Exploring Zurich Main Station: Tips for Easy Swiss Train Travel

If you’re not a regular public transport user, the thought of navigating your way around Zurich railway station can be a little daunting. But it’s not as difficult as you might think.

In this live-on-location video, Andy Nef takes us on a tour of Zurich main station and shows us the facilities and services available at the station.  We learn about the platforms and signage, connection times, how to know where to board your train and where to find the ticket and information office.

At Zurich train station, luggage storage lockers are always in high demand and Andy shows us where to find them and how to pay. He also points out the large shopping mall known as Shopville which is open seven days a week.

If your Swiss travel plans will have you arriving at, departing from or transiting through Zurich HB (main station), don’t miss this episode for essential tips to make your rail travel in Switzerland easier.

Safe travels,

Carolyn

👉 Show notes - Episode 138

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Transcript

Carolyn Schönafinger

Welcome to the Holidays to Switzerland Podcast. If you're planning a trip to Switzerland, this is the podcast for you. I'm your host, Carolyn Schönafinger, the founder of holidaystoswitzerland.com and in each episode, my expert guests and I share practical tips to help you plan your dream trip to Switzerland. You'll get helpful advice about travelling around Switzerland and hear about the most popular destinations, as well as some hidden gems. And we'll introduce you to plenty of wonderful experiences that you can enjoy as part of your Swiss vacation. Each episode is packed with expert tips, itinerary ideas, and inspiration to help make your Swiss vacation planning easy. So let's dive in.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Hello Grüezi. Welcome to this week's episode of the Holidays to Switzerland podcast. Today's episode is another one in our live on location series and I'm welcoming back Andy Nef from Travel Switzerland. They're the company responsible for promoting public transport in Switzerland to visitors from all around the world. For many first time visitors to Switzerland, especially those who aren't regular public transport users, navigating the railway stations and relying solely on public transportation to move around the country can be quite daunting. So for today's interview, I asked Andy to take us on a tour of Zurich Main Station, the largest and busiest railway station in Switzerland. Andy has loads of helpful info to share with us from why travelling by public transportation is such a great idea, to how to know where to stand on the platform to ensure you board the right carriage, where to find the luggage lockers and the ticket office, and lots, lots more.

Carolyn Schönafinger

This episode was recorded as a video interview so you can watch it on the Holidays to Switzerland YouTube channel. But if you're listening on a podcast app, you'll still get plenty of useful tips for travelling by train in Switzerland and for navigating your way around Zurich Main station. I hope you enjoy the episode.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Hi there. If you're not a regular public transport user, finding your way around the train stations in Switzerland might sound a little bit daunting. But in today's special video podcast episode, we're going to share with you how easy it actually is and explain all the comings and goings of one of Switzerland's busiest train stations. My guest today is Andy Nef, who is a regular podcast guest. And Andy, welcome. Tell us what you're going to show us today, please.

Andy Nef

Hello and a very good morning Carolyn. I have to say it was raining last night and I'm quite surprised how beautiful the weather is this morning. We are very lucky. So I'm here at Zurich Main station, right at the edge of one of the platforms. And you're totally right, this is one of the busiest railway stations, not only in Switzerland, but actually in the world. It's a little bit noisy, as you can hear. There's just a train passing by. Well, welcome to Zurich Main Station.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Wonderful. So, I know public transport is super popular in Switzerland, not only with visitors, but of course with the Swiss themselves. What do you think are the main reasons that make travelling by public transport in Switzerland so amazing and so popular?

Andy Nef

Well, I actually don't have only one reason. I have five reasons which I would like to share with you today. And, well, reason number one, maybe Zurich Main Station is not the best place for that. But reason number one, why people should use public transport in Switzerland are the views or the view, because the views are everywhere in Switzerland, not only on the mountain peaks, what people usually expect. But even taking the intercity train from Zurich Main Station to Bern, you have the beautiful views everywhere. And then we have reason number two. Reason number two is the reliability, because public transport here in Switzerland is extremely reliable. We are probably Europe's best railway and we are running on the world's densest public transport network. And most of our trains are on time, running 365 days a year from early morning to late evening.

Carolyn Schönafinger

There's some amazing stats about the percentage of trains in Switzerland that run on time. What is that number?

Andy Nef

Very good point. Very happy to share this. Well, of all trains running in Switzerland, we have a punctuality of 92.5%. And, well, the big question is now, when is a train considered delayed? Is it 10 minutes behind schedule? No, it's actually three minutes behind schedule. So 92.5% of all trains run within those three minutes.

