With the railway system in Switzerland known to be one of the most densely packed in the world, some may not realise that many places in the alpine nation are excluded from the network. To satiate the curiosity of train nuts across the country, a new study by Watson has revealed that several significant Swiss towns are not as well connected to public transport as they perhaps should be.
Today, the Swiss rail network stretches for 5.652 kilometres, covering an area of 41.285 kilometres squared. This means that Switzerland has the densest rail network in the world - with the exception of private and tourist railways in the Vatican and St. Kitts and Nevis.
In all, there are currently just over 1.800 stations served by trains across Swiss cities and cantons, alongside 23.080 stops serviced by trams, trolleybuses and buses. Of all the stations, Zurich HB welcomes the most passengers every day.
However, while the network is vast, Watson noted that 1.243 of the 2.134 municipalities in Switzerland do not have a train station. While Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and other providers can forgiven for not building rail lines to tiny hamlets in the mountains, the list includes six areas with populations of over 10.000 people.
They found that the largest place in Switzerland without a train station is Volketswil, Canton Zurich. Despite having the Zurich-Uster-Rapperswil rail line running through it, the 19.412 residents of the town - perhaps most famous for the Volkiland shopping centre - do not have a train station to call their own and instead must commute by bus to nearby Schwerzenbach, a town of just 5.000 people.
Taking second place was Veyrier in the suburbs of Geneva. While the town is well served by TPG buses, people in the town of 11.901 people have to commute to Lancy or Thônex to catch a train. The Valais community of Naters (Valais) rounded out the top three.
However, while the lack of a train station may be annoying if you plan to head abroad or to another part of the country, all the communities in the top 10 are ably served by buses for local journeys.
In all, here are the largest towns in Switzerland without a train station:
To see what other towns in Switzerland don’t have a rail connection, check out the piece by Watson (in German).
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