Timo Grossenbacher (35) builds a website to search for night trains: ending the booking chaos at SBB

An experience that Timo Grossenbacher (35) from Solothurn should also do. His girlfriend lives in Amsterdam, so he regularly travels between Switzerland and the Netherlands by night train. It takes about 20 clicks to query a single link, he criticizes in an interview with train fan Blick. “If I want to change history, I have to relive the whole process,” he says. In addition, the current design of the site is not suitable for mobile devices such as smartphones.

Own website created in spare time

Grossenbacher, who describes himself as a “hobby hacker”, solves the problem himself. His method is both simple and effective. It quickly automated the tedious task of clicking the SBB website. An algorithm queries the selected links on the SBB and Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) websites several times a day and displays them on the website. Another advantage arising from this is that the ticket prices on the SBB and ÖBB websites can be easily compared.

“Initially, all the information went into a simple Excel spreadsheet for my girlfriend and me,” Grossenbacher recalls. When her circle of friends reacted enthusiastically to her product, she decided to make it public on her website.

Meanwhile, she has devoted more than 300 hours of her free time to night-ride.ch, a website that simply and clearly displays night train connections to and from Switzerland. Once the departure and destination have been determined, dates and discounts can be set in just a few clicks. Available seats and corresponding prices are displayed directly. This greatly reduces the effort to find the right link.

The only catch: you can’t reserve tickets on Grossenbacher’s website. Anyone who finds the correct link will be directed to the SBB or ÖBB website. The information must be re-entered there in order to complete the reservation.

SBB welcomes active commitment

When asked, SBB confirmed that it was aware of Grossenbacher’s website. What do you think about your client’s own initiative? “Climate-friendly rail transport should continue to gain traction. Customers who are actively involved and offer their own solutions also contribute to this,” says a spokesperson. However: A collaboration with Grossenbacher is not currently planned.

Regarding criticism that the current reservation system is still too complex, SBB says: “The railways have agreed to introduce a common standard. From the end of 2025, this will bring gradual improvements for customers when purchasing international train tickets.”

They are working on a solution that will make it easier to buy tickets for international train travel. In addition to connections with neighboring countries and direct night trains, a number of other international connections can be booked directly on the SBB website by the end of the year, the spokesperson said. Tickets are planned for Eurostar and TGV to Barcelona from the Benelux countries, Denmark, the Czech Republic and France.

Swiss connections are just the beginning

According to Grossenbacher, his non-commercial heart project is still in its infancy. He has lots of ideas to further improve night-ride.ch. Among other things, a cancellation alert for reservations made or the possibility to inquire about available places for more than one person should be added.

Particularly ambitious: the entire European night train network will soon be available on its platform. So if you want to plan a few days in Hamburg on your way to Stockholm, you can organize it accordingly in no time with the help of Grossenbacher’s website.

“Compared to flight, the booking process for night trains and international connections is still very complex. It drives people away,” says Grossenbacher. What started out as a self-interested gimmick aims to encourage people to take the train more often in the future.