Carolyn Schönafinger

That is incredible.

Andy Nef

Yes. And let me share reason number three with you. That's the reach. Because you can reach almost any place in Switzerland by public transport. All timetables are synchronised, trains and buses connect. I give you just an example. I mean, in many European countries the buses are running in competition to the trains, but not here in Switzerland. They are complementing each other. So, for example, you reach the end of the railway line and have to change to a bus. The bus will be waiting in front of the railway station for you and will leave just a few minutes after you have arrived. And it will take you to the more remote areas of Switzerland, to the beautiful green valleys where you find the lovely Swiss cows.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Fantastic. And that's all connected as well to the cable cars and the boats as well, isn't it?

Andy Nef

There we are. It's one fully integrated public transport system, quite unique. And let me share reason number four with you. Reason number four is sustainability. It gets more and more important here in Europe, especially in Switzerland, to travel sustainably. And I can assure you that the Swiss trains are 100% sustainable because they all run on electricity and the electricity is made from our only natural resource, and that's water. You also want to know the fifth reason?

Carolyn Schönafinger

Yes, of course.

Andy Nef

All right. That's actually the most important in my opinion, and that's the tickets. Reason number five, the tickets. The Swiss Travel Pass. With one single ticket, you can use all public transport here in Switzerland. Trains, buses, boats, city transportation, all is covered by the Swiss Travel Pass. So that's the easiest way to get around on Swiss public transport.

Carolyn Schönafinger

We have had a few episodes before where we've talked about the Swiss Travel Pass. So I would definitely, definitely recommend any of our people listening or watching to go back and listen to those episodes. I'll include links in the description and the show notes for those. So we've covered all those five most popular reasons for using Swiss public transport. So maybe now we could go inside the station and have a look at some of their services and how to look up timetables and all that sort of helpful information.

Andy Nef

Yes, with pleasure. Let me grab you and take you on a short tour through Zurich main station. And you can see the station is full of trains here. The train right behind me, that's actually overnight train which has arrived all the way from Zagreb, Croatia. So you see that Switzerland is so well connected to our neighbouring countries and beyond.

Carolyn Schönafinger

So how many trains does, come into and depart from the station every day?

Andy Nef

Yeah, you wouldn't believe, but there is close to 3,000 trains a day getting in and out of Zurich main station. Well, I have to say that also includes some of the service trains. So when a train is empty and and needs to get out of the station, that would also count as a train.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Okay, so are there arrivals and departures 24 hours or is there a time during the night when it's none?

Andy Nef

Not quite. The Zurich main station is actually closed at night, but only for a few hours. That's between about 1:30 and maybe 4:00 clock in the morning, but in between there are trains going in and out, so almost 20 hours a day. On the weekends there are trains 24 hours. The commuter trains in the suburbs of Zurich. Yes, I'm moving a little bit farther. There was a little bit of hectic because the train next to me is about to leave and there were still people getting on and off and well, if it's time and the train has to leave, it will leave.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Yeah, well it's got to leave on time.

Andy Nef

There we are. So here just behind me you see one of our most modern double decker trains. And this is the first class compartment, very easily visible with the big number one and the yellow stripe above the door. And now the train is leaving, so we see the whole 300 metres of train passing by us. One thing I want to share with you are the indicator boards. Here just above me I think you can see it is one of the track indicators and you see there is a trade announced already. I tried to get a little bit closer, doesn't really work anyway. So this actually shows you which train is leaving, where it's heading to and what are the stops in between. And it shows you also the formation of the train, meaning where is first class, where is second class? When we look at the one above us it says there's a lot of small number ones in sector A, meaning first class is in sector A, second class in sector B. And there is even a dining car in the middle of the train. And there is a family FA stands for family carriage, rolling playgrounds, in sector B. And maybe you see behind me there is a big B indicated. So we are now between sector A and C. Sector B. That's how you find out where you should actually wait for your coach, for your train.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Okay, very useful to know.

Andy Nef

Absolutely useful because as I mentioned before, the trains can be long, up to 400 metres long and well, they wouldn't wait for you. Train is leaving on time whether you are on board or not. And 400 metres can be very, very long should you need to run. So better be prepared, have a look where is your designated coach and wait at the right position.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Yeah, definitely. Especially if you're travelling with luggage and you've got to run from one end of the platform to the other. It's not very convenient.

