This week, Olivier Français, a member of the Council of States, Switzerland’s upper house, pointed out the long-running underinvestment in Switzerland’s rail infrastructure. According to the engineer and politician, billions have been cut from maintenance and investment budgets, reported RTS. Michel Béguelin, a former transport commissioner, told RTS he remembers plans from the Federal Council […]
Swiss Rail defends surveillance camera plan
Following concerns and criticism at its plans to install cameras in stations, this week Swiss Rail defended its plan, reported RTS. The train operator said that the cameras, which will record passenger movements in some of its nationwide network of stations, will not record personal data or use facial recognition technology. Last week, the consumer […]
Trains running again between Lausanne and Geneva after 3-day outage
On Tuesday, trains services between Geneva and Lausanne were halted after the ground near part of the rail network collapsed in Tolochenaz near Morges. Trains started operating between the two cities early on Friday morning after a 3-day hiatus. From 5 am on Friday trains started running but were required to slow to 20 km/h […]
Swiss Rail loses a third of passengers due to coronavirus
Recently published figures show rail passenger numbers dropped by more than a third during the first half of 2020. During this period an average of 810,000 passengers a day traveled on the network, a number more than a third less than during the first half of 2019 when there was 1.29 million. The number of […]
Late trains – Switzerland’s delay hotspots
The cliché of Swiss trains always being on time is challenged by data published on the website opentransportdata.swiss. Analysis of this data by 20 Minuten, shows the most frequently delayed trains arrive from Italy. Mendrisio, near the Italian border in the canton of Ticino, was the worst performing station with 30% of trains delayed by […]
Swiss Rail advert triggers accusation of sexism
According to various newspapers, Swiss Rail placed an advert on a job portal at ETH, a university in Zurich, offering work to cunning vixens, “schlaue Füchsinnen” in German. Successful applicants need to dress up as foxes, including fox tails, and run around train stations with posters informing travellers of alternative train connections. 20 Minutes reported […]
Furore over request for Swiss military personnel to give train seats to public
20 Minutes. An announcement made on Monday on a train from Geneva to Bern left a military serviceman from Vaud shocked. On Monday morning, after a flood of passengers boarded the train in Fribourg, a Swiss Rail train manager asked Swiss Rail employees and military personnel to stand up and give their seats to standing members […]
Crossing Switzerland by train – Tony’s quest to test Swiss Rail’s punctuality reveals something more.
I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for years. A chance to finally test the Swiss Rail network’s world famous reputation for being on time. To see if reality matches reputation. My great rail journey will transport me from Vevey, on the shores of Lake Geneva, in Western Switzerland, across the country to the alpine vistas […]
Bad news for Swiss commuters
Last year the Swiss government decided to increase the fees train operators, including Swiss Rail, must pay to run their trains on Switzerland’s rail network. Switzerland has 4,641 km of track running as high as 3,454 metres, and one of the densest rail networks in the world. Maintaining all of this track costs a lot of money, […]
Swiss Rail lost CHF 1.9 billion in 2014
Despite reporting improved results for 2014, the Swiss Rail Group (CFF/SBB/FFS) was heavily dependent on government support. Revenues increased by CHF 223 million to CHF 8,542 million, however this revenue figure includes CHF 2,249 million of public money. Net profits at CHF 373 million were up 57% on 2013 including the CHF 2,249 million government […]
