Genève-Cornavin railway station
Railway station in Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva railway station (French: Gare de Genève), also known as Geneva Cornavin railway station, is Geneva's main train station, located in Cornavin area; both names can be used interchangeably.
It connects the Lausanne-Geneva line (15 kV at 16.7 Hz AC) to the east with the Lyon-Geneva line (25 kV at 50 Hz AC), which goes westwards to France and, for the first few kilometers, runs as a single track line alongside the double-track line to the airport, where most long-distance trains from the rest of Switzerland terminate. Traffic to France goes through Bellegarde border station and includes long-distance TGVs to Paris and southern France and regional express trains to Lyon. Cornavin is also the hub of the Léman Express network, with six routes in service, many of which travel over the newly opened CEVA, which leads to Annemasse on its eastbound axis, and towards La Plaine (L5) and Bellegarde (L6) on its westbound axis.
The third largest train station in Switzerland by passenger numbers behind Zürich HB and Bern, with 156,000 users on average per working day in 2022, it sees over 720 train departures every day from its eight through-platforms. Platforms 6 and 7 have French and Swiss border controls. Facilities at the station include a police station, a pharmacy, several supermarkets, coffee shops, bakeries, food stands, clothing shops and multiple other establishments.
01Planned extension
In 2012, the Swiss Federal Railways announced they would construct two new tracks to extend the station due to the planned increase in traffic. The initial project cost 800 million Swiss francs and involved the demolition of 350 dwellings next to the station. In 2013, a second project supported by the "Collectif 500", a neighborhood association planned to build the two new tracks under the station with a total cost around 1.7 billion Swiss francs. In April 2013, an initiative was launched to claim the extension under the station.
The Jura-Léman-Salève rail link would be a cross-border metro line, potentially operational in the 2040s. While the canton plans to connect it to the Swiss Federal Railways network at Sécheron and Eaux-Vives, an advisory committee is requesting that this connection has to be made at Cornavin Station instead.
02Services
As of the December 2024 timetable change, the following services stop at Geneva:
- TGV Lyria:
- service every two hours to Paris-Lyon.
- three trains per day to Lausanne.
- one daily round-trip between Marseille-Saint-Charles and Lausanne in the summer.
- EuroCity: four trains per day to Milano Centrale, with one train continuing from Milano Centrale to Venezia Santa Lucia.
- InterCity: hourly service between Geneva Airport and St. Gallen via Zürich Hauptbahnhof.
- InterRegio:
- TER: service to Valence-Ville, Lyon-Part-Dieu, Bellegarde, and Chambéry-Challes-les-Eaux.
- RegioExpress: half-hourly service (hourly on weekends) between Annemasse and St-Maurice, and hourly service from St-Maurice to Martigny. On weekends, hourly service to Geneva Airport.
- Léman Express:
- L1 / L2 / L3 / L4: service every fifteen minutes between Coppet and Annemasse; from Annemasse every hour to Annecy, half-hourly or hourly service or service every two hours to Évian-les-Bains and every two hours to Saint-Gervais-les-Bains-Le Fayet.
- L5: half-hourly service to La Plaine.
- L6: rush-hour service to Bellegarde.
03PRODES EA 2035
As part of the strategic development program for rail infrastructure (PRODES), the Confederation and SBB are focusing on customer orientation and economical management of resources.
By 2040, nearly two million people will travel by rail every day, 50% more than today. In rail freight, the Confederation also expects traffic to increase by around 45%. The Swiss rail network will have to continue to meet customer needs: interesting connections, punctual trains, affordable tickets. SBB is committed to the sustainable development of public transport and takes on this responsibility vis-à-vis Switzerland.
Predicted Services
The following services will stop from 2035 at Geneva:
- TGV Lyria:
- Service every two hours to Paris-Lyon.
- Three trains per day starting at Lausanne.
- One daily round-trip to Marseille-Saint-Charles in the summer.
- Service every two hours to Paris-Lyon.
- EuroCity: Eight trains per day to Milano Centrale, with two trains continuing from Milano Centrale to Venezia Santa Lucia.
- InterCity:
- IC1: Hourly service between Geneva Airport and Romanshorn
- IC11 (Sister Line): Hourly Service between Geneva Airport and Lucerne
- IC5: Half-hourly service between Geneva Airport and St. Gallen, with every other train continuing to St. Margrethen.
- IC51 (Sister Line): Hourly service between Geneva Airport and Basel SBB
- IC9: Half-hourly service between Geneva Airport and Brig
- IC1: Hourly service between Geneva Airport and Romanshorn
- InterRegio:
- IR18: Hourly service between Annemasse and Bern
- IR95: Half-Hourly between Geneva Airport and St-Maurice
- IR98: Hourly service between Annemasse and Aigle
- TER: Service to Valence-Ville, Lyon-Part-Dieu, Bellegarde, and Chambéry-Challes-les-Eaux.
- Léman Express:
04In popular culture
The station entrance and a platform is seen in The Adventures of Tintin comic The Calculus Affair (1956).
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Genève-Cornavin railway station”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Genève-Cornavin railway station (2026).jpg by JoachimKohler-HB, CC BY-SA 4.0
Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.
