Milan - Tirano - Bernina railway - Chur - Zurich

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hej!

From Milano to Tirano there are direct trains about every two hours. However, these services are now operated by TreNord, a joint venture of state railway Trenitalia and local operator FNM...according to TreNord, InterRail is not valid on their services...I havent got an answer of EuRail Group (responsible for InterRail) regarding this matter yet.

Anyway, I used the Milano to Tirano service this autumn when it was already operated by TreNord and no one cared about my InterRail. Also, the route is still in the current InterRail maps coming with each ticket. So, I would just hop on the train and in case that you get troubles, show the map to the conductor and in case you have to pay extra as for refund at the EuRail group.

Regarding schedules: Since these services are operated by TreNord they are not shown in the common European travel planners anymore, you have to check on their own website.

And regarding schedules on the railcc website: Please give some examples so we can check. Currently all schedules are being brought up to date but since we are a small team and do this mainly in our free time we cannot do everything at once.


Flo 8)

PS: If you decide to go with Bernina railway (which I strongly recommend) you can save your money on reservation for the Bernina Express and go with the hourly regional trains instead. Although these do not consist of the panoramic cars of the BEX, the ride itself is as spectacular as it can be. :)
And from Chur you have frequent IC and IR trains to Zürich where you just have to hop on with your IR pass.

bf51ur
Traveller
2 comments

Thanks flow, for the info!! Appreciate it

You mean there is a local/regional rail service provided from tirano to chur which is free of charge? That saves me some money man!


Do you know of any train from chur to interlaken (jungfraujoch)? or I need to get to zurich from chur, then from zurich to Interlaken?
Would you mind providing more information about the route to interlaken and jungfraujoch from either Chur or Zurich? I read somewhere that trains from interlaken to jungfraujoch aren't included for interail passholders? How much would it cost? Any discount? Reservation needed?

An example of a train schedule error is Barcelona to Nice. I found that there is no direct train from Barca to Nice. It will only stop at Montpelier or Marseilles. The train only departs from Barcelona from 4.46pm and reach Marseilles by 12am. Would you mind checking it, if you have the time? That means I need to get a regional train from Marseilles to Nice right?

Cheers

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hi!

- There is a roughly two hourly service which does not need extra reservations; however, as I have described above it is operated by TreNord and the situation whether IR is valid on their network or not is somewhat unclear at the moment. However, I would recommend to just enter the train and in case of any trouble to complain directly at the EuRail Group for a possible refund.

- The railway lines in the Jungfrau area (everything SE of Interlaken) are not included in InterRail and there are not any discounts! :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/jungfraujoch/f1841[/u]
The regular rail fares are quite expensive so maybe think twice before going there. The scenery is stunning of course but there are many other railway lines in Switzerland which can be used with InterRail without paying anything extra with a similar beautiful scenery - of course it is not the same as going up to more than 3000m, but for instance the Bernina route is stunning as well. :)

- If you want to go to Interlaken, you have several possibilities starting from Chur:
a) via Zürich - Bern; the fastest route but somewhat dull since only in regular IC/IR trains
b) via Sargans - Pfäffikon - Arth-Goldau - Luzern - Meiringen; this includes the route of the Voralpenexpress from Pfäffikon to Luzern and the Golden Pass Line on the remainder to Interlaken, a beautiful route as well; however not climbing that high but still with fantastic views of the Swiss country (Rigi, Vierwaldstättersee, Pilatus, Brienzer See)
c) via Disentis - Andermatt - Göschenen - Arth-Goldau - Luzern - Meiringen; this includes part of the route of the Glacier Express climbing quite high to cross the Oberalppass running through the heart of the Swiss Alps, including the stunning Andermatt - Göschenen line through the Schöllenen Gorge and then the northern ramp of the famous Gotthard line. The remainder from Arth-Goldau is the same as with b)
d) via Disentis - Andermatt - Brig - Goppenstein - Spiez; this includes an even longer strech of the Glacier Express route, until Brig; from there you can go via the old Lötschberg route to Spiez and then finally to Interlaken along the Lake Spiez

In principle all routes are free with InterRail, however you will have to pay for the parts you travel on MGB lines. This is Disentis - Andermatt - Göschenen and Disentis - Andermatt - Brig...with a InterRail Youth Pass (<26) you get a 50% discount so it is not that expensive (11 CHF or 23,50 CHF)

Personally I would recommend either option b) or c) :) Have a look at the map here if this was too much information at once... ;) :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/maps[/u]

Regarding the schedules...I will have a look.


Flo 8)