Operator: SBB
Headcode: EC329
Route: ZRH-MIL
Class: 2nd Class
Seat: C1 S1
Date: Sunday 8th January 2023
Starting Day 3 of (Not Quite) All the Small Things with a visit to the world’s sixth smallest country, Liechtenstein (read about that here), it was soon time for me to head back into Switzerland and catch a train to Zurich for the next leg of my journey. With my end destination for the day being Rimini on Italy’s Adriatic Coast, I had a few trains ahead of me. First step was to cross the Alps with SBB from Zurich to Milano Centrale.
Having arrived at Zurich Central Station with plenty of time ahead of my 1333 departure, I made my way to settle down on the timetabled platform until the train was announced. One thing I like about travelling by train in Europe is that most stations, including major ones, have a timetable displaying every departure and the platform it is scheduled to depart from. Whilst this doesn’t stop last minute platform changes, it does work out 90% of the time and allow you to position yourself to beat the rush.
Waiting for me on the platform was a pair of 11-car SBB RABe 501 units, named by SBB as ‘Giruon’ (Romansh for Buzzard). Constructed by Swizz manufacturer, Stadler, these units were first introduced in 2019 with Stadler announcing these as the world’s first single-decker, low floor, high-speed train. Whilst a rather specific claim, these units are nice trains and the fact that once again Stadler has proven that low-floor trains are do-able shows that Siemens, Alstom and others aren’t really trying.
Whilst our service would depart Zuirch with a pair of Giruons, the rear unit would only travel with us as far as Chiasso, the final station in Switzerland with just the front set continuing through to Milano. The Giruon units have a capacity of 403 passengers, meaning that between Zurich and Chiasso this train could carry more than 800 people. Onboard there is both 1st and 2nd class seating along with SBB’s famous dining car (more on that in a bit). In 2nd class the seating was in a mix of groups of four around half tables and ‘airline style’. All seats had power sockets that fitted standard European adapters along with a reading light.
The only negative to the 2nd class seating that I found was the positioning of the bin under the table, resulting in reduced leg/knee room for passengers in the window seat. For most of the journey this wasn’t an issue as the service was fairly quiet, however it did become a bit more cramped when the train filled up at Lugano. There’s also onboard Wi-Fi, however to use this you have to register using a mobile number and for some reason I couldn’t get this to work.
As would be expected for any rail journey in Switzerland there was excellent scenery throughout the trip as we wound our way around lakes enroute to the Gothard Base Tunnel. Opened in 2016, the Gothard Base Tunnel is the world’s longest railway tunnel and upon opening reduced the journey time on the Zurich to Lugao/Milan route by an hour. With services travelling through the 57km tunnel at speeds of up to 200kmph, it can take as little 17 minutes to pass through the tunnel.
Having left the final pre-Gothard station at Arth-Goldau, there was about a 50-minute run until the next stop at Bellinzona and so I decided to head back to the dining car situated between 1st and 2nd class. Whilst I had heard good things about SBB’s dining cars, I wasn’t quite expecting such a wide ranging menu and such a pleasant setting. Whilst there’s only six booths that seat two-four people, the dining car wasn’t crowded and I was able to spread out at one of the larger tables that was free.
Opting for a dish of pasta with mince and onion, along with coke from a glass bottle (the best kind), I enjoyed the last of the scenery passing by before we entered the tunnel. Whilst there was a wide-range of menu options, it seems that these have been chosen for their ability to be cooked relatively quickly and within about 10-minutes of ordering I was having my food delivered. Despite being quick to cook, my meal was absolutely delicious and better than some restaurants I’ve eaten in on my travels. It was certainly as good as, if not better, than the excellent meal I had onboard Czech Railways from Bratislava to Prague (read about that here).
Whilst I would have thoroughly enjoyed relaxing in the dining car for the rest of the journey and having a leisurely desert and a couple of drinks, the fact I was travelling alone and had left my bags at my seat (with the permission of the conductor) meant I wanted to head back to the front of the train before we reached the next station. Settling the bill, I was pleasantly surprised that it had only cost me 26CHF which whilst a bit pricey compared to most onboard catering, I felt was reasonable for Switzerland.
As we emerged from the south end of the Gothard Base Tunnel, we were treated to some rather grey and miserable weather that seemed to be stuck on this side of the Alps. With the rain covered windows obscuring most of the scenery I settled down to read for the remainder of the journey, although did notice the expansive rail yard at Chiasso during our extended stop there, allowing for the rear unit to be uncoupled.
During Covid Chiasso had once again become a location of border checks with Italian officials checking Covid test results and vaccination status prior to the removal of controls. Unfortunately, according to various reports during the time when travel was allowed if the controls were followed, additional time was not scheduled in the timetable and as such services continued forward from here some 30+ minutes late. Thankfully these checks have now been removed and so we departed the Swiss border town on time and crossed the border which runs just beyond the end of the platforms.
I’ll be honest in that I don’t remember much of the final part of the journey and I didn’t note anything down, so I assume it was fairly uneventful. I do know we arrived into the stunning Milano Centrale on time and that I thoroughly enjoyed this journey. I had been debating whether to upgrade to 1st class on this trip, however given how enjoyable my journey was in 2nd class, I really don’t think its needed. I will definitely be travelling on this route across the Alps again in future as it combined excellent food with a comfortable and fast journey. Win Win!
Lounge 0*
Seat/Facilities 4*
Food 5*
Service 5*
Punctuality 5*
Overall Rating 19/25 (read about my rating system here!)
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