Genève-Cornavin

Orientation & Geography

Europe, Switzerland, Geneva

Gare de Cornavin (also known as Genève-Cornavin and signed as Genève) is Geneva's main railway station, located in the centre of the city. The immediate area surrounding it is known as Cornavin; both names can be used interchangeably to refer to each other. The station has over 230 train arrivals and departures every day, 4 ticket counters and 6 ticket machines, as well as a customs office for international trains to France and beyond. There are only 8 platforms which makes it relatively small compared, for example, to Zurich's 21 platforms. Platforms 7 and 8 have French and Swiss border controls. Long distance trains and TERs leave for France without making any stops in Switzerland. The station connects to one Swiss main line, known as the Jura foot railway line (Olten - Genève-Aéroport), which links the city with the rest of Switzerland. Many long distance trains from this line continue to and terminate at Geneva Airport railway station, 6 minutes ride away. There is also significant traffic to France, along the Lyon-Geneva line, which for the first few km 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, regional trains to Lyon via Bellegarde. Cornavin is also the hub of a growing RER network, with two routes in service, Bellegarde/La Plaine to Cornavin and Coppet to Lancy - Pont-Rouge. The CEVA plans to connect the spur leading to Lancy - Pont-Rouge to the Eaux-Vives station and thus create a line from Cornavin to Annemasse.