Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) has reminded travellers that 24 July is the final day of an eight-day engineering blockade on the key cross-border corridor between Zurich HB and Stuttgart Hbf. The works, which began on 17 July, have closed the track between Singen and Tuttlingen, forcing InterCity trains to turn around at the intermediate stations and replacing the missing link with buses that add up to 40 minutes to the journey. The closure is part of Deutsche Bahn’s modernisation of signalling and bridge infrastructure in Baden-Württemberg but has had tangible knock-on effects for Swiss business travellers heading to meetings in southern Germany. Many commuters have opted for alternative routes via Basel or Schaffhausen, increasing load factors on services that were already busy at the peak of the summer holiday season. SBB says normal through-running will resume with the first northbound IC at 05:05 on Saturday, 25 July. Global mobility managers should note that rail replacement buses do not offer bicycle carriage, seat reservations or on-board Wi-Fi – details that may matter for relocating staff or VIP travellers with tight schedules. Travellers connecting to onward flights from Stuttgart Airport are advised to build in at least an extra hour on 24 July. Although the blockade ends tonight, further summer works loom. From 3 August to 16 August, engineering on the Freiburg–Offenburg stretch will cancel or divert ICE services between Basel and Germany’s Rhine-Ruhr region; and extensive TGV outages on the Zurich–Basel–Paris axis continue until 26 July. Companies running cross-border commuter shuttles should therefore maintain flexible ticketing policies and monitor SBB’s Bahnverkehrsinfo portal daily.
Source: SBB – Fahrplanänderungen Europa
