Chiasso railway station

Chiasso
Chiasso station building.
Location
Address	Via Giuseppe Motta 6830 Chiasso
Municipality	Chiasso
District	Mendrisio
Canton	Ticino
Country	Switzerland
Coordinates	45°49′56″N 09°01′52″E / 45.83222°N 9.03111°E / 45.83222; 9.03111Coordinates: 45°49′56″N 09°01′52″E / 45.83222°N 9.03111°E / 45.83222; 9.03111
Line(s)	Immensee - Chiasso (Gotthardbahn) Milan–Chiasso
Distance	206.17 km from Immensee
Elevation	238 m
Other information
Opened	6 December 1874 (1874-12-06)
Electrified	6 February 1922 (1922-02-06)
Owner	SBB-CFF-FFS
Line ops	SBB-CFF-FFS Trenitalia
Connections
	Ticino S-Bahn
	Postauto Local buses
Location map
Chiasso Chiasso (Switzerland)

Chiasso railway station (Italian: Stazione di Chiasso) is a station owned by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB-CFF-FFS). It serves the city of Chiasso, in the Canton of Ticino, Switzerland, and is also a border station between Switzerland and Italy.

The station is both the southern terminus of the Gotthardbahn (owned and operated by the SBB-CFF-FFS), and the northern terminus of the Milan–Chiasso railway (owned by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana and operated by Trenitalia). It is situated a few metres from the border, and is separated from the Italian city of Como by twin railway tunnels through the Monte Olimpino.

Train movements

Given its location, Chiasso is an important station, not only for the connection between Italy and Switzerland, but also for that between northern and southern Europe. The station is served by the long-distance trains that cross the Gotthard, together with line S10 of the Ticino S-Bahn, and line S11 of the Milan suburban service.

In 2009, there was a reduction in the numbers of train services to the station, which led to the reduction in the numbers of certain jobs.^[1] Thanks to numerous complaints raised by various sectors of the political and institutional elements of Ticino, Swiss-Italian InterCity services have returned to Chiasso since December 2009.

Border procedures

As the international border station, Chiasso acts as a transmission facility between the two networks. The traction voltages, motors and signalling systems of the two networks are different, and therefore trains passing through the station must change locomotives. The yard tracks are also required to be divided into two parts, connected to the station's central platform by a corridor, where there are also customs offices. Thus, trains for the Italian network start at separate tracks compared to the Swiss network.

With the entry of Switzerland into the Schengen Agreement, border controls are no longer systematic. However, the Italian Guardia di Finanza agents and the Swiss Border Guards still have much work to do, both within Chiasso and Como San Giovanni stations, and in transit on the trains between those two stations.

References

Notes

1. ^ "Le FFS tagliano 54 impieghi [SBB-CFF-FFS cuts 54 jobs]". Corriere del Ticino. 24 September 2009. http://www.cdt.ch/confederazione/economia/12045/le-ffs-tagliano-54-impieghi.html. Retrieved 30 August 2010.  (Italian)

Further reading

• Moser, Beat; Pfeiffer, Peter (2004). SBB Gotthardbahn. Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany: Eisenbahn-Journal (Verlagsgruppe Bahn GmbH). ISBN 3-89610-121-8.  (German)

This article is based upon a translation of the Italian language version as at August 2010. The original authors can be seen here.