Swiss Federal Railways, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (SBB) (website: www.sbb.ch) operates the majority of services on Switzerland's rail system. On some routes there are specialised cars for wheelchair users and rail is often the preferred mode of domestic travel. Further information is available from rail services (tel: 0900 300 300).

The busy Hauptbahnhof, Zurich's main railway station, dates from 1871 and is located on Bahnhofplatz. In addition to a tourist information office, it offers a range of shops and very good restaurants, as well as left luggage, banking, postal and telecommunication facilities.

Rail services: Trains run frequently to and from major Swiss centres (including Bern, Geneva, Basel and Luzern) and there are excellent international connections too. High-speed InterCity Express (ICE) services operate from Stuttgart (journey time - 2 hours 50 minutes), Karlsruhe (journey time - 3 hours), Frankfurt (journey time - 4 hours), Hanover (journey time - 6 hours 20 minutes) and Hamburg (journey time - 7 hours 35 minutes). CityNightLine (tel: 0900 300 300; website: www.citynightline.ch) trains depart from Hamburg, Dresden, Berlin and Amsterdam, arriving in Zurich in the morning. A high-quality sleeper service (website: www.raileurope.com) also links Zurich with Barcelona (journey time - 13 hours 10 minutes). There are day and overnight trains to and from Rome (journey time - 9 hours 45 minutes) and Venice (journey time - 8 hours), Vienna (journey time - 9 hours) and Budapest (journey time - 12 hours 50 minutes). High-speed Cisalpino (tel: (058) 580 8500 or 0900 300 300; website: www.cisalpino.com) tilting trains connect Zurich with Milan (journey time - 3 hours 40 minutes) and various other northern Italian cities.