not yet serving Italy, so they would NOT be Cisalpino trains. From what I was told, they are serving routes within Switzerland, such as the train I took from Basel to Interlaken.
They may be added to Cisalpino line, but not yet.
At any rate, the CIS train I saw this week-end looked very shabby and not up to the standards I would expect in Switzerland itself, esp in first class on a "major" route.

Cisalpino: the most hated train in Switzerland.

Why?

They rock back and forth and many people get motion sickness. Having said that, I have had no problem at all.

They have smaller windows than other trains.

They are continuously late. Seriously. Worse than ever. Last time I waited 15 min. for the darn thing. A 15 min. wait is a big deal in Switzerland.

Switzerland's government is considering pulling the Italian maintenance contract and doing the maintenance on their own.

They are testing new Cisalpino trains but they have run into problems. Don't expect them for awhile.

Passerine - thanks for the info. I was thinking the new CIS trains may be as nice as the IC in Swiss trains - apparently the current stable of CIS trains is not up to par - i'll take your word for that.

Swiss vs Italians a long running story

everything in Switzerland is so so clean and well kept - not just the trains but everything

quite the opposite in Italy.

When you cross from Swiss areas to Italian areas you notice the woodpiles in Alpine areas - all evenly stacked on the Swiss side - haphazard on the Italian side. Ditto for France - even the French Swiss part has woodpiles not so evenly as the German parts - i remember on the Golden Pass line noticing that - around Chateau d'Oex not so even - toward Spiez all very even.

Well, Byron told me that the rules have changed and you can now book 90 days out.
So, on to the web site of Trenitalia. It would not let me book the Smart fare so I retried with the Standard and sure enough I could book that.
However, the 75 Euros 2nd class is a lot more than either of the Smart fares, so I wondered if anyone (esp. kybourbon or Dalai) had any further ideas?? The Swiss site has no deals that I could find.
Everything is coming together thanks to all of you.

TTT..this new format is a little strange!

Just reporting back...eventually could book a second class Smart fare but after payment with Visa would not go through.
Got an email from Trenitalia asking for proof of ID and said they would get back to me within 48 hours..still waiting.
Has anyone experienced this???