swiss-rail-mcp

A zero-auth MCP server for Swiss public transport. Wraps transport.opendata.ch and data.sbb.ch into a single MCP server with 12 tools, 3 resources, and 4 prompts.

What it does

Lets an MCP client (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, …) answer real Swiss transport questions without an API key:

• "When's the next train from Regensdorf to Zürich HB?"

• "What's the last realistic train home from Bern tonight?"

• "Any disruptions on the Gotthard line?"

• "Does Lugano have step-free access and WiFi?"

Communication is stdio only. No keys, no accounts, no rate-limited proxy — just two public, unauthenticated upstream APIs.

Related MCP server: sbb-mcp

Install

Run on demand without installing globally:

uvx swiss-rail-mcp

Or install it as a persistent uv tool:

uv tool install swiss-rail-mcp

Both options pull from PyPI and expose the swiss-rail-mcp console script. Requires Python 3.11+.

Use with Claude Desktop

Add the server to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "swiss-rail": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["swiss-rail-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. The tools, resources, and /swiss-rail:* slash-commands should appear in the picker.

Use with Claude Code

claude mcp add swiss-rail -- uvx swiss-rail-mcp

Tools

Core (timetable, via transport.opendata.ch)

SBB open data (via data.sbb.ch)

Conversational (compose the above)

All datetimes returned by the tools are ISO 8601 with a Europe/Zurich offset.

Resources

Read-only URIs the client can fetch. Useful for letting the LLM pull formatted markdown views of live data without a tool call.

Prompts

Slash-commands in Claude Desktop (/swiss-rail:<name>) and callable prompts in other MCP clients.

Example sessions

Real responses from Claude with this MCP server wired up, captured via claude -p --mcp-config … against the live upstream APIs. Reproduce with the snippet at the bottom of this section.

Q: When's the next train from Bern to Zürich HB?

A: Next IR from Bern at 03:00, arriving Zürich HB at 04:11 (direct, 71 min, platform 5).

Q: When's the last realistic train home from Bern to Regensdorf tonight?

A: Your last realistic option is the IC at 23:02 from Bern (platform 6) → Zürich HB 00:16 → SN to Regensdorf-Watt, arriving 00:49. After that you're into Nachtnetz SN trains (last one departs Bern 01:06, arrives 02:49) which usually carry a night surcharge.

Q: Are there any active disruptions on the Swiss rail network right now? Give me just the headline count and the most severe one.

A: 10 active events on the feed. The most severe is a critical interruption on the Basel Bad Bf–Freiburg line between Haltingen and Efringen-Kirchen (accident involving a person), affecting ICE, ECE, EC, NJ, RE 7 and RB 27 — service has since resumed but residual delays/cancellations are possible through 05:00.

Q: Does Zürich HB have step-free access and WiFi?

A: Yes — Zürich HB has both step-free access and WiFi (elevators are also available).

Q: How busy is Lugano station compared to Bern?

A: Bern is much busier, averaging ~177,000 daily passengers in 2025 versus ~32,300 at Lugano — roughly 5.5× the foot traffic.

Q: I'm in Bern and want to grab a coffee in Olten for 30 minutes on my way to Basel SBB. Plan the journey.

A: Take the IR from Bern at 03:00 (platform 5), arriving Olten 03:27. Note: the next onward train to Basel SBB isn't until 04:48 (platform 10AB, arriving 05:26), so your "30 min" coffee stretches to about 81 minutes at this hour — if you're traveling later in the day, ask again with a specific time and I'll find a tighter 30-min layover.

Reproduce

cat > /tmp/swiss-mcp.json <<'EOF'
{ "mcpServers": { "swiss-rail": {
    "command": "uvx", "args": ["swiss-rail-mcp"]
}}}
EOF

claude -p \
  --mcp-config /tmp/swiss-mcp.json \
  "When's the next train from Bern to Zürich HB?"

Times and disruption counts will differ on each run — these were captured live.

Data sources

Two zero-auth sources. Both are unaffiliated with this project.

• transport.opendata.ch — proxies SBB's HAFAS timetable endpoints. Community-funded; be considerate with request volume.

• data.sbb.ch — SBB's public Opendatasoft Explore API. Disruptions, station facilities, passenger frequency.

For SBB data that requires an API key (real-time delays, occupancy, fares, train compositions, OJP, SIRI), see malkreide/swiss-transport-mcp. This server stays zero-auth on purpose; see LIMITATIONS.md for the full list of what that excludes and the heuristics used in its place.

Development

uv sync
uv run pytest                          # all tests (hits live APIs)
uv run pytest -m "not integration"     # offline only
uv run ruff check
uv run ruff format --check

Enable verbose HTTP logging with SWISS_TRANSPORT_DEBUG=1.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.