About this journey

St. Gallen station, which first opened in 1856 and was most recently refurbished between 2016 and 2018, sits at the heart of eastern Switzerland's rail network. Leaving the station, the line passes through the 1.466 km Rosenberg Tunnel before reaching St. Gallen St. Fiden and continuing westward on the Voralpen Express corridor toward Lucerne via Rapperswil and Arth-Goldau — an hourly service operated by SOB using the STADLER-built RABe 526 TRAVERSO.

Lucerne station has its own layered history. The original station opened in 1856 as the terminus of the Schweizerische Centralbahn main line from Olten and Basel. A second building designed by Hans Wilhelm Auer followed in 1896, its distinctive cupola oriented at almost 90° to its predecessor. Fire destroyed that structure, and the current concourse — designed by Santiago Calatrava — opened on 5 February 1991. The tracks had been electrified as far back as 1922. Today the terminus holds seven island platforms across fourteen tracks, numbered 2 through 15, and sits directly beside the passenger lake-steamer landing stages on the south side of Lake Lucerne. The journey thus runs between two stations that share the same opening year yet could scarcely feel more different: an inland eastern gateway rebuilt in stone and glass, and a lakeside terminus crowned by one of Europe's most recognisable station concourses.