Genève-Cornavin railway station

This article is about the station in Switzerland. For the station in Illinois, see Geneva station (Illinois).

Geneva railway station (French: Gare de Genève), also known as Geneva Cornavin railway station, is Geneva's main train station, located in the centre of the city. The immediate area surrounding it is known as Cornavin; both names can be used interchangeably.

Geneva Genève
The main (south) entrance to the station building in 2019
General information
Location	Geneva Switzerland
Coordinates	46°12′36.781″N 6°8′32.809″E / 46.21021694°N 6.14244694°E
Elevation	392 m (1,286 ft)
Owned by	Swiss Federal Railways
Line(s)	CEVA rail Lausanne–Geneva line Lyon–Geneva line
Distance	60.3 km (37.5 mi) from Lausanne[1]
Platforms	4
Tracks	8
Train operators	SNCF Swiss Federal Railways
Connections	Tram lines , , and tpg buses and trolleybuses[2]
Construction
Architect	Julien Flegenheimer [fr] (1931)
Other information
Fare zone	10 (unireso)[3]
History
Opened	1858
Rebuilt	1931 2010-2014 (reconstruction)
Previous names	Geneva Cornavain
Passengers
2023	88'500 per weekday[4] (SBB)
Rank	8 out 1'159
Services Preceding station Swiss Federal Railways Following station Terminus EuroCity Lausanne towards Milano Centrale or Venezia Santa Lucia Geneva Airport Terminus IC 1 Lausanne towards St. Gallen IC 5 Morges towards Rorschach IR 15 Nyon towards Lucerne IR 90 Nyon towards Brig Lancy-Pont-Rouge towards Annemasse RE33 Coppet towards St-Maurice Geneva Airport Terminus Preceding station TGV Lyria Following station Bellegarde towards Paris-Lyon Paris to Geneva Terminus Paris to Lausanne Lausanne Terminus Bellegarde towards Marseille-Saint-Charles Marseille to Lausanne Preceding station TER Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Following station Bellegarde towards Valence 2 Terminus Bellegarde towards Lyon-Part-Dieu 3 Bellegarde towards Chambéry 51 Preceding station Léman Express Following station Lancy-Pont-Rouge towards Évian-les-Bains L1 Genève-Sécheron towards Coppet Lancy-Pont-Rouge towards Annecy L2 Lancy-Pont-Rouge towards Saint-Gervais L3 Lancy-Pont-Rouge towards Annemasse L4 Vernier towards La Plaine L5 Terminus Vernier towards Bellegarde L6
Location Geneva Location within Switzerland Geneva Geneva (Canton of Geneva)

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,^[5] it sees over 720 train departures every day from its eight through-platforms. Platforms 7 and 8 have French and Swiss border controls. Long distance and regional express trains leave for France without making any stops in Switzerland. Another reason to separate the tracks is the different electrical standards of the relevant railway system on either side. The French system uses 25 kV at 50 Hz AC, but the Swiss system uses 15 kV AC at 16.7 Hz.

The station connects to one Swiss mainline, the Lausanne–Geneva line, which links the city with the rest of Switzerland, to the east. Many long-distance trains from this line continue to and terminate at the airport, 6 minutes away. There is also significant traffic to France westwards along the Lyon-Geneva line, which, for the first few kilometres, runs as a single track line alongside the double-track line to the airport. Traffic to France includes long-distance TGVs to Paris and southern France and regional trains to Lyon via Bellegarde. Cornavin is also the hub of the Léman Express network, with six routes in service. Many of these routes travel over the newly opened CEVA, which leads to Annemasse.^[1]

The facilities at the station include a police station, a pharmacy, several supermarkets, coffee shops, bakeries, food stands, clothing shops and multiple other establishments.

Located directly outside the station are bus and tram stops for Transports Publics Genevois services to all over Geneva city, its canton and nearby French locales, a taxi rank, banks, cash machines, post offices, hotels, cinemas, jewellers, book shops, money exchange services, restaurants, bars, and fast food restaurants.

The station entrance and a platform is seen in The Adventures of Tintin comic The Calculus Affair (1956).

The Swiss Federal Railways announced they would extend the railway station by constructing two new railway tracks. The station needs extending due to the planned increase in traffic over the coming years. The initial project cost 800 million Swiss francs and involved the demolition of 350 dwellings next to the station. A second project supported by residents of the neighborhood plans to build the two new tracks under the station with a total cost around 1.7 billion Swiss francs.^[6]

The Swiss Federal Rail plans for the new extension to be completed by 2025.^[7]

In April 2013, an initiative was launched to claim the extension under the station by the "Collectif 500", a neighborhood association.^[8]

As of the December 2022 timetable change, the following services stop at Geneva:^[9]

• TGV Lyria:
  • service every two hours to Paris-Lyon.
  • three trains per day to Lausanne.
  • one daily round-trip to Marseille-Saint-Charles in the summer.
• EuroCity: four trains per day to Milano Centrale, with one train continuing from Milano Centrale to Venezia Santa Lucia.
• InterCity: half-hourly service between Geneva Airport and St. Gallen via Zürich Hauptbahnhof, with every other train continuing to Rorschach.
• InterRegio: half-hourly service to Geneva Airport and Brig and hourly service to Lucerne.
• TER: service to Valence-Ville, Lyon-Part-Dieu, Bellegarde, and Chambéry-Challes-les-Eaux.
• RegioExpress: half-hourly service (hourly on weekends) between Annemasse and Vevey, and hourly service from Vevey to St-Maurice. 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, and every two hours to Évian-les-Bains and Saint-Gervais-les-Bains-Le Fayet.
  • L5: service to La Plaine.
  • L6: service to Bellegarde.

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.

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.
• 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
• 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:
  • L1/L2/L3/L4: service every fifteen minutes between Coppet and Annemasse; from Annemasse every hour to Annecy, and every two hours to Évian-les-Bains and Saint-Gervais-les-Bains-Le Fayet.
  • L5: service to La Plaine.
  • L6: service to Bellegarde.

• Tracks 6 and 7

• History of rail transport in Switzerland
• Rail transport in Switzerland

• Genève-Cornavin railway station – SBB
• Les principaux éléments historiques en relation avec CEVA (in French)