Rail route of the month: Basel to Locarno, the slow Swiss Alps classic

Astonishing scenery and glimpses of Switzerland’s history are offered up to passengers gliding along this classic line

At just over 35 miles, the Gotthard base tunnel is the world’s longest railway tunnel. When it opened in 2016, there was speculation as to the fate of the old Gotthard railway through the Swiss Alps. It’s a steeply graded, sinuous line; it skirts Lake Lucerne and then cuts under the St Gotthard Massif to reach the Ticino valley which drains south towards Italy.

Thankfully, the decision of Swiss rail operator Südostbahn (SOB) to step in with a new train service on the legacy line has breathed fresh life into a classic rail route. The first trains from Basel via the old Gotthard line, right through to Locarno, ran in April 2021. It’s a perfect north-south connection through the Alps, and one especially well suited to travellers from the UK; Basel is the most accessible Swiss city by train, taking just seven hours from London with an easy change of train in Paris or, on some services, Paris and Strasbourg.