Using Swiss Transfer Ticket when arriving on Milan to Montreux train

I was surprised that you could go from Milan to Montreux on the same train. I looked it up and learned something. As for validation, I believe that if you show your pass to the Italian agent, he can validate your ticket before you get on the train. After all, he sees a ticket with your train number, destination and departure time on it so he can easily assume that you will be on the train. Second, you can easily ask this question in an email to the Swiss train people at www.sbb.ch. They do respond quickly and in English.

emil, if I recall correctly, we used our American credit card in the ticket machines in Italy with no trouble. But maybe I am imagining things and we put in cash each time. We did make several purchases from the machines. I do definitely recall that the Swiss ticket machines would NOT take our US no-PIN credit card. But it would take the debit card, using the PIN.

Thank you Larry. Here is the answer I got from SBB CFF:
"Generally the validation has to be done at an SBB ticket counter within Switzerland. But as you start your travel in Italy and you will catch an international crossboarding train the Swiss train staff will gladly validate your Swiss Card or Swiss Transfer ticket on board."

Thanks for posting the SBB response. This is good to know as others have asked this question, and now we can pass on the information.

Lola, I noticed that you have been a great source of information on Swiss trains, so I was happy to add my little tidbit to the general fund of knowledge. Now I am looking at the next piece of the puzzle (and I have e-mailed SBB about it but no answer yet): when the train gets to Domodossola, will we need seat reservations from SBB or can we just stay in the seats we used from Milano to Domodossola? I don't know how to reserve the seats in the Swiss system without going to a ticket window in Switzerland (I don't see it on sbb.com).

Now there's a good question. Reservations are a bit unusual in Switzerland (only compulsory for the trains that go into or come from another country; optional on a few other IC trains). But assuming you are riding the EC train that goes directly from Milan to Montreux (or Brig), such as EC 32, 52, or 34, your ticket from Milan to Domodossola will include your seat reservation. I would assume you would just stay in that seat. If SBB doesn't respond by e-mail, you could ask the ticket agent in Milan (assuming you buy there instead of from a machine.) If all else fails, when the Swiss conductor validates your Transfer Ticket he or she will let you know if you need to pay an additional reservation fee for the Swiss portion. The last time I paid a reservation fee for a Swiss train (Zurich to Innsbruck), it was only 4 CHF. I cannot imagine they would inflict a fine. The only fine threat I have seen on Swiss trains is the very high fine for riding a "Selbstkontrolle" (honor system) train without a ticket or pass.

Yea Emil. Great new information. I'm keeping this scoop in my small, but gettng larger, Switzerland notes file.

Lola, you made me feel less stupid for asking about the reservation, and your insight was reassuring. I plan to take EC 34, but our journey will begin in Florence, with 40 minutes to change trains in Milano. I plan to buy the tickets for Florence-Milano and Milano-Domodossola on trenitalia.com, because they offer mini prices and the tickets are already available for sale. Since trenitalia.com asks about seat preference (window-middle-aisle), I assume that seats will be assigned. (I have already used trenitalia.com to purchase tickets on an Italian Eurostar train where the seats were assigned.) Since I don't have a Swiss Card yet, I can't get the benefit of it at trenitalia.com, which would sell me a ticket all the way to Montreux but asks for the card number. Also, once I try to use trenitalia.com to buy the ticket with a Swiss destination, it looks like I can't print it out but have to retrieve it from an automatic machine in Italy. I don't know if I will be able to use an Italian machine with an American credit card (no chip and pin), but I suppose I could go to the ticket counter in Florence to pick it up. It's amazing how these peripheral issues crop up! Of course I will post any information I get back from SBB.

I think I have made a surprising discovery regarding the EC 34 train. It seems that while reservations are required between Milano and Domodossola, they are not required between Domodossola and Montreux. I realize this is contrary to the general understanding that such trains require reservations, but: looking at bahn.de for the schedule between Milano and Domodossola, the symbol for compulsory registration appears, but looking at bahn.de for the schedule between Domodossola and Montreux, the symbol does not appear, and also looking at sbb.com, the menu on the left has an item for "trains/routes" which permits a search by train number and date, and a search for EC 34 on my date provides the following comments: "Overall price (Milano Centrale --> Domodossola) "Minibar (Domodossola --> Geneve)
"Reservation compulsory (Milano Centrale --> Domodossola)" Maybe the solution to my problem is that a reservation for the Swiss portion of the train ride isn't required after all! Seems too good to be true.

Interesting. They must change from"Italian rules" to "Swiss rules" at Domodossola.

I thought I should follow up on my experience so far. SBB never gave me an answer about getting a reservation; they just e-mailed to say it was a special procedure. If you use sbb.com to buy a ticket Domodossola to Montreux, they don't provide for reserving a seat. However, if you buy the ticket at trenitalia.com (where, incidentally, it costs less), a seat reservation is mandatory. Moreover, they will let me reserve the seat I had previously reserved from Milano to Domodossola, which was scary, because it meant they could give it to anyone else. Long story short: I purchased at trenitalia.com, where I had to use the delivery option of using a self-service machine, so I'll keep my fingers crossed that my credit card will work (or that if it doesn't I can go to the counter). The trip is still several weeks away, but I'll try to remember to report back on what happens. Meanwhile, thanks for all the help.