After their early morning trains to Geneva Airport proved a success last Christmas, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) has announced new public transport services to help holidaymakers get to the airport on time. The new crack-of-dawn trains will be extended to other parts of French-speaking Switzerland and run during Easter, Ascension and the school summer holidays.
At 2.40am on December 23, 2023, the first-ever super early morning train service left Biel / Bienne, bound for the airport in Geneva. The special service is designed so that families and individuals in western Switzerland can take the earliest flights of the day without having to drive or spend a night in the city.
According to a statement from Geneva Airport, the trains proved such a hit with travellers that the early morning express will become a regular feature during public holidays in 2024. Along with more trains, the services will also expand to include other parts of French-speaking Switzerland.
First, the early morning trains will run on March 29 and March 30 during Easter, on May 9 (Ascension) and May 18 (Pentecost). The trains will leave Biel / Bienne at 2.40am, calling at Neuchâtel (3am), Yverdon-les-Bains (3.21am), Morges (3.40am), Nyon (3.55am) and Geneva (4.09am) before arriving at Geneva Airport at 4.15am, just in time for the first flights of the day.
A similar service will also run on June 29 and July 6 to cater to families going abroad during the school holidays. These services will leave Biel / Bienne (2.22am), Neuchâtel (2.43am) and Yverdon (3.07am) at a slightly earlier time, before running as previously scheduled from Morges.
What's more, from the Ascension holiday onwards, new services will be launched as part of the early-bird express to Geneva Airport: officials confirmed that early morning trains will run from Sion and Fribourg to the airport on May 9, May 18, June 29 and July 6.
The Sion route will also serve Martigny, Saint-Maurice, Bex, Aigle, Montreux, Vevey, Lausanne and Renens, while the Fribourg train will call at Romont and Palézieux. The specific timetable for these new trains will be released to the public in April 2024.
Geneva Airport added that regular public transport tickets can be used on the early morning train, and no prior reservation is required. For more information about the service, check out the official press release.
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