Zürich-Lierna-Innsbrück connections

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  • Hansu
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Hi,

We (family of 4) have Interrail global passes and need to travel from Zürich to Lierna (by lake Como, Italy) on June 19th and from Lierna to Innsbrück on June 26th. I know the Italian timetables are slow to get published, but I'm getting anxious because it's only a couple of weeks and I'm still not able to see the timetables except for the high speed trains. I've been checking both Trenitalia and SBB websites. Am I missing something? I would be extremly grateful if someone could help me with finding good routes and timetables for those dates! I'm also a bit conflicted as to wether or not to get reservations (when they are not compulsory). The SBB website is showing extremely high occupancy for some of the connections that I've been looking at for example next Monday (the same day of the week that we will be travelling), although I've learned here that seat reservations are generally unnecessary in Switzerland.

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R
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The Italian timetables should be on trenitalia.com now. Maybe not yet elsewhere though.

Please ask questions in the community and not via a private message. That's the quickest way to get a response. I don't work for Eurail/Interrail.
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Which train would you like to take from Zurich ? I can advise with how busy it should be. There are often 2 units with 1 going as far as Lugano or Chiasso which is less busy

The fastest route looks like this (as an example) :

- Zürich HB - Lugano 07:05 - 08:58

- Lugano - Monza 09:02 - 10:06

- Monza - Lierna 10:32 - 11:18 (altered timetable due to the landslide, see further down)

If you can afford the extra hour, I'd recommend taking the Old Gotthard Railway (search via Airolo on planners) : very scenic and always less crowded trains :)

To go to Innsbruck 2 routes mainly :

- via Verona and Brennerpass (10€ surcharge for the direct EC) : 08:19 - 16:13 13€ seat reservation for Milan - Verona, regional trains through the Brennerpass so no surcharge

- extremely scenic journey (but a bit longer) via Tirano, the Bernina Railway, Chur and Buchs SG

There has been a landslide just after Lierna. Trains are only running between Milan and Lierna, afterwards either rail replacement buses or boats : https://www.trenord.it/en/news/trenord-informs/notices/from-monday-buses-and-boats-trains-will-be-in-service-on-the-milan-lierna-and-sondrio-bellano-routes/

Of course the situation could change until your travel dates so please do check this link and Trenord's website.

There are also engineering works between Sondrio and Tirano : rail replacement buses (pass valid) which take about 15 min more so plan accordingly.

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Thank you for your comments! @thibcabeyou've been very helpful with my questions now and previously!

We'll be arriving in Zürich at 10.05 am on June 19th so any time after that would be fine.

I wasn't aware of the landslides and altered timetables so the link you provided is very useful.

We would love to take the more scenic route to Innsbruck but not sure if it is too complicated for us with the landslide interruptions, rail replacement buses and multiple changes. Plus I'm still not sure on which planner to search for the connections, SBB works fine until June 10th but nothing comes up after that.

Is the Milan-Verona route possible to do with reservation-free trains? 13 eur per person for a seat reservation seems a bit much for such a short ride.

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Do not take the 10:33 EC to Como S. Giovanni (or further) : otherwise you need to pay 11€ for a few km in Italy… but it's fine if you leave it in Lugano (beautiful point-of-view from the station and beauriful town) or Chiasso (dull border town).

The 10:33 shouldn't be too busy and as long as you go 10 min before you should have a bay of 4 (check if it isn't reserved using the small screens over the seats). Otherwise the 11:05 train is a double-decker (today at least).

For the Old Gotthard Railway : 11:05 train and change in Arth-Goldau.

As the journey is fully reservation-free, you can still decide on the day itself. :)

The timetable after 10th June still hasn't been published on SBB yes... Trenitalia should have it though

The multiple changes shouldn't be a problem : in Switzerland those are guaranteed. The problem will be to reach Tirano true but using the altered timetable should go fine (of course things could still change).

Yes Milan - Verona is doable by regional trains, maybe even by avoiding Milan central station alltogether. It takes a bit longer but I don't know how much. 2 routes as far as I could see :

- Lecco - Bergamo - Brescia - Verona

- Lecco - Milano Centrale - Verona (but on regional trains)

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Hi again,

We decided to travel to Innsbruck via Milan and Verona. I understand that for the direct EC train we need to pay a 10€ surcharge per person plus a seat reservation. I read somewhere (maybe somewhere here in the community) that when buying the supplement on cd.cz the seat reservation is included. However I don't seem to be able to buy the supplement or the seat reservation on cd.cz, a notification pops up saying that "unfortunately we cannot sell tickets for the selected connection". Am I doing something wrong or is there a better/cheaper way to get both the supplement and the seat reservations? I'm aiming for the EC 82 from Verona to Innsbruck at 15:01 on June 26th, 4 persons. Any help appreciated 😊

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This worked in the past but doesn't seem to work anymore. You could ask CD by mail when they'll fix it. They're reported to reply quite fast.

Please ask questions in the community and not via a private message. That's the quickest way to get a response. I don't work for Eurail/Interrail.
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Thanks @rvdborgt ! I'll see if I can get an answer from them. Do you know if I can get the supplement plus seat reservations from Öbb or DB and if so, how do I go about on the website to get both?

T
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Yes from ÖBB. Add Interrail as a discount and select one-way tickets.

You'll get a 40€ price (4 x 10€) for the surcharge and you can add a seat reservation for 4 x 3€ :)

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ÖBB indeed also sell them, although the seat reservation will then cost extra.

Please ask questions in the community and not via a private message. That's the quickest way to get a response. I don't work for Eurail/Interrail.
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Thank you both again! I might just accept the extra cost of the seat reservations and see if I can manage to buy them as well as the supplements on the ÖBB website tomorrow. I can't promise not to be back with some more questions though 😅 You've been most helpful! 

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