PRE-ALPINE EXPRESS (VORALPEN EXPRESS)
The Pre-Alpine Express is a standard
train route connecting through cities rather than specialized scenic
excursion train, traveling from Lucerne
to St Gallen and on to the shore of Lake Constance at Romanshorn,
passing through Arth-Goldau and Rapperswill along Lake Zurich. It is
not the
fastest route to get through Eastern Switzerland, but the most scenic,
yet still a direct route. The Pre-Alpine Express departs every hour
on a regular schedule, and requies no special ticketing. With a rail
pass you can get on or off at some of the stops along the way. The
coaches are first and second class with no meal service.
The Pre-Alpine
(VorAlpen) Express does not go over any mountains, but travels along
the sloping foothills and flats, hence the pre-alpine.
Instead of jagged rock faces and deep gorges, you see the charming hills
of the Appenzellerland and Toggenburg. Stop at Rapperswill for the resort
town and its wooden foot bridge walking across the water of Lake Zurich
which parallels the rail bridge, or in St Gallen for its magnificent
Baroque Abbey Library. In Romanshorn at the edge of Europe’s largest
inland lake, Lake Contance (Bodensee in German), head east to the Rheinfalls
at Schaffhausen,
cruise
the lake
shore and along the wide flat Rhine which feeds the lake, or if leaving
Stwitzerland, take a ferry across to Germany, or train routes eastward
toward Munich or Friedrichshafen. © sbr
