Switzerland’s state railway, Swiss Federal Railways, reported its best punctuality on record in 2025, with only 1 in 17 trains (5.9%) arriving late, down from 6.8% in 2024. In 2025, an average Swiss train commuter making the daily trip to and from work would have arrived late only 28 times across the year.
Overall, 94.1% of Swiss passenger trains running on the federal network arrived on time. That was an improvement of 0.9 percentage points on the previous year.
The company said the most punctual day in its history came on December 28th, when 98.6% of services reached their destination as scheduled. The result was achieved despite a busy year that included some 1,600 special trains for major events such as the Eurovision Song Contest and the women’s European football championship, as well as extensive engineering works, including line closures between Bern and Fribourg.
Performance improved markedly in French-speaking Switzerland, where 93.4% of trains ran on time, up from 91.9% in 2024 and 89.2% in 2023. Connection punctuality in the region reached 98.9%, above the national average. The rail company attributed the gains to the 2025 timetable, which it said had made the network more resilient.
By contrast, punctuality slipped slightly in Italian-speaking Ticino, falling to 92.1%. The decline was blamed on delays and reliability problems on services arriving from Italy, construction work around Lugano and Melide, industrial action south of the border, and the temporary closure of the Simplon line, which diverted freight traffic through the Gotthard base tunnel.
Freight services also improved. Customer punctuality at SBB Cargo rose to 90.2%, from 88% a year earlier, helped by targeted operational measures, including efforts to stabilise production quality at Lausanne’s marshalling yard despite staff shortages. The company said it would increasingly focus on single-wagonload traffic, which it expects to further support punctuality.
International passenger services remain a weak point. Delays on inbound trains, particularly from Germany, continue to affect performance inside Switzerland. To limit knock-on effects, the railway has increasingly turned trains back at the border when necessary and deployed replacement services on the Swiss side.
More on this:
Swiss Rail press release (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
For more stories like this on Switzerland follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Leave a Reply