Where to Ski And Snowboard - New ski train to Switzerland

New ski train to Switzerland

30th September 2012, by Abi Butcher

A new Swiss Alps Ski Train is being officially launched later this week that will directly connect the UK with Switzerland ski resorts this winter.

The train service will start at London St Pancras, with a stop in Ashford and then Lille. Passengers will change trains with a simple walk over a platform, transferring onto a TGV train which whisks on to Geneva, Aigle (for Villars, Les Diablerets, Champéry), Martigny (for Verbier) Sierre (for Crans Montana), Visp (for Zermatt) and Brig (for Leukerbad and Saas Fee).

The new service — launched 15 years after the inaugural Eurostar took skiers directly from London the French Alps — will take around nine hours, departing at 06:57am from London St Pancras, arriving at Geneva at 14:16, on to Aigle for 15.47, Martigny for 16.13, Sierre for 16.39, Visp for 16. 57 and its final stop, Brig, at 17.08.

Though Switzerland has previously been accessible by train, travellers had to leave the Eurostar at Gare de Nord and catch the TGV from Gare de Lyon. With the new service, passengers will only need to haul their skis and snowboards across one platform in Lille.

The train will run every Saturday from 22 December until 13 April, and ticket prices are being finalised this week, before an official announcement is made on Thursday (4 October). Bookings can be made from mid-October.