Swiss Federal Railways Targets London As It Seeks More Cross-Border High Speed Trains
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on the Railway Gazette.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Swiss Federal Railways is looking at ordering up to 40 high speed trainsets for use on international services to Italy and France, and ’potentially for other destinations such as Barcelona and London’.
There also three paragraphs, which talk about Switzerland and London services.
SBB has also examined the possibility of launching a direct service between Switzerland and London, concluding that this would be technically feasible but challenging.
The need to provide security and border controls at all the stations served has long been a barrier to new services through the Channel Tunnel. However, SBB believes this may be possible at Zürich HB, Basel SBB and Genève Cornavin.
SBB would like to offer such a service and is to further develop its plans, but implementation is not seen as possible until the 2030s at the earliest.
These are my thoughts.
The Channel Tunnel Is Being Opened Up For Other Operators
The Channel Tunnel is at last looking to put on other services.
Switzerland could be easy technically, but there is the security and border controls, as the article points out.
But I see sorting security and border controls as an opportunity, not a problem.
Surely, a workable solution would have export potential all round the world.
London And Geneva Is Only Six Hours On The Train
Six hours in comfort on a train, would not bother me!
Switzerland And London Are Both Suitable Destinations For Year-Round, Short-Break Trips
C and myself were always popping off for short breaks, as it suited our work patterns.
She would sometimes say, that a case had come out and we would nip off somewhere for a couple of days.
I think, that more people will work flexibly and will have more gaps, where two days in Geneva or Zurich would fit. Provided, they could just turn up and go.
I also have done several business and leisure trips to Switzerland.
Fast Direct Trains To Switzerland Would Make Italy More Accessible
I have taken trains to Italy and it is a long way.
But breaking the journey in Switzerland could make the journey easier and you could use one city going South and another going North.
When I stayed in Geneva to go to CERN, I got a free day ticket for the buses and trams thrown in, which was very useful.
Will The Swiss Offer A Rail Pass For All Their High Speed Trains?
I wonder, if the Swiss have this in mind, as they already offer passes that include all Swiss public transport including all the cable cars.
A Swiss High Speed Rail Pass might allow me to go London and Florence, Naples or Rome and return all on one ticket.
Americans wanting to get away from Trump could fly to Switzerland and then explore Europe in Swiss trains, with no worries.
Conclusion
The Swiss should take their fingers out and go for it!
The Anonymous Widower 
Virgin are also looking for partners for Chunnel services https://www.railwaygazette.com/business/virgin-seeks-partners-to-launch-cross-channel-train-service/68477.article though their interest is competing with Eurostar to Paris and Brussels, and possibly Amsterdam, rather than new routes. Plus there’s Evolyn, which seems to be a group of financiers rather than a train operator.
Comment by Peter Robins | March 14, 2025 |
Do it on the train of course, as pre-Shengen in Europe. Alas Home Office and HMRC dinosaurs have and will NEVER agree this, so we are stuck with changing trains in London, queueing to clear customs and immigration, and a £££M loss on the knock down sale of Nightstart to Canada without their ever entering service.
Amazingly people actually voted for even more of this nonesense in 2016!
Comment by Mark Clayton | March 14, 2025 |
You can check passports on trains, but you can’t provide security, such as baggage checks. This is the norm in some European countries; for example, passengers boarding high-speed trains in Spain all have to run their luggage through a scanner. This is expensive and requires staff at each station, but they presumably think it’s worthwhile (though it’s never been clear to me why this is needed on high-speed services, but not on others).
Comment by Peter Robins | March 14, 2025 |
In fact, I’m not sure that passport control on the train would be practical either. I suppose it depends on how long the customs people would need to check everyone’s passport. Surely much less than say London-Paris/Brussels. It would be ok if they could get on/off the train on both sides of the Chunnel, say Ashford and Calais. But trains don’t stop there any more. What would the customs people do for the rest of the journey?
So, only solution is for Britain to join the Schengen zone. I’m not holding my breath.
Comment by Peter Robins | March 14, 2025 |
The simple solution would be to eject the Customs Officers at Ashford in the same way that Royal Mail Bags were ejected on the Night Mail runs.
Comment by Martin | April 18, 2025