The exciting ‘Midnight Trains’ project won’t be launching for a long time yet, but their weekly newsletter continues to entertain and inform.
The most recent edition awards Switzerland the badge of the ‘Best Railways in Europe’.
This is not surprise to us, as we love train travel in Switzerland. Iain had travelled from the UK to Arosa, Zermatt, Andermatt, Saas Fee and Crans Montana by train in the last few years.
Here are some stats you may not know about Swiss railways:
- Switzerland has no less than 5,300 kilometres of railway
- There are 29,000 kilometres of lines, making it one of the most dense railway networks in Europe
- Swiss residents take the train 71 times a year, travelling a total of 2,400 kilometres: twice as much as the average French person
- In 2017, the Chemins de Fer Fédéraux Suisses (CFF) announced that 89% of trains were on time
- In 1882, the Saint-Gotthard tunnel opened, making it the world’s largest railway tunnel at the time at 15km
- The highest station in Europe is ‘Jungfaujoch’ at 3454m above sea level
- Every year, Switzerland is currently spending a whopping €404 per inhabitant under the ‘Rail 2030’ project
Many ski resorts have a station in the actual resort itself, so you can travel direct to your destination.
Simply take Eurostar to Paris, then connect to a train to either Basel, Zurich, Geneva or Lausanne to travel to your resort.
Even if you do choose to fly, you can easily take the train to the resort itself.
The Swiss Travel Pass is a great option, allowing you to take as many journeys as you like during the validity of the pass. This is a blog post that Iain wrote for Matterhorn Chalets with a lot more details about the Swiss Travel Pass.
