connecting in Bern, Switz. on Sunday around 6 pm
 

I come to Switz. often and use saver day passes 1st class a lot. I normally stay near Zurich airport and most of my connections are in Zurich HB (if that), since most of Switz. has direct trains between Z HB or Z airport. On Sunday 2/16/20 I was returning from Lausanne (3 trains/hour, 2 direct and 1 requiring a connection in Bern). I opted for the connection, saving 30 minutes until the next direct train. Per platform train board my train had 1st cl. in sector C (only) the rest of the train had 2nd in C and B. Compared to other stations C in Bern is much longer, waiting in C I could see only one 1st cl. coach in C (at the front of the train); the B coaches were double decked, I boarded the nearest 2nd cl. coach I could find...packed to capacity many pax standing. Was my connecting train an anomaly?

I suspect that that's par for the course.

The connection in Bern at 18:04 on Sunday is an InterRegio (IR) train. Those are (slightly) slower trains that make more stops and travel shorter distances than InterCity (IC) trains, and they generally have less demand for first-class accommodation, and correspondingly fewer first-class cars. The SBB website also notes that that particular train is usually fairly full in 2nd class between Bern and Romont.

The direct train is an IC and will therefore have more (and perhaps more comfortable) first class seats.

The 18:02 IC to Zürich (which I assume is what the OP took) is a proper IC train, not an IR. It is normally composed of a standard 9 car double deck rake (of which 3 are 1st class) reinforced with a 4 car single deck "module"(and an extra locomotive). The 1st class cars are always in sector A in Bern for trains to Zürich. The "module" that is added during rush hour also has one 1st class car, and this one would be in sector C. I think the OP just missed that most 1st class cars were in sector A, and waited in sector C where the single first class car was full...


One tip: If you do not yet know the SBB App, get it. In the app you can click on the train details, and then open a menu (by touching the three dots in the upper right) where you can see the train composition at the stations of interest to you.

Per platform board (and announcements) the IC train had coaches in only B and C with 1st CL in C only. When I got on the platform the train was just arriving, there was no way that I could have boarded the single 1st CL coach in C nor gotten to A in a timely fashion, so I got on a 2nd CL coach. which was a bicycle car, packed with baby carriages and bicycles. I'm a senior citizen and a seated pax offered me her seat:tu: I've been riding trains in Switz. for over 50 years; I've connected in nearly every "major" city, but as I noted in my post #1, I believe the sektors in Bern are longer than for other cities. [Most cities have A, B, C and D] I've noted that on Sundays trains sometimes have "coaches rearranged"...could my train have not had the cars which should have been in A?

I am still puzzled by your story. Are you sure you took the IC to Zürich and not by accident an RE/IR? They sometimes are on opposite sides of the same platform. Did the train stop between Bern and Zürich?
In Bern the sectors are more or less the same length as everywhere, so about 4 cars fit in a sector. If, as you suggest, the train was only a handful of cars you would not even have been able to board. Sunday afternoon is a popular travel time. This is why IC8 is often 14-15 cars long, and it needs it, believe me.

I definitely was on the IC, it was non-stop between Bern and Zurich. Using Zurich HB as a point of comparison, it has sectors A, B, C and D while Bern has only A, B and C, the sector lengths in Bern should be longer than in Zurich.:confused:

Sorry! My mistake--I had the direction of travel reversed.

The platforms in Bern have a sector D too, at least those that are 400m.
I still think that you boarded the added module, and not the main consist. If the train was indeed as short as you describe you would not have been able to get on.