Several months after warning it might take action, Switzerland has begun banning selected German trains from operating across Swiss territory because of their chronic lateness.
Swiss rail schedules operate at around 93% on-time performance, compared Germany’s Deutsche Bahn at 64%. Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) has complained that when German trains enter the network late, they disrupt traffic all across the system.
SBB had already been stopping German trains that were more than 20 minutes late at the border, requiring passengers to take the next Swiss train to their destinations. Now, two specific trains have been singled out for the worst record, and told they must remove Swiss segments from their route at least until December.
The ban applies to EuroCity train 7 from Hamburg to Interlaken and EC8 from Dortmund to Zurich. Both will now terminate in Basel for transfer to Swiss trains. SBB says it will run additional trains and make schedule adjustments to minimize the inconvenience for travelers.