Andy Nef

Absolutely. But be prepared, Check out where you are, where you need to go and that makes your life so much easier. So we have reached the main hall of Zurich main station. Almost there. Well, that was about 400 metres I was walking now. So here we are, as you can see, Zurich main station is actually a dead end. So all the trains have to pull into the main hall and go out the same way again. That's the oldest part of Zurich main station. Well, meanwhile we have also newer parts of the railway station underground where trains can go through. So here we are. That's the main hall of Zurich Main Station. And this is the main indicator board that shows all the trains, almost like an airport shows you all the trains which run in the next few minutes. And let me share one other information with you. Zurich Main Station is actually quite interesting history wise, because that's where the first train was running in Switzerland. Do you know when it was?

Carolyn Schönafinger

No, I've got no idea.

Andy Nef

Any idea?

Carolyn Schönafinger

I'm going to say maybe sometime in the 1800s.

Andy Nef

Correct. So the first train was actually leaving Zurich main station at 1847. And you see here in the back of me, the old main hall of Zurich Main Station. That was the second station of Zurich which was opened in the 1860s. So nowadays there is no trains running in and out anymore. It just got too small. That's why they have opened the new main sections of the Zurich Main station here behind me in the 1930s. Okay, so there are 16 tracks behind me. And sometimes in the late 20th century got too small again. So what can you do? Zurich Main Station is in the heart of Zurich. You cannot just knock down houses left and right and make it bigger. All which was left is going underground. And in the 1990s there were two underground sections open. I try to show you here on this station map how it looks like we have the main hall up here and there are two underground stations here. Actually it's three. There is also a small one over here. So there are three underground sections of Zurich Main Station. Now platforms 21, 22 and 41 to 44 have been opened in the 90s.

Andy Nef

And then in 2014, platforms 41 to 44 have been opened.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Right. So there's certainly a lot going on there at Zurich Main Station.

Andy Nef

There is. And this big old main hall is now one of Switzerland's biggest event spaces. If you want to throw a big party and have some million francs left, you can hold it at Zurich Main Station. I would like to show you some of the facilities. Some people may need some information, maybe do some train bookings which could not have been done yet. That's actually also here in the main hall. I will bring you there just quickly. There is a ticket office. Not everything is online and electronic nowadays. You can still go and talk to a person, maybe have a last minute seat reservation, maybe exchange some Swiss francs. That's what you can do here in the main hall of Zurich Main Station. So here we go. You see here, that's SBB's office here. And here you can actually exchange money, can get information and can maybe do some last minute reservation.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Okay. So is that ticket office open as long as the station is open or is it just office hours?

Andy Nef

No, it isn't. No, no, not at all. Yeah. Count on office hours.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Okay, good.

Andy Nef

Now I will take you underground and show you another very interesting facility many people wouldn't expect here probably. And yeah, let's have a look. Of course you also find restaurants, you find food, you find takeaways, and you find a very nice beer place here in the main hall of Zurich Main station. So there is something for everyone's taste.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Yeah. And at Christmas or leading up to Christmas, there's a Christmas market there as well. In that main hall.

Andy Nef

Absolutely. That's where you find one of the biggest parts of Zurich's famous Christmas market. Everything well, weatherproof, as we should call it, under the big roof of the main hall of Zurich Main station. And now we have reached the mezzanine floor. That's where you find the locker facilities.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Yes, very important.

Andy Nef

There is plenty and loads of lockers available here which you can rent, which you can get for just a few hours, maybe a day. Should you want to visit Zurich just in transit, absolutely possible to leave the luggage here, should they all be full, you can also do it at the luggage counter which is upstairs in the main hall.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Okay. Andy, do you know with the lockers, do they take both cash and card or is it just one or the other?

Andy Nef

That's a very good question. Let's have a close look because they have just renovated these lockers here. And as you can see right here, it's all cards.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Okay, perfect. And of course I'm sure it's Switzerland so the instructions will be available in English and in many other languages as well.

Andy Nef

This will be in at least four languages available. Good. Now we are going down a little bit more. There is so much to see here at the main station. We are heading down to the shopping area. There is a whole underground shopping mall here in Zurich main station. And these shops are open every day, even on Sundays and on public holidays where shops in the city would be closed. You can get the necessary things down here and even more. It's actually one of Switzerland's biggest indoor shopping malls down here in the railway station. And that's also the area where you can connect to the underground railway stations. So really everything is easily connected. Well, as a beginner, first time in Switzerland, first time at Zurich main station, you may need to find your way, but once you know it a bit better, you really get used to it. And it's easy to find and the signage is very good. I have to say I have been travelling a lot all over the world, have been visiting many airports, many railway stations, and I have to say Zurich main station has probably one of the best signages in the world.

