National train information

The Zurich dispatching center enters current train information on Switzerland as a whole in systems that distribute this information throughout the country.

The Zurich center enters this information in German and Italian for SBB trains that are over 20 minutes late. The center also receives faxes from the smaller "private" railways in Switzerland announcing either cancellation of trains, bus replacements - as in the aftermath of the hurricaine of December 26, 1999 - or extra trains in period of high demand.

This information goes to the Teletext company in Biel, which posts it on its pages 591 and 592:

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Although somewhat slow to call up, these Teletext pages are available to anyone in Switzerland with a television. The same information of course also appears on the SBB web site, but television users still outnumber Internet users, so both channels are needed.

The information on current rail traffic also appears in Railinfo, an internal SBB system available on every screen at "sales stations", which are mainly ticket windows. More detailed, technical information, such as changes in train makeups, is recorded in German, Italian and French at the dispatching centers in Zurich, Luzern and Lausanne respectively and is available via SBB internal number 120.

The Zurich dispatching center also gathers and enters data on train delays due to strikes.