Rookie

Swiss has changed their scheduled flight times for our arrival in mid-May. We now will have just over 2 hours to deplane, clear customs, validate our railpass, get from the airport to HB, find and board our train. Will it work?

Cicerone

I live in Switzerland and my experience is that 2 hours ins more than enough, assuming your flight is not late, or not more than 1 hour late. Clearing immigrations and customs is usually very quick, and baggage is quick too. There are free luggage trolleys in the baggage arrival area. The train station is located below the arrivals hall, you can take the luggage trolleys right onto the escalator. Validating your pass takes about 1 minute, go to the ticket booths and ask an attendant to validate it. Then look at the monitor for your train track and take one more escalator down to your track. There are frequent trains to the HB, and the journey takes about 11 minutes. Don’t' know what train you are trying to make to Rome, but according to the Swiss Rail website (SBB.ch) there are trains to Rome about every hour from the HB, so I don't see any problem in making any train to Rome.

swandav2000

Hello Rookie,

I'm lucky enough to pass through the Zurich airport/train station fairly frequently, and I usually make it from the airplane to the train platform in about 30 minutes. And that includes stopping at the grocery store in the airport's train station.

Really, no problems.

s

Rookie

To Cicerone - Your knowledge is very helpful. I used Bahn to research train schedules, and am trying to minimize changes enroute. Also, most trains appear to require reservations. This is our first visit to Switzerland and Italy an our first experience with a railpass. Any other advice and/or suggestions is most welcome.

To Swandav2000 - Thanks for mentioning the grocery - that my come in handy.

mj

Rookie,
I too am amazed at how quickly you can get from the plane to the airport train station. With 2 hours to connect, you'll be at the HB with time to spare.
hth,

swandav2000

Hello Again Rookie,

As you research your possible train connections, be sure to enter "Zurich airport" as the origin point. You may not have to change at HBH at all -- don't know for sure.

Or have you already done this? Sorry if it's redundant.

s

Rookie

Hi Swandav2000 - Yes, I've tried it both ways and it appears we'll have to change at HBH. However, I did check out SBB site and was happy to note they post platform numbers for dep/arr. If platform postings are reliable it will help if we're running short on time. Thanks so much for your help.

Cicerone

The reservations concept for the trains is a bit strange to me. I have often made a reservation and then found the train to be basically empty! I had thought the reservation was necessary to hold a seat on an otherwise full train, but I don't think that is the case. In any event, I have often had a reservation and then decided at the last minute to change to an earlier or later train, and have not encountered a problem doing. I have done this at the station just before boarding the train. In your case, if you are delayed at the airport and can't make your original train, I don't think you would have any problem switching your reservation at the ticket off at the HB to a later train.
I haven't used a rail pass, and I am not sure how you make or change a reservation using it. You might want to call either the RailEurope people in the US, or the SwissRail people here in Switzerland and ask if and how you can change a reservation. RailEurope can be reached at 1-877-257-2887 in the US from 9 am to 9 pm. EST. You can call Swiss Rail in Switzerland, and should be able to find an English-speaking operator. Their number in Switzerland is 41-51-220-1111. Business hours are generally 9 am to 5 pm. in Switzerland, which is 6 hours ahead of EST.
My only advice about travelling by train is to try to avoid bringing a very large suitcase, especially if you have to make connections. It is better to bring 2 bags, maybe a mid-size with wheels and a then a duffel bag or something similar that has a shoulder strap and will leave at least one arm free. Many of the trains (esp Italian trains) have a short flight of narrow stairs to get up into the car and struggling up them with a big suitcase is a pain. The Swiss trains generally have direct access from the platform, but once you get in them, there is a flight of stairs to get to the seats, or sometimes you are on a double decker train and you have to go all the way upstairs. On Italian trains, there is sometimes a luggage area in the front or back of each car, but not always, so you may have your luggage with you in the seat, another reason for smaller bags. If there is an overhead rack, it would not be enough for a very large suitcase. There are porters but you can't always find them. There will be a restaurant car on the train, and there will also be a man with a cart passing by selling sandwiches, snacks and drinks.
The platform numbers posted on the Swiss Rail website are generally very accurate. There are also video screens in the airport train station and a huge screen in the HB itself posting the tracks. Each platform will also have signs along it indicating the train number, departure time and destination as well.

hike

From my experince, domestic Swiss (SBB)trains require no seat reservation (almost never)while most international trains requires one.

And you must have noticed on the SBB site, with the day-trains, you will need to change at least twice, ZRH-HB and Milano. Only the train which requires only one change (at ZRH-HB)is the night train leaving ZRH-AP at 21.43. Well actually the night train is the one that leaves ZRH-HB for Rome.

Rookie

To Cicerone - Thanks for the addional info and phone numbers. I'll give them a call. It seems Hike is right about then international trains requiring reservations, but I will inquire as to if they can be exchanged in the event our flight is delayed.