Complaint about train delays

Ckihoothaill29

Cimplaining about the due to the April 1 SBB train delays

Ckihoothaill29

Ckihoothaill29
Dear SBB,
I would like to file a complaint regarding the delays on April 1st. I want you to know that I have always loved SBB—I travel everywhere with it and am a regular monthly pass holder. I work at Zurich Airport and commute almost every day.

Today, I set out for work, but my day turned into a nightmare. What happened to SBB on April 1st? I departed from Basel at 12:08 PM to get to Zurich Airport. However, the train arrived in Olten with more than an hour of delay. There, we transferred to the train bound for Bern, as all Zurich trains had been canceled. But in Bern, almost all trains to Zurich were also canceled. We had to run from one platform to another as the trains kept getting canceled. In the chaos, I accidentally left my bag on one of the trains—it contained all my important documents, including my bank cards, ID, and work badge. Eventually, I was sent back to Basel.

I started my journey again from Basel, already having lost count of the delays. I must add that I have only had positive experiences with Swiss people so far, but in Bern, one of the SBB staff members—an older gentleman who was supposed to help manage the chaos—was unbelievably rude, impolite, and unhelpful. I have never encountered such behavior in Switzerland or anywhere else.

So, I would like to submit a formal complaint. I spent my entire afternoon on trains and at train stations, arrived late to work, and lost my bag while transferring between trains in Bern. Additionally, the person who was supposed to assist passengers in Bern was extremely rude. However, I would also like to express my gratitude to the train conductors, who remained calm and helpful throughout the situation.

In the end, I was sent back to Basel, and from there, I set out for Zurich Airport again—this time with a 3.5-hour delay.
I couldn’t go to work, and even now I don’t know if I’ll be able to get to my workplace or not, after all this.

Sincerely,
Mária Magdolna Darvas

Danhiel

Hello Ckihoothaill29

Sorry, this community is not intended to contact the SBB customer service, you can open a complaint with this link:

https://www.sbb.ch/en/help-and-contact/customer-service/praise-comments/reklamation.html

Kind regards
Danhiel

RolandP

Hello Ckihoothaill29

Welcome to the SBB Community; we are a customer support page run by volunteers, we are not the SBB Customer Service. Consequently, this website is not intended to accept formal complaints. Please kindly use the contact form made for this purpose:

https://www.sbb.ch/en/help-and-contact/customer-service/praise-comments/claims-complaints.html

It is your right to file a complaint; I still wish to share a few thoughts on it; I, as SBB staff, was also affected by it. I do see the situation from another perspective.

The interruption this afternoon indeed caused a great chaos as it concerned the route Olten-Zurich which is somewhat the backbone of the SBB rail network. An interruption at this part of the network can suddenly create a great mess. However, the interruption was caused by a third-party and not by SBB itself. SBB simply had to cope with the situation and follow the instructions given by the Aargau cantonal police, so had you, fellow customers as well as all staff. It is clear that the event happened unplanned and although backup scenarios do exist (travel via Basel / Lucerne), it meant great stress to anyone involved.

The staff was probably not rude yet was simply overwhelmed by the number of stranded passengers having questions. And, English is not our mother tounge (nor is, assumingly, one of our national languages your mother tongue); limited vocabulary and a stressful situation can easily be understood as rude, isn’t it?

For the loss of your bag, please file a lost property report using the link below; I am certain your bag will be found and handed in to the lost & found service:

https://lostandfound.sbb.ch/home/sbb/SBB/app?Culturename=en

Kindly yours,
Roland

Ckihoothaill29

Dear Roland,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your response and the information provided. This is something I have always appreciated in Switzerland—the fact that every official institution responds to inquiries. Whoever the third party was, they certainly succeeded in pulling off an April Fool’s prank.
Today, I left Basel for work to Zurich Airport at 12:00 and only arrived at my workplace in the late afternoon at 18:00. During my six-hour journey, I had to change trains three times while rushing from one platform to another. Meanwhile, it was impossible to track departing trains either online or at the stations.
I would like to express my gratitude to the staff of SBB in Basel and Olten, but most importantly to the ticketcontrolers for their assistance. I believe they did an excellent job—they were kind, polite, calm, and helpful. And this is not just a one-time experience; I have always had good impressions, especially from the Swiss.
I understand that today was a disastrous day for all of us. However, since I also work with passengers, I am an adult and can distinguish between rude, disrespectful behavior and simple fatigue or exhaustion. It is true that English is not the native language here, but the Swiss are outstanding in this regard as well—almost everyone speaks English fluently, including the person in question.
The truth is, despite understanding everything, it would have been nice to read in your email something along the lines of: “On behalf of SBB, we apologize for today’s inconvenience.”

I wish you all the best after such a stressful day.

Best regards,
Magdolna Darvas

Danhiel

Ckihoothaill29

This community is not the customer service of the SBB and people who respond are volunteers, most are customers like you and don’t work for the SBB.

So you can understand that I cannot apologize on behalf of SBB and also not personally, I have no responsibility for this regrettable situation.

RolandP

Ckihoothaill29

Dear Magdolna Darvas

Again, on this platform, we share opinions as individual, and not “on behalf of SBB”.

What concerns apologies, the SBB policy is as follows:

if the root cause of the event is internal, SBB will ask customers for their apologies;
if the root cause of the event is external, as yesterday, SBB will ask customers for their understanding because the situation is completely out of their control;

The event yesterday caused immense (financial) damage. SBB (and all other railway operators using the line in question) are victims - just as you are.

I hope you do understand this; if not, we provided the link through which you can contact SBB and express your dissatisfaction.

Have a good day.
Roland