Booking rail ticket: SBB or Trenitalia?

SBB is susally very reliable, and I have had no problems purchasing on there in the past. Just now I got as far as the screen where I would enter my CC number for that 128 CHF "special Offer" ticket from Zurich to Rome. Of course I did not enter my card # to continue. Is that where you are encountering the problem?

Me too. I got as far as Lola.

Thanks, I'll keep trying. I'm wondering if I'm 'timing out' on the transaction because we're pausing at each decision point and thinking about it too long.

Okay, here's the error message I have gotten 3-4 times now. Malfunction Dear customers, Access to the Ticket Shop is currently restricted or unavailable. Please try again later.
If you need to purchase tickets in the meantime, we recommend that you use our ticket machines at your local station. We apologise for the inconvenience and thank you for your visit. The SBB.ch team I'm not even getting past the first screen.

Strange. I had not problem getting to the payment screen before, several hours ago, and still have no problem. I did it in both German and in English. Maybe try a different computer?

Lola, Try the 15:09 from Zurich HB to Roma Termini on 9/26/12. I've tried every ticket age level, whether I had a seating preference or not, in German and English -- maybe 10 times in total over the past 5 hours and two days -- same result. Some kind of maintenance problem. Maybe I'm jinxed. Thanks for trying.

You are right. I was looking at the 11:09. There is an advisory notice on the 15:09. Click on the little blue "I" and you will see the details. Can you possibly take an earlier train from Zurich?

Lola, we land around 1100 and we weren't confident of clearing customs and making it to Zurich HB before 1300. There are a number of trains between 1300 and 1330 but we thought the 1509 was a safer bet. We also liked the 1509 because it had only one train change in Milan. What do you think our chances are of making it to Zurich HB from the airport in less than 2 hours?

Since I assume you are landing at Zurich airport, why not book your train from Zurich airport (Zuerich Flughafen). There is a train with 2 changes (Brig and Milan) at 12:40 right from the airport. You don't have to worry about going to Zurich Hbf. The Zurich airport station is right across the street in the basement of the parking garage. Of course, advance purchase only if your confident it will arrive on time (??).

Lola, Couldn't book the 12:40 from Zurich Airport through Brig. Same maintenance message. There does not seem to be any way to book any train from Milan to Rome on the SBB site - not on any day, any class, any time. Could be a temporary problem but I'm not waiting any longer. So, I have given up on the SBB site and booked the 15:09 train to Roma Termini on the RailEurope website. Thanks again for your help.

Booking a ticket from Milan to Rome would never be possible on SBB. That is not just a temporary problem. The journey must originate in Switzerland, which is why you can book some trains from Zurich to Rome ( even tho they require a change in Milan). The booking problem with the 15:09 train on SBB is related to the travel advisory. This has been in place for many of the trains on that route ( EC 17, 21, 23,etc.) on many days for most of the summer, and may be related to track repair after the late June landslide closed the tracks for a time. Whatever the reason, the advisory states that trains are delayed, and connections in Milan cannot be guaranteed. That is why SBB would not sell you a ticket through to Rome. The German version of the traffic report says delays of up to 25 minutes can be expected on some trains on this route. Hopefully you will still get to Milan in time for your train to Rome.