Milan-Bern

cosmopolicious81

Hi. I am trying to book Milan to Bern on the EC 54 on May 21… At first I thought it wasn’t bookable because it’s too early but then I checked the week of May 28 and EC 54 is available. Could it be that the train is already sold out 3 months in advance?? Thanks in advance for any insights.

Danhiel

cosmopolicious81 Hi. I suppose that this train will be canceled due to engineering works between Domodossola and Milano. EC 54 and EC 36 are also not available on Trenitalia. I suggest you to book other trains or wait to see if any replacement service by bus will be available.

Limeuhu12

cosmopolicious81

Thank you for your information. It seems that EC 54 is not running 21st Mai 2024 due to construction work at Domodossola Please check also offers in ticketshop trenitalia, with Trennord Milano - Arona - Bus - Domodossola IC Bern.

Milano Centrale (13:25) - Arona (14:22)
Arona (14:27) - Domodossola (15:47)

In SBB timetable you will find also aternative routes Milano - Lugano - Gottardo - Olten to Bern.

Kind regards
Christoph

Krist

Danhiel since the alternatives offered are regional trains they do not need to booked in advance. So wait and see. last year it was quite common for trains to open only a couple of weeks beforehand.

Krist

If trains sold out days in advance they would be useless. Let alone months.

So what is happening here is that the train is not open for booking yet, possible because the schedule has not been finalised yet for that day. There a lot of works on that route and on many days train schedules are different form what they are expected to be, and as a result trains sometimes open for booking only weeks before they run on some days. You will notice that none of the EC are bookable on that day.

And to add to the misfortune the SBB website in this case throws up a message that appears to be specifically crafted to confuse people and turn them away from train travel.

Danhiel

Krist EC 56 (18:20) and EC 44 (19:20) are now open for reservation on Trenitalia website. You have a better view on this site as on sbb.ch.

cosmopolicious81

Ok thanks all!! So the fact that same train is available a week after isn’t a cause for concern?

cosmopolicious81

Finally found info through SBB - hope this helps anyone in the same situation! Looks like we’ll be looking for an alternative route.

Limitted service: Milano Centrale - Domodossola (I)
Limitted train service between Milano Centrale and Domodossola (I) are subject to restrictions.
This is due to construction work.
The restriction lasts from 02.04.2024 to 30.04.2024.
The restriction lasts from 15.05.2024 to 24.05.2024.
You have to expect changed timetables.
We recommend you to check your timetable online shortly before travelling.
The online timetable will be updated.
Purchasing international tickets or saver tickets and making reservations is currently not possible.

Krist

So it is possible that EC 54 will be running, but to different time table, or from a different station (has been done before), or will be substituted by a bus.

I see that the timetable now has information on the disruption. But when you try to book a ticket you stille get:

Please SBB: Try to make this message more useful. For example, tell potential customers here about the disruption, and that they should come back later when the schedule is final…

Limeuhu12

Helo @“Krist”#p879371

SBB Community has many posts about this topic. Same issue is also known when SBB timetable is looking for tickets in Ticketshops of DB, SNCF, ÖBB. When Ticketshops of partner railways has no options for SBB.CH it is funny to read “there are no longer any tickets available”. Quit often you will find tickets for Italy in ticketshop Trenitalia.com, for France in SNCF.connect, Deutsche Bahn Germany or ÖBB Austria.

Kind regards

Christoph