In order to protect its own punctual timetable, Switzerland’s national rail company, SBB, has been taking a tough stance on tardy international trains – Germany’s DB foremost among them.
As reported by Swiss media, an Intercity train from Stuttgart was barred from rolling into Zurich and rerouted to the nearby city of Schaffhausen instead. Deutsche Bahn trains headed to Switzerland and Zurich have been notoriously problematic in terms of delays.
While a 13-minute delay may not seem like a big deal in most countries, in Switzerland it disrupts the carefully coordinated train timetables, which is why the SBB pulls the plug once a delay reaches six minutes.
From the purely pragmatic point of view (at least in Switzerland), even a slight delay can generate further significant delays for other connections.
Which is why SBB says it runs a tight ship, er, train schedule.
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The German trains dilemma
On many occasions in the past years, the SBB, had to take drastic measures to mitigate the impact of chronically late DB trains operating on the Swiss network.
In 2024, for instance, only about 64 percent of DB’s long-distance passenger trains reached their destination on time; in Switzerland, the equivalent figure was 93.2 percent.
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In order to end disruptions to its own finely-tuned railway network, from 2025 the SBB decided to end some of Switzerland-bound DB trains at the border in Basel, and move the passengers onto the waiting Swiss trains for the rest of their journey.
Among the chronically late arrivals were DB’s EuroCity service from Hamburg to Interlaken Ost, as well as the train from Dortmund to Zurich – both of which are no longer allowed to operate within Switzerland.
According to the SBB, the measures are proving effective: since the timetable change in December 2025, average arrival punctuality from Germany in Zurich has improved by approximately 20 percent.
On the right track
The recent delay on the Stuttgart-Zurich train may soon be a thing of the past.
That’s because for 2027, the SBB and DB are introducing new measures to stabilise the connection between the two cities: the new timetable includes fewer intermediate stops in Germany, so that the train can get to Switzerland faster.
READ MORE: The coming changes for international trains to and from Switzerland
