Reservation and seat confirmation on trains

Yiephaneck28

First time to Europe so please do escuse me for the basic question. Iam trying to book a first class ticket from St. Moritz to Tirano. The website sbb.ch is requesting me to pay without providing a confirmation on the time / date + seat confirmation? Do I confirm after I buy the tickets? How do I know the ticket is confirmed and seat reserved before I pay?

Danhiel

Hello Yiephaneck28

If you book a ticket on sbb.ch and this ticket is a Point-to-point ticket, you can use it on every train until the following day on 5 am. Verify that the date is correct, but you will get no time and no seat assignation.

If you want to travel with a Bernina Express train, you need a separate mandatory seat reservation for the panoramic cars. You can buy such reservations here, it is also possible to buy the ticket and the seat reservation together on this site:

https://shop.rhb.ch/en/bernina-express

If you travel with regional trains, no mandatory reservations are required.

Kind Regards
Danhiel

Krist

Train travel is not like air travel. Trains work on a “proof of payment” system. You buy a ticket, and that ticket is your proof that you have paid. And that is all you need to travel.

Most trains in Europe work like that. Its mass transit. Like riding the subway, but with nicer trains and scenery.

Yiephaneck28

Thanks for the response. Understand the logic. We are a group of 4. How can we get to the destination in our prefered time with a seating that are close to each other. Either the train provider confirms that we get a seat since the train is empty or we be in some sort of queue to get / rush in when the train arrives? Since this is a 2 hrs train, i don’t think you stand and travel if there is no seat.
In summary what I want to achieve is to go from St. Mortiz to reach Tirano by 1 pm.I cannot afford to be late as i will miss the connecting journey. Hence I am looking for a garenteed / confirmed seat staying togeher during the journey while enjoying the ride. Beacuse of the dependencies, I do not want to take chances that the train if full (seasonal period). So what are my options?

Danhiel

Yiephaneck28

You can reserve seats only in the Bernina Express trains (PE Panoramic Express in the timetable). For other trains, you can arrive 10-15 minutes in advance at the station, you can usually board the train early, because St. Moritz is the start of the line. No queue is necessary, the platforms are open all the time. Tickets are checked in the train.

Krist

Yiephaneck28… or we be in some sort of queue to get / rush in when the train arrives

A railway that makes you queue is a failure. On Swiss trains there are not queues. You just go to the station, and you will notice that there are no barriers, no entry checks. Nothing of the sort. Platforms are open, and usually have multiple entrances. So you just go to the platform a few minutes before departure, and just board the train through any of the multiple doors it has. Then you find yourself a seat.

Yiephaneck28 i don’t think you stand and travel if there is no seat.

Actually that is exactly what you do. If more people board then there are seats some will have to stand. But trains make several stops, and seat turnover is high. Most people boarding with you in st. Moritz will not be going all the way to Tirano. So even if you do not have your perfect seats on departure you can use the seat shuffle at each station to move
to better seats.

Trains are mass transit. This is a subway with nicer trains and scenery.