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Why are rail bosses set to cut services in French-speaking Switzerland?

Helena Bachmann
Helena Bachmann - [email protected]
Why are rail bosses set to cut services in French-speaking Switzerland?
Less convenient connects in Swiss Romande are announced. Photo by Aleks Marinkovic on Unsplash

The timetable that Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) is planning to introduce in 2025 will disadvantage commuters in the French-speaking part of the country. We look at what's going on.

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2025 is still 18 months away, but the recent publication of the Swiss train timetable for that year is sparking criticism in the Suisse Romande, as French-speaking cantons are called.

The main points of contention are fewer direct connections and longer travel times between certain cities.

Specifically under fire is the InterCity (IC) 5 line, which connects Geneva Airport with Rorschach in St. Gallen.

However, from 2025, the IC5 will no longer go directly to Geneva. Instead, it will go only as far as Lausanne, 60 km away.

Commuters for Geneva will then have to disembark, take a train to the nearby station of Renens, and travel from there.

Another example of forthcoming changes: at the moment, passengers traveling between Neuchâtel and Geneva have an hourly, direct train. From 2025, however, commuters riding on this route will no longer have a direct link, but will have to connect in Renens instead.

A similar situation will hit Geneva-bound commuters traveling from Yverdon and Bienne.

Additionally, the number of direct trains between Lausanne and Aigle will be cut by half.

All these changes will result not only in less convenient options, but also in a longer travel time — from a mere four to 22 minutes more, depending on the route.

A train from Swiss Rail company (SBB CFF) makes its way through the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Lavaux with its terraced vineyards above Lake Geneva on October 5, 2017 near Cully, western Switzerland.

A train from Swiss Rail company (SBB CFF) makes its way through the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Lavaux with its terraced vineyards above Lake Geneva on October 5, 2017 near Cully, western Switzerland. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

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Why has the SBB made this decision?

Blame it on works being done — with more planned — to bring the region’s aging rail infrastructure up to date.

As the company explained in a press release, currently “it is impossible to run these trains systematically in good conditions, in particular on the Lausanne-Geneva axis, which has a very heavy traffic of mainline, regional and freight traffic".

This will become even more challenging as Geneva’s train station will undergo major renovations from 2024 until 2030.

What's the reaction to the these changes in the Suisse Romande?

Many officials are not happy, arguing, as Mauro Moruzzi, Neuchâtel’s head of mobility pointed out, that commuters in Swiss-French regions will be “penalised” by the new measures.

Geneva’s city officials released a statement as well, saying that “this decision will adversely affect rail services in a large part of western Switzerland.”

They also added that as direct connections will be mostly abolished, rail traffic to Geneva as well as its airport “will be severely restricted".

However, some positive changes are set to happen on the national rail network in the nearer future.

The 2024 timetable, which will go into effect December 10th 2023, will see a heavier focus on train travel to the German and Italian speaking regions.  

There will also be more connections between German-speaking Switzerland and Ticino, with a new half-hourly service to be introduced on the Gotthard axis.

READ ALSO: How Switzerland's train services and timetables will change next year

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