Swiss trains are known for their punctuality — a reputation that is mostly justified. But there are also some that arrive late, even very late, and many of them are international services.
First, the good news.
CH Media site Watson has analysed many train routes in Switzerland, station by station, from the entire 2024 timetable.
It found that during this period, 5,307 of the 5,584 connections examined – almost all regular traffic operated by the national railway company SBB – were not delayed by more than three minutes on average at any station. This corresponds to an enviable punctuality rate of approximately 95 percent.
And at the final stop, almost 98 percent of all trains were always on time. Not only that, but a significant proportion even arrived a few minutes ahead of schedule.
But even though the vast majority of trains had an exemplary punctuality record, those that didn’t derailed some of the SBB’s operations, disrupting the carefully coordinated Swiss railway timetable.
READ ALSO: What is the secret behind the famous punctuality of Swiss trains?
Which trains specifically are known for being tardy?
Many international trains which started their routes abroad are notorious for not arriving in Switzerland on time, consequently causing delays on the Swiss portion of the trip.
Night trains are the biggest culprits.
The analysis found, for instance, that the night train from Vienna to Zurich, which stops for the first time on Swiss soil in Buchs (SG) arrived in Zurich on average about 45 minutes late last year.
The biggest recorded delay on that route was over three and a half hours.
Switzerland- bound trains from Amsterdam, Hamburg, and Graz also suffered from chronic delays.
Daytime connections from abroad were prone to delays as well.
One such example is the EuroCity from Venice, which travels from Brig to Geneva, where it is scheduled to arrive at 11:21 pm; however, it arrived late — usually with a 20-minute delay — in more than 75 percent of cases.
Then there is the Railjet from Bratislava to Zurich, as well as the EuroCity from Munich, which have had a similar pattern of delays.
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Why is the SBB struggling with tardy foreign trains?
In all, among the 277 connections that are at least three minutes late at one or more of the regularly served stations, there are 36 Eurocity trains, 13 TGVs and ICEs, and nine Railjets — all from abroad.
Not surprisingly, the SBB blames foreign train companies for these delays.
For instance, trains from Italy towards Cadenazzo, from where they continue on to Swiss cities of Bellinzona and Locarno, very often arrive in Switzerland late.
In the opposite direction, they are punctual on Swiss soil, but “as soon as the train has left Switzerland, the proportion of delayed trains increases significantly,” CH Media reported.
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What about the delayed Swiss trains?
While 95 percent are on time, this means that 5 percent aren’t.
Take, for instance, the S9.
It departs from Rafz (ZH) at 10:45 pm and is scheduled to arrive in Uster (ZH) shortly before midnight, but has an average delay of eight minutes at Rafz station.
How can there be a delay even before the train departs?
A few days a week, the S9 departs from Schaffhausen. When it does so, it takes a brief detour through the nearby German towns of Jestetten and Lottstetten, stopping at both.
It is not known whether the mere fact of transiting through Germany can make a train late, but that is what appears to be the case.
However, by far the worst offender on the domestic route in 2024 was an Intercity train leaving Basel at 8:29 pm en toute to Brig (VS).
In Spiez (BE), it accumulated an average delay of almost five minutes.
According to CH media, “this applies to both the variant of the train that travels on Sundays over the Lötschberg mountain route, does not stop in Visp, and arrives in Brig at 11:09 pm, and the variant from Monday to Saturday, which stops in Visp and arrives in Brig as early as 10:41 pm.”
What both these variants have in common is that they only arrive in Brig on time in about 80 percent of cases.
Another domestic connection with notorious delays is the IC5, which departs Rorschach (SG) at 6:39 pm for western Switzerland.
Last year, this train frequently arrived in Neuchâtel with an average delay of just over four minutes.
The IC5 also appears at other times of the day among the trains that have an average delay of at least three minutes, at one or several stations.
“However, the SBB usually manages to make up for this delay by the time it reaches its final destination,” according to the analysis.
The only other train that is often late is the S24 between Zug and Zurich, which usually arrives late at Zurich Wollishofen. However, this connection also usually manages to arrive on time at its final destination.
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Honestly, is a three-minute delay a big deal?
In Switzerland it is, for two reasons, one practical and one cultural.
From the pragmatic point of view even a slight delay can generate — if not a total chaos — then at least more or less significant delays when arriving at and departing from subsequent stations.
From the cultural perspective, the prevailing Swiss mentality just can’t accept tardiness as a ‘norm.’
READ ALSO: Why are the Swiss so obsessed with being on time?
