The Amsterdam-Basel train will not run after July 15 this year. This means that the last-day train between the Netherlands and Switzerland will disappear after decades. Swiss Railways (SBB) confirmed this to Treinreizen.nl. NS does not yet want to confirm the disappearance of the train.
Long term work
It has been known in the railway sector for some time: the direct train between the Netherlands and Switzerland will disappear this year. Several sources informed Treinreizen.nl about this. In response to a question, Swiss Railways (SBB) spokeswoman Sabrina Schellenberg confirmed that the direct train will disappear from July 16 and will not return after that.
Long-term employment is the main reason for closing contact. The current direct train starts in Amsterdam at around eight in the morning and ensures that passengers can travel directly to Switzerland in comfort. The train is supposed to arrive at Basel SBB at around a quarter to three, and after half an hour the train will leave again for the Netherlands. But since work will begin on the track between Frankfurt and Mannheim from July 16, it will not be possible to operate the return journey with a single train and have a direct train fit properly into the timetable. Therefore, it was decided to remove the train from the timetable after July 15.
The train will not return in 2025 and 2026 either
Therefore the direct train will be canceled due to long-term work. Schellenberg: “In 2025, there will also be construction works between the German and Dutch borders (Oberhausen-Emerich, ed.) which will have consequences for the ICE Amsterdam-Basel train.” The SBB spokesman points to the eighty-week work that will begin in November this year to realize the third track between Emmerich and Oberhausen, an intervention necessary due to the heavy freight traffic on the line.
From 2026, the day train between the Netherlands and Switzerland will no longer be able to run. The German timetable will be fixed in 2026. According to a Swiss Railways spokesperson, direct ICE cannot simply return. “Permission for transfer at Cologne Airport or Frankfurt Airport is necessary.”
The prevailing story among train enthusiasts is that the day train to Switzerland will be canceled because the new ICE trains – ICE Neo – will not be allowed to run to Basel. SBB refutes this. Schellenberg: “DB's ICE Neo is allowed to travel to Basel, but not further than the Swiss rail network.”
NS: There is no train to Basel this summer
Treinreizen.nl also asked Dutch Railways questions about the disappearance of the train to Basel. NS spokeswoman Anita Middlekoop does not want to answer most questions yet, because according to the railway company, the timetable for 2025 has not yet been sufficiently developed.
In a short response, NS announced that “this summer” the selected “ICE” will not go to Basel, but to Frankfurt. Middlekoop: “Travelers who wish to travel to Basel during this working period should consult a travel planner to find out which travel option suits them best.” However, anyone consulting a travel planner should take into account that incorrect travel advice may be given, because not all work-related restrictions are properly integrated into the timetable.
Treinreizen.nl points out that the term “this summer” is a euphemism anyway. After all, the 2024 timetable already stipulates that the train will not return after July 15, not even in the fall.
No more day trains to the Benelux countries
With the disappearance of the ICE train, the last-day train between the Benelux countries and Switzerland will disappear. “Almost always, the Netherlands has had a direct train to Switzerland on the timetable since the 1950s. This has now come to an end,” says editor Hildebrand van Kuijeren. The former EuroCity Brussels-Luxembourg-Zurich has disappeared. Last year, the Amsterdam train was canceled – Basel temporarily due to lack of equipment.
For a long time, there were several direct trains running from the Netherlands to Switzerland. Until 2002, two EuroCitys flights operated daily in Switzerland, one to Chur and one to Interlaken. At the end of 2002, the EuroCity to Chur flight disappeared and only the train to Interlaken remained. However, this too was canceled after two years and replaced by ICE Amsterdam–Basel. Twenty years later, this too is coming to an end.
credibility
The change is noticeable. In recent years, the demand for international train travel has risen sharply. Many people are open to an international train trip, but fear the transfer. Now with the increasing demand for international travel, direct international communication is disappearing. Although the night train between Amsterdam and Zurich will continue to exist, this train has had to deal with carriage breakdowns every day in recent months and cannot be described as reliable at all.
Reliability has always been an issue with ICE. The ICE Amsterdam – Basel train in particular regularly suffers from significant delays, meaning that the train is sometimes canceled before the final destination is in sight.
Govolta to Basel?
Although the regular train to Basel has disappeared, the opportunity for a direct train to Basel has not completely disappeared yet. All eyes are now on Flywise's new rail company, GoVolta. GoVolta previously announced that it wants to offer a direct train between the Netherlands and Basel this summer. The start of this has now been postponed. GoVolta is now focusing on a direct train to Basel from August 25, 2025. This train is supposed to run 3 times a week and the Basel Bad border station will serve as its final stop. This station is located in Switzerland, but in the railway world it is seen as a German train station. GoVolta will not start the train early because there is no capacity to serve the new trains due to work in the previous two months.
Next week, Treinreizen.nl will pay more attention to GoVolta's plans.
This post was last edited on 30 March 2024, at 09:34
