Two Swiss trains collided on Thursday, injuring 17 people, none of them seriously, and closing the line near the German border, police said.

The two local trains, one travelling from Winterthur and the other from Schaffhausen, crashed just outside the Neuhausen station in northern Switzerland, not far from the German border.

Swiss railways said the line was closed and buses were carrying local passengers, while those travelling from Zurich to Stuttgart in Germany would be diverted via Basel.

Police spokeswoman Anja Schudel said 17 people had been injured and nine of them taken to hospital, but nobody was badly hurt. Everybody had been evacuated from the trains, which were carrying a total of 280 passengers, she said.

Swiss trains have a reputation for punctuality and safety, and fatal train accidents are rare.

The last major accident was in 2010. One passenger was killed and 42 were injured when one of the country's best-known tourist trains, the Glacier Express, derailed at the height of the summer holiday season. – Reuters