Blunder sends train to wrong country

More than 100 passengers who boarded a night-train destined for Milan had a surprise in the morning, when they woke up in the Swiss city of Zurich. The overnight Salvador Dalí train, which departed from Barcelona in Spain on Sunday, was scheduled to arrive in the Italian city early the following day – but it ended up almost 150 miles away in the Swiss financial centre due to a points switch error. The train, run jointly by the Spanish train operator Renfe and the French SNCF, completed the first part of its journey without incident, arriving in Lyon as scheduled. As usual, it was part of a convoy including another train, the Pau Casals, which was destined for Zurich. However, rail workers then confused the destinations, sending the Zurich-bound service towards Milan, and the Milan-bound train towards Zurich. At Geneva, Swiss rail workers realised the error and redirected the Milan train to Zurich, where passengers transferred to a replacement coach service to reach their original destination. Passengers destined for Zurich were re-routed back to Lyon, from where they continued to the Swiss city, eventually arriving a reported four hours behind schedule. According to a report in the Spanish newspaper El Pais, all 135 passengers on the Milan-bound service have been refunded the full cost of their tickets. A spokesperson for the SNCF confirmed that an error had taken place in Lyon, without specifying the reasons for the mistake.