Milan/Lucerne train

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Hi,

For my family's dec trip from Milan to Lucerne with a swiss half fare card, please help to confirm if my cost research below is correct and that option 2 is the cheapest !

1) Buy Milan to Lucerne SBB train tickets when I am in Milan train station (SBB: chf 23 for Milan to Arth-Goldau and chf 6 for Arth-Goldau swiss half fare rate)

2) Book advance Trenitalia ticket for Milan to Arth-Goldau from home (Trenitalia : Euro 14.20 for GA switzerland 2 since I have swiss half fare card) and
   Arrive in Arth-Goldau and buy Arth-Goldau to Lucerne SBB ticket (SBB : chf 6.10 for swiss half fare rate)

3) Book advance Trenitalia ticket for Milan to Chiasso from home (Trenitalia : Euro 9 for super economy rate) and
    Arrive in Chiasso and buy Chiasso to Lucerne SBB ticket (SBB: chf 30.50 for swiss half fare rate)

I do understand that options 2 & 3 will have a later arrival time to Lucerne as both requires longer waiting time for next train at the transit station.

Thank you so much in advance !!!

1) Buy Milan to Lucerne SBB train tickets when I am in Milan train station (SBB: chf 23 for Milan to Arth-Goldau and chf 6 for Arth-Goldau swiss half fare rate)

You won't be able to buy Milan-Arth-Goldau ticket in Milan before departure for 19 euro (=23 CHF), that is a discounted "SMART" tickets which get sold out rather quickly since they are in limited number per departure. Standard fare (=what you pay before departure) for Milan-Arth-Goldau is 58,3 euro or in you case a bit cheaper since you will be entitled to HTX discount (see below)

2) Book advance Trenitalia ticket for Milan to Arth-Goldau from home (Trenitalia : Euro 14.20 for GA switzerland 2 since I have swiss half fare card) and Arrive in Arth-Goldau and buy Arth-Goldau to Lucerne SBB ticket (SBB : chf 6.10 for swiss half fare rate)

This option won't work, since GA Switzerland discount is available for passengers having ticket/pass fully covering the whole Swiss part of the journey, so basically 14,2 euro is the fare for Italian leg only. For GA Switzerland discount entitled passengers holding either SBB GA card and various Swiss passes. Half-fare card (or how it's called in Italian - Abbonamento metà prezzo) gives only partial discount on SBB leg of the journey and corresponds to discount listed as "HTX Switzeland" or "HTX Switzerland 2", this one starts from 35,4 euro for Milan-Arth-Goldau. Which is basically useless since you can get discounted ticket under offer "SMART" for only 19 euro, for buying "SMART" you won't need any card or pass, it's usual discounted fare available for any passenger (even more, you can buy 19 euro "Smart" ticket for Milan-Luzern direct evening train, although arrival to Luzern will be quite late)

3) Book advance Trenitalia ticket for Milan to Chiasso from home (Trenitalia : Euro 9 for super economy rate) and Arrive in Chiasso and buy Chiasso to Lucerne SBB ticket (SBB: chf 30.50 for swiss half fare rate)

Actually if you already intend to play the trick with Chiasso, then much cheaper will be to organize it slightly other way: use suburban TreNord service Milano Porta Garibaldi-Milano Greco Pirelli-Chiasso (line S11), trains run like every hour (or every 30 min. during peak times), regular fare is just 5,25 euro and no need to buy anything in advance. While from Chiasso you can actually beat even half-fare card ticket price by buying two weeks in advance SuperSaver ticket Chiasso-Luzern for 24,4 CHF. So total Milan-Chiasso-Luzern here will be 5,25 euro + 24,4 CHF=roughly 25,5 euro. While on the contrary combination 19 euro "Smart" ticket Milan-Arth-Goldau (bought via TrenItalian website in advance) + half-fare Arth-Goldau-Luzern is roughly 24 euro, not a big difference, but still

I do understand that options 2 & 3 will have a later arrival time to Lucerne as both requires longer waiting time for next train at the transit station.

Well, both of your options (1 and 2) presume change in Arth-Goldau, so no difference here, additional stop in Chiasso (like with option 3) obviously will add some time, but it won't be really essential, imho. Generally you'll need to look at particular connections to see whether it worth additional stop or not

Hi Tut,

U r great !!! Thanks a million for your clear reply. I understand better now. My 2 options are :

1) Advance booking on Trenitalia for Milan to Arth-Goldau (Euro 19 for smart fare) then get off at Arth-Goldau to buy on the spot swiss half fare card and Arth-Goldau to Lucerne ticket (chf 6 half fare rate)
or
2) Advance booking on Trenitalia for Milan to Chiasso (Euro 9 for super economy fare) then get off at Chiasso to buy on the spot swiss half fare card and Chiasso to Lucerne ticket (chf 21.4 supersaver rate)

Yes, both options add up to be about the same so doesn't really matter via Arth-Goldau or Chiasso as far as cost is concerned.

