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The Eurocity between Zurich and Munich is extremely popular, but also prone to disruption.
IMAGO/Wolfgang Maria Weber (Archivbild)
Due to bottlenecks in Germany, the Eurocity connections between Zurich and Munich are already chronically unreliable. Now the SBB trains are also experiencing technical problems - and are breaking down several times.
From Zurich to Munich in three and a half hours - at least in theory: the popular Eurocity connection between the two cities is extremely unreliable due to infrastructure congestion on the German sections of the route.
And now things are getting worse: due to technical problems with SBB's Astoro multiple units, numerous connections are currently having to be canceled. There are also restrictions beyond this.
As reported by"CH Media", SBB canceled one connection in each direction on Sunday, and there were also several cancellations on Monday and Tuesday. This means that every eighth connection between Zurich and Munich is currently being canceled.
Passengers commuting between Zurich, Winterthur and St. Gallen are particularly affected. This is because at some times the Eurocity is the only fast connection between Zurich and eastern Switzerland.
According to SBB spokeswoman Sabrina Schellenberg, there have been several vehicle malfunctions on the Astoro trains in use over the past few days. In addition, the waiting times for the procurement of replacement material are sometimes long.
Cancellations have occurred in particular on the sections between Lindau and St. Margrethen or St. Gallen as well as between Bregenz, St. Margrethen and Munich. Passengers affected should switch to the S-Bahn, the regional express between Lindau and Bregenz or the Interregio 13. However, if you want to use the entire route, you will have to take the next Eurocity connection - i.e. wait two hours.
According to Schellenberg, the situation should at least improve from Thursday. It is expected that all connections will then be able to run again. However, short-term adjustments cannot be ruled out, as the availability of Astoro trains is still tight.
However, passengers will soon face the next restrictions. Due to deficiencies in the German rail network, the speed will have to be reduced from 160 to 70 km/h on a 25-kilometer section between Munich and Buchlohe from 7 February.
However, the extended travel times of 10 to 15 minutes have already been integrated into the timetables.
