The A1 motorway, which run between Geneva in the west and St Gallen in the east suffers badly from congestion. On 11 September 2023, Switzerland’s parliament voted in favour of adding an extra lane in each direction along the full length of the key route, reported RTS. The vote was in response to a motion […]
Swiss car sets new world acceleration record
A prototype electric car built by a team of students at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences has broken the world acceleration record. This week the team announced that their “mythen” car had accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 0.956 seconds in a space of […]
Switzerland’s closed Gotthard road tunnel now open
2023 has been a bad year for the tunnels connecting the north and south of eastern Switzerland. On 10 August 2023 a train derailed and forced the closure of one of the train tunnels running between the cantons of Uri and Ticino. Then on Sunday 10 September 2023, parts of the roof of the Gotthard […]
Switzerland to reduce speeding penalties from 1 October
This week, Switzerland’s Federal Council announced the introduction of new rules for those caught speeding on Swiss roads. However, the changes will apply only in specific instances. Serious speeders will continue to face sanctions of one year in prison and the loss of their license for a minimum of two years. From 1 October 2023, […]
Swiss electronic motorway permits available from next week
Anyone wanting to drive on Switzerland’s motorway network must buy a vignette, a road tax sticker introduced in 1985 which currently costs CHF 40. This sticker must be displayed on the windscreen. From next week it will be possible to buy an electronic alternative to the physical sticker, reports Switzerland’s Federal Office for Customs and […]
Gotthard tunnel queues reach 15 kilometres
Switzerland’s Gotthard tunnel is a key link between northern and southern Switzerland. During the summer holiday season it becomes a major traffic choke point. On Sunday 16 July 2023, traffic queues north of the tunnel stretched as far as 15 kilometres, according to SRF. The waiting time to get to the tunnel was as long […]
Strong opposition to any toll for Gotthard tunnel
The government of the canton of Ticino is strongly opposed to tolls for the Gotthard road tunnel, reported RTS this week. The idea of charging a toll for the highly congested Gotthard tunnel linking Ticino, which lies south of the Alps, to the rest of Switzerland, has been discussed for some time. In a public […]
20 Swiss towns favour 30 km/h speed limits
This week, a Swiss organisation focused on urban transport with 20 members, announced its support for city-wide 30 km/h speed limits, a limit significantly lower than the current standard limit of 50 km/h in urban areas. On 16 May 2023, the organisation, which brings together 20 towns, ranging from Zurich (the largest) to Chiasso (the […]
Switzerland needs to be able to recharge 2.8 million vehicles
This week, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) published its predictions and ambitions for electric transport infrastructure. By 2035, SFOE expects more than half of all passenger cars in Switzerland to be electric. This means the country has around 12 years to complete its charging infrastructure, it said. The SFOE study estimates there will […]
Federal Council supports plan to widen Switzerland’s main motorway
The week, the Federal Council, Switzerland’s executive. decided the A1, the nation’s longest motorway should be at least three lanes in both directions along its entire length, reported RTS. The Federal Council’s decision was in response to a proposal by Erich Hess, a parliamentarian from the Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP). The motion was signed by […]