I have only 1 question left.  Why are the Trenitalia trains departing Milan for both Arth-Goldau and Chiasso listed on 21 dec at only 11.10am (Eurocity 16) while SBB offers Eurocity 14 departing Milan at 9.10am for Lucerne via Arth-Goldau on the same day ? I want to advance book with Trenitalia to enjoy their rates but I am attracted to SBB's earlier departure time.  Anyway to solve this ?

Appreciate your help once again !

2) Advance booking on Trenitalia for Milan to Chiasso (Euro 9 for super economy fare) then get off at Chiasso to buy on the spot swiss half fare card and Chiasso to Lucerne ticket (chf 21.4 supersaver rate)

This isn't entirely correct. First of all, SuperSaver ticket is 24,4 CHF (not 21,4), second - SuperSaver tickets can be bought only online via SBB website, you can't buy them at the station. More about SuperSaver tickets here and here. Third, if you do intend to use 9 euro ticket for EC trains Milan-Chiasso (and not 5,25 euro suburban train), then there is no need to get off in Chiasso at all, since you can buy your SuperSaver ticket for the same train (like EC 14), you anyway will print your SuperSaver ticket at home, while when traveling you'll just show Milan-Chiasso ticket before Chiasso, and Chiasso-Luzern SuperSaver after, no need to get off train if you buy both for the same train. And finally, stop in Arth-Goldau will be necessary in case of both EC 16 or EC 14, since they are Milan-Zurich train, which doesn't travel via Luzern. Direct ticket (like Chiasso-Luzern) doesn't always mean a direct connection

I have only 1 question left.  Why are the Trenitalia trains departing Milan for both Arth-Goldau and Chiasso listed on 21 dec at only 11.10am (Eurocity 16) while SBB offers Eurocity 14 departing Milan at 9.10am for Lucerne via Arth-Goldau on the same day ? I want to advance book with Trenitalia to enjoy their rates but I am attracted to SBB's earlier departure time.  Anyway to solve this ?

Well, apparently SBB does show EC 14, but doesn't sell tickets yet, so as a guess, there might be some problem with timetable or other kind of snag (at least on Italian part) particularly with some connections (including 9 am departure), as soon as the problem will be solved both TrenItalia and SBB should open ticket sale. So just try checking time to time, it's for sure will be open

Hi Tut,

Once again thank u so much for your clarification. I now see that SBB supersaver rate can only be purchased online and not at the station.  To save on postage cost (chf 85 for delivery to Asia) for online ticket, I guess I will have to cancel option 2 (get off at Chiasso).(Don't think I can print the online tickets at home in Asia)

For this same postage cost reason, I will avoid all SBB online bookings.  I am therefore left with option 1 (advance Trenitalia booking for Milan/Arth-Goldau @ Euro19 smart fare then get off at Arth-Goldau to buy swiss half fare card and Arth-Goldau/Lucerne SBB ticket @ chf 6 half fare rate).  For the saving on postage/delivery cost, I am willing to get off at Arth-Goldau to purchase my switzerland leg train tickets.

Pls correct me if I am wrong again !

Also, thank you for pointing out the possible technical problem with the train timetable. I will continue to check daily.

Thank you for your patience
 

Don't think I can print the online tickets at home in Asia

Why do you think that? With print yourself tickets it doesn't really matter whether it's Asia, Europe or Americas, you just need an Adobe Reader and printer

For this same postage cost reason, I will avoid all SBB online bookings.

Well, there are some ticket that SBB sells only with option that they will be mailed, but SuperSaver and discounted tickets to some of the countries (including Italy) are all print yourself ones

I am therefore left with option 1 (advance Trenitalia booking for Milan/Arth-Goldau @ Euro19 smart fare then get off at Arth-Goldau to buy swiss half fare card and Arth-Goldau/Lucerne SBB ticket @ chf 6 half fare rate).

It is anyway cheapest option, so if you don't want to deal with SBB in advance purchase, then it's hard to think of a better option

Hi Tut,

Thank you for your great help !!! I will recommend your website to all my friends.  Have a good day ahead !