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    Switzerland

    Why Swiss Trains are the Best in Europe



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    I live in the Netherlands, where we have some pretty great trains. But there’s a country in Europe that does trains better. Much better, in fact.

    Switzerland has some of the best trains in the entire world – second, perhaps, only to Japan. What makes these trains so good? And what is it like to actually ride them?

    The Slowest Express Train in the World – The Glacier Express
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    —
    References and Additional Reading

    The integrated timetable of Switzerland
    https://www.jokteur.com/a/integrated-timetable-switzerland/

    Watching the Swiss: A network approach to rural and exurban public transport
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X16301469

    Live map of the Swiss Railways Network
    https://maps.vasile.ch/transit-sbb/

    Trafimage – Live Swiss Railway Punctuality
    https://maps.trafimage.ch/ch.sbb.netzkarte?baselayers=ch.sbb.netzkarte,ch.sbb.netzkarte.dark,ch.sbb.netzkarte.luftbild.group,ch.sbb.netzkarte.landeskarte,ch.sbb.netzkarte.landeskarte.grau&lang=en&layers=ch.sbb.puenktlichkeit-all&x=918827.18&y=5943148.86&z=8.88&zoom=2

    How Punctual is SBB?
    https://company.sbb.ch/en/the-company/responsibility-society-environment/customers/punctuality.html

    SBB Facts and Figures – Punctuality
    https://reporting.sbb.ch/punctuality

    Are Swiss trains becoming less punctual, pricier and more dangerous?
    https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/public-transport-in-numbers_are-swiss-trains-becoming-less-punctual–pricier-and-more-dangerous–/45231238

    This video contains images and video licensed from Getty Images.

    View 44 Comments

    44 Comments

    3. Big McLargeHuge on

      I hear my old friends talking about catching the train down to Nashville. How great that must have been to just get on the train and be deposited downtown. Now, it's an 1 1/2 hour drive through horrendous traffic filled with inconsiderate drivers who do not know what a speed limit or a turn signal is. Then add in idiots on sport bikes zipping between cars at about 100 miles per hour. I just stay away from the city at this point. Train stations in the US (not all of them but many) can be dangerous places to be avoided when alone.

    4. InnerProp on

      Now I'm depressed. I don't see the US ever getting half as good as this. You might think air travel would be the answer, but they keep making the seats smaller and tighter together.

    5. REALHUSTLE on

      this reminded me my short trip to Germany how its called Hauptbahnof (idk if i spelled it right) but it is impeccable now i want to visit switzerland i love when countries have good public transportation just being able to leave your house and go anywhere without a car

    7. MrLemurPlays on

      I have a friend who went to Switzerland, she said once that they wouldn’t let a disabled person on the train because it would make it late. Kinda mean imo

    9. Timi on

      Great vid man
      I just wanted to say that the stations map at the beginning was only about the « big » train stations in Switzerland. For exemple between Geneva and Nyon there is approximately 10 little stations for trains that work kind of like the metro (exemple Bijlmer Arena -> Central Amsterdam) 🙂
      Keep it up with the good work 👍🏻

    10. Samuel Meuli on

      To be fair, I just had a case this week where after my train was delayed for 4 minutes and I couldn't get to de connecting Bus. This turned out to be really bad as I had to wait for a whole hour until the next bus would come.
      But that was a rare case as I travel by train on a daily base and the train is hardly ever late.
      And I may have to add, that this happened at 1:30 am where almost nothing drives anymore.
      All in all, the swiss trains aren't perfect but damn good.

    12. Saptarshi Ghosh on

      Visit India and Indian Railways. It may not be as time-accurate or sparsely occupied as Swiss trains but the sheer amount of people use it for getting around even in small suburbs are astounding.

    14. CozyDaRosy on

      I saw tweet that said "Most of the population of Canada lives along a straight line of cities in Ontario and there is no train going between them" and I felt that in my soul. With so much happening this summer we've been really wishing there were more frequent trains to Toronto. We would go and do day trips and visit friends all the time if we didn't have to freaking drive!!

    21. Paul Power on

      to be fair: having most of your people densely squeezed in between mountains and all that gold nobody somehow picked up after WWII helps a lot

    26. Germany in my blood & in my heart on

      Well dear friends, add the fact that even London where I lived for many years if it snowed the capital was paralised, but in Switzerland winters are much colder with much more snow and all still works! Well, Switzerland is Switzerland!

    29. Günther Weise on

      Coming from one of these countries tending to export their delays, I always enjoyed travelling in Switzerland by rail. In a way, when going up the Rhine valley, Deutsche Bahn manages always to create some delays between Karlsruhe and Basel, while the Swiss stick to their timetables almost all the time. It should be noted however that the Swiss system is not suitable for all and everyone as it relies on the fact that the distances between the main hubs are smowhat similar and not too great so that there is no travel time between hubs over one hour. Otherwise there will be the necessity for the trains on shorter laps to wait and it will not be possilbe to keep the tact of an hour. Otherwise if trains are running often enough, (say every fifteen minutes), you will not need an integrated timetable as the maximum waiting time does correspond to this interval. So really according to my understandint this Swiss integrated timetable is just a wonderful thing for intercity travel in a comparatively small country with a dense rail network. If I am not wrong, Swiss trains do usualy not exceed speeds of 200 km/h as the context is not the one for a real high speed rail system.

      If greater distances have to be covered, one might study real high speed rail systems like the ones in Japan (excellently organized) or France (wonderfully engineered).

      Let me add that the exemplary train trip shown in the video from Bern to Gimmelwald is mixing up the outward and return trip as there is no next train in Lauterbrunnen (already james Bond had to be picked up from the train there as could be seen in the On her Majesty's Secret Service movie).

    31. Martillo Blasfemo on

      Hi! Glad you could enjoy Switzerland. Winterthur is close to my home town. If you ever visit the Rhine valley in Vorarlberg, I'd be interested in your opinion on its public transit system and overall mobility.

    32. Alexander Weixelbaumer on

      Unfortunately there is one downside to Swiss public transport: The price. Even with the current gas prices it is still much cheaper for me to drive by car. Only option to get cheap is with a railway pass and completely do without the car. But then there are connections that take much longer with public transport (compared to car) and some that are only accessible every hour.

    33. Jimmy Osalla on

      Thanks for the making this video! I haven't been to Switzerland, but I did live in Brussels and now Budapest. I thought Belgium's train system was really good. Better than Hungary's train system, but not likely better than Switzerland's.

    42. Ricky Tenderkiss on

      I didn’t grow up in the U.S., and given how prominent trains are in U.S. folklore, the first time I tried to find a train route from my major U.S. city to a smaller town downstate, I was surprised the closest I could get was still a four-hour drive from the destination. Meanwhile, visiting Switzerland, it seemed there was no destination I couldn’t get to cross-country via train, tram, and bus … often from front door to front door!

    43. Uncle Chris on

      Hey there, I am living and working since 10 years in Switzerland. Driving the Yellow Busses called "Post Auto " . And I can just admit with you, its sure one of the best Public Transport Systems at the entire Globe. Thank you for your video

    44. Alain on

      I live in Switzerland too.
      In my village there are less than 8000 people.
      There are busses driving every 15 minutes from 5 in the morning until eight in the evening. After eight busses drive every thirty minutes even past midnight. Additionally on weekends busses will drive every hour until four in the morning for people that come home from partying in the city nearby.
      the busses are almost always on time and if they are more than three minutes behind schedule you get a push notification from SBB Mobile. I love using trains/busses in Switzerland.

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