I thought it seemed odd and didn't find anything about it on the government websites.
I'm a cross border commuter living in Austria (permit G). Twice in the last weeks I've been asked by border guards when I step off the train in Buchs SG for identification. Is this due to covid-19 restrictions?
No, it's been like that in Buchs for ever. I have seen them doing this regularly since 2006, when I first moved to Buchs. And ever since.
Been last week to bregenz, no checks the whole trip.
Nope. Regular border check.
And in the intercity trains within Switzerland, like IC5, it's also normal.
Interesting, I thought these types of checks were abolished when Switzerland joined the Schengen area.
Yes, systematic checks like passport control at the airport when arriving from outside Schengen, are a thing of the past.
However, random controls are done at any time in trains near the borders and the intercity ones. I've been asked for ID twice in 7 years. It can be argued that it's a hassle and/or disregard of rule of law...but considering people trafficking exists and checks like this make the life of traffickers harder, I'm fine with it.
Some months ago another EFer mentioned that in Geneva around the Putin-Biden meeting there was ID checks in public transport. So, if the Davos thingy returns after covid, expect checks if you go up the mountains above Chur.
Yes, I have been stopped and checked when driving up to our apartment in Klosters just before the WEF.
I used to work in France when I lived in the UK, using the channel tunnel (I worked there). I got stopped by security for extra checks so often, that they'd greet me by name. Although the checks were "random", I'd turn up at roughly the same time each day, and so got checked more often than most people would.
I never got stopped at a border going into Switzerland on swiss plates, whereas before on UK plates i was stopped every time.
For a laugh, get yourself swiss/st gallen eishockey/fc club jacket/hat/ochsner sport ski hat and see if you get stopped at the border.
I've so far never been stopped at the border in my car (Vorarlberg plates) but the amount of cross border traffic between the canton of St. Gallen and Vorarlberg is huge. These checks have occurred at the Buchs SG Bahnhof.