"Is there a better sensation for a traveller than when a train speeds out of a tunnel? The sudden flood of light, that howling rush of air. Clearly, it's not just me who thinks trains are the new (old) planes, with 2025 having seen a 7% rise in UK train travel, and more Europeans than ever looking to hit the rails."
"It's late December, and I'm heading out on a slow-train journey across the historic railways of the Swiss Alps and the Italian lakes. It's a trip of roughly 1,800 miles (2,900km), crossing five countries, almost entirely by scenic daytime trains. What is clear from the off is how easy, and slightly disorientating, this type of train travel can be: drifting through stations, across platforms and over borders,"
"Outside, the French countryside soon blurs into Swiss hills, all behind a thin veil of white, wintry light. The fields, with their clumps of bare trees, seem suspended in mid-freeze, as though bracing for the full blast to come. As we roll into Zurich, we catch our first glimpse of the milky Alpine peaks. This is the thrill of train trips: the steadily shifting scenes, the rise and fall of the landscape, leavened like fresh bread."
A slow-train journey across the Swiss Alps and Italian lakes covers roughly 1,800 miles (2,900 km) and crosses five countries, traveling almost entirely on scenic daytime trains. Train travel saw a 7% rise in UK ridership in 2025 and growing popularity across Europe. Border crossings are effortless, with polite immigration and no invasive airport processes. Landscapes shift steadily from French countryside to Swiss hills and milky Alpine peaks, offering continuously changing views. Historic routes such as the Matterhorn Gotthard railway, opened in 1882, provide dramatic mountain ascents and a deep sense of rail heritage.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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