Andy Nef

So just here behind me, that's where you head down to the underground station which was opened in 2014. Good. Now, we all talked about Switzerland's comprehensive public transport network, fully integrated train, bus and boats. And also down here, that's where you can connect with the tramways and buses of the local public transport here in Zurich. I just show you again how well everything is signed. See here tramway and buses. So that's how easy you connect from the main railway station, from the trains to the local public transport.

Carolyn Schönafinger

I have one question for you about the timetables. I know it's all, as you said, it's all seamlessly integrated, but I know some travellers often get a bit worried when they're looking at a timetable and they see that the connection time might only be seven minutes or five minutes. Is that something that they need to worry about or do you think that it's, the timetables have been set like that, allowing sufficient time for people to move from one platform to another?

Andy Nef

The timetables are really set to allow enough time for moving from one train to the other. For example, minimum connecting time here in Zurich from one train to the other is seven minutes. So you would never find the connection with less than seven minutes here in Zurich main station. If you have a connection somewhere at another railway station indicating maybe 2, 3, 4 minutes, that's for sure a much smaller railway station where you have only to move from one track to the opposite track, or just a very short transfer from one train to the other.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Okay, excellent, that's good to know. So as long as people aren't, you know, standing around and just filling in time, if they're aware that they need to move from platform to platform as soon as they can, then there's plenty of time.

Andy Nef

And I mean in the worst case, should they miss train, nothing is lost. Next train will leave 30 minutes later. Right. And we have in Switzerland, the so called open system means no seat reservations are required for the normal trains. We just hop on and hop off whenever we want. And that makes it so easy to get around?

Carolyn Schönafinger

Yeah, absolutely. Good. So where are we? Where are you now?

Andy Nef

I'm back at the main hall. So you see how easily and fast you can actually move between the various parts of Zurich main station. And here behind me, you see all the trains ready for departure. Yeah. I think that was what I wanted to show you of Zurich Main Station. Do you think I missed something, Carolyn?

Carolyn Schönafinger

I think you've covered pretty much everything. I mean, of course, there are lots of toilet facilities there. I believe there's even showers. I could be wrong. I haven't actually taken a shower.

Andy Nef

I haven't actually ever taken a shower here, but, yeah, there is. There is, yes. It's also on the mezzanine floor where you find toilets and showers and. Yeah. So you see, you could actually spend several days at Zurich Main Station.

Carolyn Schönafinger

That's right. You've got supermarkets, cafes, restaurants, everything you could possibly need and somewhere to store your luggage.

Andy Nef

Absolutely, yeah.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Wonderful. Well, what else would you like to tell us about travelling by public transport in Switzerland before we let you go, Andy?

Andy Nef

Well, it's the best way to get around Switzerland, believe me. Sit back, relax, enjoy. Don't worry about driving, finding parking, missing views on the motorway, get on the train, sit back, relax, enjoy.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Sounds like the perfect way to explore Switzerland.

Andy Nef

Yes.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Well, thank you very much again for joining us today. For everyone who is watching on YouTube, don't forget to subscribe to our channel so you can keep up to date with all our latest video podcasts. We've got many more of them coming this way soon and if you're listening to this on the podcast players, again, you can subscribe so you never miss an episode. I'll include links to the previous podcasts where we've had Andy as a guest chatting about the Swiss Travel Pass and the many reasons to travel by public transport in Switzerland. Those links will be in the description and the show notes for this episode. Thank you once again, Andy, and we'll hope to chat soon.

Andy Nef

I hope so too, take good care. See you another time. All the best.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Bye for now. Are you feeling more confident about using public transportation in Switzerland now? And finding your way around Zurich Main Station will be a breeze, right? Of course it will. You've got this. If you'd like more practical tips and resources about travelling by train in Switzerland, you'll find links to the many Holidays to Switzerland podcast episodes and articles covering this topic in the Show Notes. As Andy mentioned, the Swiss Travel Pass is the perfect all in one ticket for getting around Switzerland. More details about the pass will be in the show notes too, along with a link to my online shop for when you're ready to purchase yours. The show notes can be found under the podcast menu on holidaystoswitzerland.com thanks again for joining me today. I hope you've learned heaps from this episode. And until next week, tschüss.