2023-11-01-11-20

[SBB]: Schweizerische Bundesbahnen
[CFF]: Chemins de Fer Fédéraux suisses
*[FFS]: Ferrovie Federali Svizzere
Today, I learned that the sound of train announcements in Switzerland is based on the abbreviation of the national company.

In German-speaking countries, musical notes have slightly different names compared to English. The note ‘B’ in English is called ‘H’ in German, and ‘B’ is used for B-flat instead. Additionally, E-flat is referred to as ‘Es’.

The abbreviations for the company, are SBB (German), CFF (French), and FFS (Italian). Therefore, the chimes you hear at the stations before announcements reflect this. In the German-speaking parts of the country, the chimes are “E-flat, B-flat, B-flat” (Es-B-B). In the French-speaking part, they are “C-F-F,” and in the Italian part, they are “F, F, E-flat” (F-F-Es). The chime in the trains changes accordingly when the train crosses into a different language region.

You can hear the three different jingles in this video.

This is something I had never noticed before, and I find it awesome.