Switzerland’s Incredible Railway Precision | Zurich S-Bahn Explained

The Zurich S-Bahn is a unique system with service to another country, an incredible amount of infrastructure & interlining, along with some of the most beautiful views & trains in the world! Let's take a look at what makes it so special.

Special thanks to yorryyorry & Theo Säuberlich for providing awesome footage & helping with the content of this video!

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Ever wondered why your city's transit just doesn't seem quite up to snuff? RMTransit is here to answer that, and help you open your eyes to all of the different public transportation systems around the world!

Reece Martin (the RM in RMTransit) is an urbanist and public transport critic residing in Toronto, Canada, with the goal of helping the world become more connected through metros, trams, buses, high-speed trains, and all other transport modes.

[RMTransit]

If you haven't seen it yet, here's my in depth video on Zurich S-10!

[ThomasProsserZurich]

Small correction: No train in Switzerland requires reservation. You hop on, find a seat and get out at your destination. You might want to reserve a seat if you're on a train that heads for Paris, Milan, Vienna or Munich for example. But as long as you stay within the country, just make sure that the seat is not reserved for that part of your journey.

[tigersharkzh]

The development of the S-Bahn in Zürich in the last 30 years combined with the rest of the public transport system (Trams, busses, cable cars, etc) has led to an increase in young people with no driver's license. It's just so easy and convenient to use public transport and a bike that there's literally no dependency on cars.

[topdollars]

Video idea: THE BIGGEST difference between Switzerland and other nations, imo, is the complete ticket integration in the whole country. Having to worry about your ticket being valid on Train A, but not valid on Train B is really annoying. Not to mention trams, buses and long distance trains (that may require even a reservation).
Do you need to go from A to B? There's just ONE ticket. Need to do that regularly? Just ONE abo. Valid on EVERYTHING. It's as easy as that.

[nperceived]

Honestly, Swiss railways and transit are amongst some of the world's most underrated systems (not just Zurich but Geneva's and Bern's too).

[yorry]

With roughly 3000 trains a day and around 460 000 passengers per day Zurich HB is also one of the biggest train stations in Europe.

[davidrubinstein]

Zurich guy here. Fantastic accuracy and nuance! Please do also Zurich Tram/Bus/Funi/Boats episode (am sure this is anyway in the planning). Waiting for more episodes from around the world :-)

[fakhribintang]

The only country where I trust a 2 minute train transfer. Love the Swiss punctuality 🇨🇭🇨🇭

[johannesfranck]

Used the zürich s Bahn during the street parade a almost 1 million people techno party, trains and train stations where overcrowded nevertheless the schedule was on point no delay whatsoever, unbelievable

[lance]

To me, one of the most amazing feats is that none of this existed when I lived in Zurich 1986-1988. California can barely get one tunnel dug in 35 years; Switzerland can bore through itself like a chunk of Emmentaller.

[sakrieleg]

Hy RM. I’m Traindriver for local Trains in Zurich and all I have to say. Absolutely Great Video 👍🏼🙌🏼

[MrGuex]

Fun fact: The first train departing from the newly opened airport train station Zurich in 1980 was the one with the Queen herself visiting Switzerland.

[danessip]

Great video!! I recently moved to Thalwil, a town in lake Zurich. It’s amazing seeing trains depart to the city every 10 minutes from such a small town (20’000 residents). Even some Inter-Regio trains stop here, taking you to other cities like Zug, Chur and Luzern. Really shocking for someone who grew up in a country with basically no trains.

[fatei]

I regularly drive freight trains from Chur through to the Northwest cities via Pfäffikon and Zurich.
It amazes me still that there is even capacity for freight between all these S-Bahn trains, however it is always the most frustrating part of the journey.
You are continuously running up on the S ahead of you while the next is bearing down on you.
This results in extended waiting times on sidings until the Takt can fit the freight train again.
Great video!

[lookatthestars]

The reason for the S24 to take its unique route out of HB is to maintain service to Wipkingen station, which lost most of its S-Bahn service when the central tunnel opened. Prior to that, all the west bank of ZRH services (S2, S8 etc) would flow through Wipkingen too

[sandro-here]

Proud daily user of Zürich's public transport network here - incredibly well done research and video! Your level of understanding of this network is absolutely impressive and despite having taken most of these lines many times, I got to learn a few things. Bravo!

[tramlink]

im a driver on a brand new light rail opening up in Zurich Altstetten in mid December this year (Line 20, currently we are testing the route) called Limmattalbahn. its awesome you mentioned ZVV and its way of connecting S-bahns with passenger distribution lines like our light rail. it allows for very efficient travel from home to work without long wait times at stations waiting for a connecting train

[optecio]

From a fellow Zürich resident, thank you for bringing some light to our otherwise quite under appreciated network!

[fusion]

I find it so cool to see content about Switzerland, thank you for covering Switzerland so extensively.

[Fanw]

Thanks Reece. Writing as a fairly regular visitor to Zurich, I can say you cover pretty well everything of importance.
I would add one point about ticketing. Zurich Verkehrsverbund tickets ARE VALID on inter-city and inter-regio trains. This is important for people travelling on the corridor. (In Germany Verkehrsverbund tickets are usually not valid on intercity trains.)